On July 1, 2017, there are Canada Day festivities throughout the Lower Mainland including at Waterfront Park near Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver.

Canada Day at Waterfront Park

Canada Day festivities at North Vancouver’s Waterfront Park include bouncy castles and activities for children, as well as food and entertainment for everyone.

See below for details on the Canada Day celebrations at Waterfront Park, and far below for details on other Canada Day activities elsewhere on the North Shore.

Canada Day in North Vancouver

North Vancouver’s July 1st celebrations take place at Waterfront Park from noon until 4 pm each year. New for 2017, and to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday, there will also be live music from 6:30 until 10:30 pm with some amazing bands.

Waterfront Park is a nice grassy park just a five-minute walk to the west of the Seabus terminal exit at Lonsdale Quay. It’s right on the water with magnificent views of the Vancouver skyline.

North Vancouver Canada Day Video

For an idea of what to expect at the Canada Day celebrations at Waterfront Park, check out the following video. In it, bands featured include 5 on a String, Mazacote and The Day Trippers who have all performed at the event in recent years.

North Van Canada Day Activities

At the Waterfront Park celebrations there is a wide range of live entertainment including street performers, a bagpipe marching band, multicultural dancers and various local bands. It is a great family-friendly North Shore community event.

On Canada Day there are also food vendors selling everything from ice cream and cold drinks to hot dogs. Different community organizations have informational booths set up and there is face-painting and all kinds of fun kid-friendly games and activities.

2017 Canada Day Schedule

In 2017 the following groups perform in the afternoon at the Waterfront Park event. Times are approximate.

• 11:50 am – Tiller’s Folly: a three-man acoustic roots band.
• 12:30 pm – JP Fell Pipe Band: the Official Pipe Band of the North Shore.
• 12:50 pm – Squamish Ocean Canoe Family: drumming, songs and legends shared by the Squamish Nation on whose unceded territory the event takes place.
• 1:00 pm – Pro-Arte: a group of young dancers.
• 1:50 pm – Marcus Mosley Chorale: a local North Shore chorale group specializing in Black African Gospel.
• 2:30 pm – The Eire Born Irish Dance Company – a group of young dancers from the Nora Pickett Irish Dance Academy.
• 3:10 pm – Apollo’s Crush: a popular party band.

In addition to the above afternoon performances, a special event takes place from 6:30 to 10:30 pm to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday. The three headliner bands in the evening are the following:

• Dreams – a Fleetwood Mac tribute band (~6:30 – 7:15 pm).
• Arrival – a Vancouver-based ABBA tribute band (~7:30 – 8:15 pm).
• The Powder Blues Band – a million record-selling Canadian Blues band(~8:30 – 10:00 pm).

Click North Vancouver Evening Concerts for more information about the Canada Day evening events at Waterfront Park.

About the North Vancouver Canada Day Celebrations

The festivities at Waterfront Park are put on by the Rotary Club of Lions Gate. The event is free, but funds raised through the sale of hot dogs and vendor fees go towards charitable projects on the North Shore. Buy lots of hot dogs at the Rotary booth and feel good supporting the community!

The North Vancouver Canada Day celebrations not only try to be an environmentally GREEN event, but even a NEGATIVE WASTE one! Styrofoam is banned, there are recycling and composting stations everywhere, people are encouraged to ride their bikes or take public transit, and folk are even encouraged to bring their old batteries and light bulbs to be recycled (which helps keep the event’s impact limited or even negative). Way to go Rotary Club of Lions Gate and all your event sponsors and volunteers!

Click North Vancouver Canada Day Celebrations for more details.

Other North Shore July 1st Events

North Shore Canada Day Parade

Prior to the celebrations at Waterfront Park, North Vancouver also has a parade which takes place from 10 am until noon.

The parade goes along 13th Street from Grand Boulevard before heading down 17th Street via Lonsdale Avenue to Mahon Park. It’s a small community-style parade, but lots of fun, especially for young children.

By the time the parade finishes it’s time to head to Waterfront Park for all the afternoon celebrations, as mentioned above.

For more information on the parade, see the North Shore Canada Day Parade website.

Canada Day Red & White Picnic in West Vancouver

Just half an hour after the end of the Waterfront Park festivities most years in North Vancouver, West Vancouver begins its Canada Day celebrations at John Lawson Park with its Red and White Picnic which goes from about 4:30 pm until 10:30 pm.

Participants at the West Vancouver event are invited to bring their lawn chairs and picnics and enjoy an evening of live entertainment, finishing with a fabulous display of fireworks at 10:30 just off the shore.

Click Red & White Picnic for more information on the Canada Day celebrations in West Vancouver.

Burrard Inlet Fireworks

At the same time as fireworks take off from a barge in the waters of West Vancouver, a second barge blasts them out in Burrard Inlet’s Coal Harbour, directly across the water from North Vancouver’s Waterfront Park and the Lower Lonsdale waterfront.

Great places to view the pyrotechnics from North Vancouver include Waterfront Park, Lonsdale Quay and the pier by Shipbuilders’ Square (which is just a 5-10 minute walk from the Seabus terminal in the opposite direction from Waterfront Park).

Important Note: Most years the Canada Day festivities at Waterfront Park finish at 4 pm. In 2017, however, live music and a beer garden also take place there from 6:30 until 10:30 pm. Bands include an ABBA tribute group, a Fleetwood Mac tribute band and the original million record-selling Powder Blues Band. For these reasons, in 2017, the best place to see Vancouver’s Canada Day fireworks is, arguably, from Waterfront Park. Click North Vancouver Evening Concerts for more details.

Click North Vancouver Canada Day Celebrations for more details on the event at Waterfront Park.

Click Canada Day in the Lower Mainland for other July 1st events in other parts of Metro Vancouver.

Click North Vancouver July 1st Concerts for more details about evening Canada Day activities at Waterfront Park.