An eclectic lineup of festivals are planned in New Westminster this summer.
The festival season kicked off in earnest this past weekend with Sapperton Day, following on the heels of the May 28 Hyack International Parade and Uptown Street Fest. Starting this weekend, the city will host a number of upcoming events you’ll want to put on your calendar.
* Sunday, June 19: The city’s Pier to Landing event, which is taking place at Westminster Pier Park, Sapperton Landing Park and Front Street
* Friday, July 1: The city’s Canada Day in Queen’s Park, Hyack Canada Day Fireworks on the River and the New Westminster Philippine Festival Society’s Multicultural Festival at Westminster Pier Park
* Sunday, July 17: The 12th Street Music Festival
* Saturday, July 23: Uptown Live
* Saturday, Aug. 13: New West Pride Street Party
* Saturday, Aug. 20: Columbia StrEAT Food Truck Festival
While these events festivals will proceed, a number of high-profile events contemplated for New West in the summer of 2016 aren’t taking place as planned. These include the G-Zero Championship Racing Series (a kart race proposed on Columbia Street on June 11 and 12), the Quayside Festival and Sale and Piknic Electronik (Aug. 20) and Northwest Fan Fest (a celebration of fandom and popular culture from July 8 to 10 in Anvil Centre and a July 9 street festival on Columbia Street).
The reasons cited for cancelling this year’s events were as diverse as the events themselves, including lack of parking and time needed to line up entertainment.
The West Coast Fandom Society cited a variety of reasons for cancelling Northwest Fan Fest, including staffing changes and illnesses and a new free-to-attend model instead of its previous attendance admission model. In light of recent high-profile event failures and cancellations, organizers said it would be irresponsible to risk its fans’ resources and goodwill by hosting an event that would have been below its standards and attendees’ expectations.
In a letter posted on its website on May 4, the G-Zero Racing Series said it’s “unfortunate but necessary” to postpone this year’s races because of production issues related to new technology and the need to ensure the safety of its drivers and teams.
While Aug. 20 was slated to be a busy day in New West when three events were planned for the downtown and waterfront, the Quayside Community Board cancelled this year’s Quayside Boardwalk Festival and Sale because of concerns about issues like parking and traffic, and the Beyond Marketing Group has postponed Piknic Electronik until next year so it has more time to line up its musical entertainment. The food truck festival will still take place on Columbia Street that day.
Many car enthusiasts had hoped the Hyack Festival Association would resurrect the Show and Shine in 2016. The Show and Shine hasn’t been held since the Downtown New Westminster Business Improvement Association pulled out of the event two years ago so it could refocus its efforts on events like the food truck festival.
