Mega Arts & Crafts Festival Happening at Vancouver’s Queen Elizabeth Theatre Plaza

For all those crafty who love to buy and make artisan creations, a big and bold arts and culture festival is coming your way! Just when you thought the summer was winding down, there’s yet another exciting festival to add to your August calendar.

Brought to you by Vancouver Civic Theatres, Watch & Learn will be a celebration of a host of designers, artists, singers, crafters, and gourmet food and drink producers. Basically, the fest will have it all!

The whole crafty shebang takes place at Queen Elizabeth Theatre Plaza (650 Hamilton Street) from August 19 to 20 (11am to 7pm) in partnership with East Van Arts & Culture Society and Etsy Vancouver.

Watch & Learn is multifaceted, with one of the main draws being a marketplace, with items and makers selected by Etsy. Over forty local artisans will be selling their wares, which will range from art prints to beautiful jewelry and ceramics.

In addition, the “learning” part of the fest happens through various workshops, such as Indigo dyeing with Sophena Kwon of Indigo Social, creating your own wildcrafted Jun tonic with Moonbrew Tonic Co., and making knots for a macramé wallhanging with Saige and Skye. Workshops require prepayment and preregistering ($45 to $122.95, includes weekend admission to fest). Some of them have already sold out, so don’t wait too long to decide to take part.

There will be live painting demos (12pm-5pm each day) by Peter Ricq and Benjamin William Knight, both mural artists. The results of these demos will be available via silent auction. In partnership with Untitled Art Space, large-scale works by Tierney Milne will also be on display.

And there’s more! Musical entertainment will happen 12pm, 2pm, and 4:30pm each day of the fest, with artists like Twin River, Old Soul Rebel, Jody Glenham, and David Morin.

Of course, all this Watching & Learning is bound to make you hungry and thirsty. Various food trucks will be in attendance, such as Bandidas, Chickpea, Tacofino, and Say Hello Sweets vegan ice cream.

A pop-up bar will be serving local craft beer (eg Backcountry Brewing), as well as cocktails that incorporate local ingredients, like Standard Kombucha and Dickie’s Ginger Beer.

Tickets are $7 per day, or $10 for the whole weekend (kids 12 and under are free). Further info and tickets can be found on-line.