Royal City streets will be heating up this summer with a busker-type event set to run every weekend throughout July and August.
On Monday, city council approved an application from the Uptown Property Group, and the Hyack Festival Association to offer Uptown Unplugged - a live entertainment series at the plaza in front of the Westminster Centre building on Sixth Street.
Uptown Unplugged is scheduled to begin Saturday, July 6, with singers, musicians and other performers entertaining the crowds between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. both weekend days.
"We see it as a combination of busking and music entertainers," said Bart Slotman, vice-president of the Uptown Property Group. "We'll try and have fun on the plaza. We have that amazing open space; there's lots and lots of people there every day, so we just want to add another dimension to the open area by having live entertainment there."
Slotman said the series is meant to be less structured than Uptown Live - a single-day event featuring a set schedule of artists in the spring. Uptown Unplugged will feature solo artists and offer less formal entertainment, much like the busking performances found on Granville Island in Vancouver, he said.
A lineup of performers has yet to be determined, but Slotman said organizers will book a variety of acts.
