Vancouver celebrates Car Free Days on Main Street, Commercial Drive and Denman Street, as well as in Kitsilano. Other municipalities host similar events.

There are also typically events outside of Vancouver including in Surrey, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody and New Westminster.

This article contains information about the following:

Lower Mainland Car Free Days

During their respective Car Free Days, there are family-friendly festivities of all kinds going on in most of the above neighbourhoods.

Commercial Drive Car Free Day — Car Free Day on Commercial Drive

Car Free Day Dates

In 2024 Car Free Days take place on the following dates:

June 8th, 2024 – Car Free Day Surrey in Newton
August 18th, 2024 – Port Moody Car Free Day
September 7th, 2024 – Port Coquitlam Car Free Day
September 7th, 2024 – Car Free Day Vancouver on Commercial Drive
September 15th, 2024 – Car Free Day Vancouver on Main Street

The following locations celebrated Car Free Days last year.

July 29th, 2023 – Car Free Day in New Westminster (cancelled in 2024)
September 23rd, 2023 – North Vancouver Car Free Day (2024 date TBC as of early July)
September 24th, 2023 – in the West End on Denman Street (cancelled in 2024)

Surrey Car Free Day in Newton — Car Free Day in Surrey

About Car Free Days

Car Free Days are volunteer-run festivals where specific streets are closed for the day. People are discouraged from driving and there is entertainment and celebrations on the roads. There are street entertainers, food vendors, live music performances and sometimes even dancing.

Each year the combined events in Vancouver attract crowds of over a quarter of a million people.

Commercial Drive Festival

The Commercial Drive Festival typically takes place on the Father’s Day Sunday in June. However, since 2022 the event now takes place a little later in the year. The Commercial Drive event returns on September 7th in 2024.

The festivities typically take along the fifteen or so blocks on Commercial Drive between Venables Street and Grandview Highway. This year, however, that distance is shortened to around eight or so blocks from Grandview Highway and 1st Avenue.

Running since 2005, the Commercial Drive event is Vancouver’s original Car Free Day festival. It’s also an environmentally responsible festival. Not only do its organizers encourage people to go car free for the day, but in recent years they’ve managed to divert over 65% of the event’s garbage in their efforts toward becoming a zero-waste event. These folks are serious about being green!

Commercial Drive on Car Free Day — Car Free Day on Commercial Drive

Main Street Car Free Festival

Like its sister events elsewhere in Vancouver, the Main Street Festival now takes place in September rather than in June. In 2024 the event takes place on September 15th.

Of all of the Lower Mainland’s various Car Free Day events, the one on Main Street is the largest. The festivities stretch over 20 full blocks from 10th to 30th Avenue!

There is usually live music, street performers, artisan markets and kids’ activities.

See our article about Main Street Car Free Day to learn more.

West End Car Free Festival

The West End Festival runs along Vancouver’s Denman Street between Davie and Robson. There are usually thousands of people, street performers, artisans and food vendors filling the street.

If it’s a sunny day, the beach at English Bay is especially busy too. The event usually takes place in June. Denman Street Car Free Day took place on September 9th last year from noon until 7:00 pm. Sadly, the event is cancelled in 2024. Hopefully it returns next year.

For more information, see Denman Street Car Free Day.

TIP: Combine your visit to the Denman Street Car Free Day celebrations with a stroll or bike ride along the English Bay Seawall. Enjoy the seawall in the direction of Stanley Park or towards False Creek or both. Or, after wandering through the festival, enjoy a picnic and the sunshine on the sandy beach at English Bay.

Car Free Day Surrey

In 2022, a Car Free Day event took place in Surrey for the first time. The inaugural Car-Free Day Surrey happened in the Newton district along 137th Street between 74th Avenue and 72A Avenue.

The event returns at the same location on Saturday, June 8th in 2024. It runs from noon to 8:00 pm. Similar to other Car Free Day events, admission is free and activities include live music, food trucks and other family-friendly fun.

For more information about the new event see our article about Car Free Day Surrey or visit the Newton BIA website.

To see what the event in Newton looks like, check out the following video.

Port Coquitlam Car Free Day

New in 2023, Car Free Day Port Coquitlam is presented by the Downtown PoCo BIA and Translink. The inaugural event took place on Sunday, September 10th, 2023. The festival returns on Saturday, September 7th in 2024.

Car Free Day Port Coquitlam runs from noon until 8:00 pm. It is held along McAllister Avenue and features live entertainment, electric vehicle displays and other family-friendly activities.

To learn more about the event, see our article about Car Free Day in Port Coquitlam.

Port Moody Car Free Day

Port Moody celebrates its own Car Free Day in August. It’s a free event and takes place along St. Johns Street between Moody Street and Queens Street.

After five years of cancellations, Port Moody Car Free Day is back in 2024! The event takes places on Sunday, August 18th from noon until 5:00 pm.

In years past Port Moody Car Free Day wasn’t as large or well-attended as the events on Main Street or Denman Street or Commercial Drive, but it’s still pretty good and interesting.

For further details click Port Moody Car Free Day.

Car Free Day Surrey — Car Free Day in Surrey

New Westminster Car Free Day

New in 2022 was Car Free Day New West. The annual event is put together by the City of New Westminster and the Downtown New West Business Improvement Association.

Car Free Day New West took place last year on Saturday, July 29th. It’s normally held along Columbia Street between 4th and 8th Street. Sadly, the event is cancelled in 2024. There is a Car Free Day-themed event at Fridays on Front on July 26th which incorporates some of the typical Car Free Day elements.

The event (when it happens) includes live entertainment, an artisan market, beer garden, and food trucks from what used to be known as the Columbia StrEAT Food Truck Fest.

See our article about Car Free Day in New West to learn more.

New West Car Free Day on Columbia Street

North Vancouver Car Free Day

The Car Free Day North Vancouver event normally takes place along Carrie Cates Road.

In 2023 the event runs from 12:00 to 10:00 pm on Saturday, September 23rd. There are live performances, vendors, food trucks and more to enjoy. The Car Free Day event is one part of the larger Shipyards Festival which takes place on the same day.

The 2024 Shipyards Festival is on Saturday, September 21st. As of mid-July it’s currently unclear how much of a presence Car Free Day will have there.

Kitsilano Car Free Block Parties

Unlike other street festivals, there are no cordoned off streets for this Car Free Day. Instead, individually organized block parties celebrate the festival throughout the Kitsilano neighbourhood. The mini-events usually happen on both days of the Father’s Day weekend.

Unfortunately, it seems like the Kitsilano block parties have not taken place since 2019. When they do happen these events are especially fun and convenient for people living in Kitsilano, but also interesting for anyone just dropping by while on a bike ride or a stroll in the area. There are barbecues, games and fun all over the place.

TIP: Don’t plan to drive anywhere in Kitsilano on the weekend of the Father’s Day weekend. Kitsilano’s back streets are extremely narrow and will be more crowded on the Father’s Day weekend. Navigation will be tough since there will be numerous blocked-off streets.

Maple Ridge Car Free Day

One of the newest car free-themed events in the Lower Mainland is the Maple Ridge event. 2019 was its inaugural year.

Maple Ridge Car Free Day happened on the Father’s Day Sunday, which is usually the same day as the party on Main Street in Vancouver. Unfortunately, the event didn’t take place in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, and it hasn’t yet returned since.

Similar to the other events in other parts of the Lower Mainland, the Maple Ridge event includes live entertainment, market vendors and food trucks.

For more information click Maple Ridge Car Free Day.