Month by Month - Vancouver - page 38

Car Free Vancouver
An increasingly popular day-long event, Car Free Vancouver
( www.carfreevancouver.org ) is held around mid-June, when the main streets of several
neighborhoods - from Kitsilano to Main St - close to traffic and surrender to music,
vendors, performers and food.
Dragon Boat Festival
An epic weekend splashathon during the third week of June, the colorful Dragon Boat
Festival ( www.dragonboatbc.ca ) churns the normally placid waters of False Creek.
Around 100,000 landlubbers turn up to cheer on close to 200 teams and partake of a
minifestival of music, theater and food.
Greek Day
The local Hellenic community comes together for this rip-roaring late-June showcase
of Greek culture ( www.greekday.com ) . The one-day Kitsilano event (on W Broadway,
between MacDonald and Blenheim Sts) features live music, street entertainers and lots
of belt-challenging grub.
Vancouver International Jazz Festival
Vancouver's Jazz Fest ( www.coastaljazz.ca ) is a huge nine-day music party from late-
June that combines superstar performances (Oscar Peterson and Diana Krall are past
masters) with smile-triggering free outdoor shows in Gastown, Yaletown and on Gran-
ville Island.
July
The city is in full-on beach-bumming mode, with the very idea of rain a
distant memory (except when there's an occasional cracking thunder-
storm). Dress light and head outside from the first of the month onwards.
Canada Day
Canada Place is the main Vancouver location for Canada Day celebrations
( www.canadaday.canadaplace.ca ) marking the country's July 1 birthday. From 10am