Take Your Kids to These Family-Friendly Spring Events
With the sun shining and making for longer days, Spring in Vancouver is in full swing. There are plenty of great family-friendly events coming up that are perfect to keep kids of all ages occupied and bring the whole family out to from now to summer.
Check out these upcoming family-friendly events:
Children's Festival
Prepare for the 48th annual Vancouver International Children's Festival (VICF) when it returns to Granville Island from May 26 to June 1, bringing a week of creative wonder and live performances.
Choose from a healthy mix of world-class theatre, music, dance, circus, puppetry, and children’s storytelling for families coming to the city. Eleven professional performing artists and companies – from as far as Ireland and the UK – will present 79 total performances designed to ignite joy and celebrate the power of live performance.
This year's festival highlights include two works from the United Kingdom: I Wish I Was a Mountain by Toby Thompson, a poetic theatrical experience, and Club Origami by Seven Circles, a magical dance show perfect for younger audiences.
VICF will also feature acclaimed artists from across Canada, such as the gravity-defying acrobatics of Kalabanté's Won’Ma Africa, a high-energy exploration of African culture aimed to thrill those of all ages.
To browse the full program and purchase tickets, visit VICF's website.
Cirque du Soleil
A favourite family experience, Cirque du Soleil comes back to Vancouver with its first-ever acrobatic performance on ice for seven live performances of Crystal at the Pacific Coliseum from June 4-8. A one-of-a-kind production, Crystal brings the circus arts to the ice with seven exhilarating traditional circus acts.
Crystal takes audiences on a dazzling journey of self-discovery into a whimsical world of imagination for Cirque du Soleil's 42nd creation. Since 2017, Crystal has wowed more than two million people touring in 145 cities worldwide across 24 different countries.
This one-of-a-kind performance features seven traditional circus acts, including trapeze, aerial straps, trapeze, juggling, and hand balancing! It blends ice skating with adrenaline-inducing acrobatics and aerial feats. It's also the first production to use real snow, with the team making around 300 snowballs each week.
Through larger-than-life visual projections on ice (another Cirque first) and a seamless soundtrack, Crystal transports audiences to a unique visual and auditory experience full of magic and wonder.
To purchase tickets, visit Cirque du Soleil's website.
Hats Off Day
Take part in Hats Off Day, a free grassroots annual festival celebrating the best of the Burnaby Heights community since the early '80s, on June 7 on East Hastings Street (from Boundary to Gamma). It's a day-long celebration that begins with a family run, followed by a colourful parade, fun entertainment, delicious food, family activities, and a vibrant street festival.
Groove to this year's Hats Off Day theme of "Disco Fever!" Break out your bell-bottoms, sequins, and platform shoes, and join the fun. Enjoy live music, roving entertainers, and more. It attracts over 60,000 attendees every year
Join in on all the different activities:
- Family Fun Dash @ 9:30am – Participate in the popular family fitness tradition
- Parade @ 10am – Watch local community groups, preschools, and the high school marching band show themselves off
- Street Party @ 11:30am-4pm – Enjoy vibrant music, food, and merchants on the closed-off street
- Show & Shine @ 11am-4pm – Rev your engines and experience vintage, sports, and unique cars on display
Youth Powwow
Looking ahead to the summer, the annual memorial Squamish Nation Youth Powwow, an all-ages friendly dance competition powwow, returns to Xwmelch'stn Village (at Capilano 5 Reserve) in West Vancouver from July 11-13. It focuses on uplifting our youth and providing opportunities for education, employment, and healing through culture.
Open to visitors and spectators of all ethnicities and backgrounds, the Powwow welcomes everyone to a weekend of traditional food, 100+ vendors selling a wide variety of goods, and dance entertainment for those of all ages, from children to the elderly.