A number of Car Free Day street festivals take place in Vancouver each summer including one on Commercial Drive between Venables and Grandview.

The street party on Commercial Drive used to take place in July. In the last few years, however, the event has been in September. In 2024 the Commercial Drive Car Free Day event is on Saturday, September 7th (which is the weekend after the Labour Day Holiday). That same day there is also a Car Free Day event in Port Coquitlam, as well as the Everything Electric Canada e-vehicle, electric energy and appliance show at the Vancouver Convention Centre.

This article contains the following information about the event:

Car Free Day on Commercial Drive

Commercial Drive Car Free Day is one of a number of Car Free Day events in the Lower Mainland. Also taking place within the City of Vancouver most years include ones on Main Street and Denman Street. There are more in other parts of the Lower Mainland including in Port Coquitlam, Surrey, New Westminster as just a few examples.

Time and Location

Up until 2016 Commercial Drive Car Free Day was always on Father’s Day in June, the same day as the Main Street Car Free Day event. Since 2017, however, the Commercial Drive event has happened later in the year.

In 2024 Commercial Drive Car Free Day happens between 12:00 pm and 7:00 pm on Saturday, September 7th. It runs along the eight or so blocks of Commercial Drive between Grandview Highway and 1st Avenue.

Getting to the Festival

As the festival emphasizes the importance of environmental awareness, try to visit the festival car-free. There are many transit options very close to the festival including bus and SkyTrain routes.

Consult the TransLink website for exact transit scheduling.

About the Festival

The Commercial Drive event is Vancouver’s original Car Free Day event. It first took place in 2005. It’s an environmentally-friendly event where pedestrians retake the street and celebrate life without their cars.

Food trucks, vendors of all kinds and display tables from local businesses and community organizations line the street at Commercial Drive’s Car Free Day. There are street performers, musicians, beer gardens and tens of thousands of people most years.

The event is very family-friendly, with activities for children as well as adults. There are often games of road hockey and the young ones are welcome to play.

There are sometimes booths hosted by political organizations if there are upcoming elections (like in 2024), as well as lots of different non-profit groups.

There are often also information booths for companies like Vancouver Mysteries and Forbidden Vancouver. The first is an outdoor adventure game company where you and your friends can be detectives, secret agents or superheroes. The other is a great walking tour company. These and other businesses had information about their services and prizes to give away.

Entertainment Schedule

There are four different stages with live music at the 2024 event. Below is the performance schedule for this year.

East Side Rock Stage (2nd and Commercial)

12:00 pm – Ask the Wind
1:00 pm – Blackthorn Blossoms
2:00 pm – West Coast Fiddleheads
3:00 pm – Paul Caldwell
4:00 pm – Luc Josef and the Drifters
5:00 pm – Wolf Mountain
6:00 pm – Ndidi Cascade

Project Vancity Stage (3rd and Commercial)

12:00 pm – Camellia Grove & Cenzina
1:00 pm – Sammi Morelli & Chase Spencer
2:00 pm – Tess Anderson & Connor Nelson
3:00 pm – Maddy Lofvendahl & Chris Clute
4:00 pm – Victoria Groff & Mina McKenzie
5:10 pm – The Project Vancity Band

Jefferson’s Barbershop Stage (4th and Commercial)

12:00 pm – Bushucker
12:30 pm – Jay Townsend
1:00 pm – Shiloh Lindsay
1:30 pm – The Burying Ground
2:00 pm – Stephen Hamm
2:25 pm – Young and Sexy
3:00 pm – Skagger
3:35 pm – Wooden Horsemen
4:10 pm – Those Things
4:45 pm – The Bad Beats

Support the Scene Stage (5th and Commercial)

12:30 pm – Evanescent
2:00 pm – Vultures at Dawn
3:00 pm – Ophelia Falling
4:00 pm – Drag Set
5:00 pm – Guy Liner

Car Free Day Video

To give you an idea of what to expect at Car Free Day on Commercial Drive, check out the following video. It shows scenes of the event from 2022.

As you’ll see in the video below, on Car Free Day the street is full of people walking in the middle of the road. There are also a few characters in costume and lots of vendors and community organization information booths. At the event there are musicians at various spots along the street and games to play. You can win prizes, shop and learn about the neighbourhood at this and other Vancouver Car Free Day events.

Other Information

To learn more about this event, see the Vancouver Car Free Day website.

To learn more about the area, see our article about Commercial Drive.

Another similar event on the same street earlier in the summer is Italian Day on the Drive. It normally happens in June and it too is a massive street party.

For details about similar Car Free Day events see our articles about the events on Main Street and Denman Street, or the events in Port Moody, Port Coquitlam and Surrey. For information about Car Free Day events in North Vancouver, New Westminster and other areas, click Lower Mainland Car Free Days.

To see a list of other major events throughout the year, check out the Festivals & Events Calendar.