The largest gathering of the Filipino community in BC, Philippine Days is a two-day festival that takes place in June at Waterfront Park in North Vancouver.
Philippine Days Festival
The Philippine Days Festival takes place annually on the second weekend in June. Unfortunately, it was cancelled in 2020. It doesn’t look like the festival happened in 2021 or 2022 either, at least not in its regular format.
Most years the event runs from 10 am until 6 pm on the Saturday and from 10 am until 5 pm on the Sunday. 2023 details are to be confirmed (although the last time we checked we couldn’t find any details). Fingers crossed that the festival will be able to happen again!
In years when it does happen, the event includes live entertainment and close to 70 food, merchandise and community services vendors. Admission is free.
About Philippine Days
Taking place since the turn of the previous century, Philippine Days is one of the Lower Mainland’s longest-running annual events and is worth checking out. In good years, with sunny weather, the festival attracts as many as 20,000 people over the two days from across the Lower Mainland and further afield.
Philippine Days is a fairly simple festival, but interesting, especially for folk with Filipino connections. Expect to see lots of businesses and other types of vendor and information booths.
The festival always takes place on the second weekend in June. That’s because June 12th is Philippine Independence Day (and has been ever since 1898).
The festival venue, Waterfront Park, is an ocean-side park just a 5-minute walk west of Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver.
Interesting to note is the fact that over 5% of the population of Metro Vancouver claims Filipino decent, which places it in 9th place among countries of ancestry in the region.
Philippine Festival
Philippine Days features entertainment by a wide range of Filipino and other local artists and performing arts groups. A couple of years ago there were short promotional concerts by the Day Trippers – a Beatles Tribute Band – and the Music of ABBA by the group ARRIVAL.
A few years ago there was also a special guest appearance by the Filipino actor Richard Gomez, and performances by numerous other singers, bands and dance groups, as well as just random people from the audience from time to time.
If you like Filipino food, music and/or culture, or you want to experience them for the first time, or you just want to hang out around Lonsdale Quay on the North Shore for the day, then Philippine Days at Waterfront Park is a great place to be.
Other Information
For more information about the Filipino event, see the Philippine Days Festival Facebook page.
For other festivals and major events at other times of the year, check out Vancouver’s Festivals and Events Calendar. And for ideas on other things to do while in the area, check out Vancouver’s North Shore.
Other articles that might be of interest include the following:
- Vancouver’s June Calendar of Events
- History & Culture in the Lower Mainland
- Vancouver on a Budget
- Vancouver Summer Activities
- Multicultural Heritage Months in Vancouver
- Vancouver’s ExplorASIAN Festival
