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Shipyards Festival in North Vancouver

August 22, 2021

The Shipyards Festival features live music, market vendors and family-friendly activities in North Vancouver’s Lower Lonsdale District in September.

The one-day event includes free admission, multiple stages, beer stations and all kinds of fun things to see and do. In 2022 it happened on September 17th from noon until 10:00 pm. In 2023 the event happens on Saturday, September 23rd.

Shipyards Festival in Lower Lonsdale

The Shipped Waterfront Festival celebrated its inaugural year in August of 2018 and it was a terrific event. Renamed the Shipyards Festival, it happened again on September 28th in 2019 and was even more fun, bigger and better! After a hiatus of one year, it returned on September 25th in 2021 and again on September 17th, 2022!

If you like live music, family-friendly activities, beer gardens, stunning views, free entertainment and spending time with friends, then you’ll definitely want to check out the Shipyards Festival. It’s a great event and suitable for all ages.

Shipyards Festival Video

Below is a video of North Vancouver’s Shipyards Festival in 2019. As you’ll see, the event attracts lots of people and there are concerts and things to do all over the Lower Lonsdale and Shipyards region.

Bands at the 2019 event and featured in the video include Sister Says, Hayvn, The Boom Booms and the Harpoonist & the Axe Murderer. The entertainment lineup in 2022 included Said the Whale and Yukon Blonde among many other bands.

Where and When

The Shipyards Festival took place in North Vancouver by the waterfront in Lower Lonsdale on Saturday, September 17th, 2022. The live entertainment and activities ran from noon until 10:00 pm. In 2023 the festival takes place on Saturday, September 23rd. As of late May, times, performers and other details are to be confirmed.

The Lower Lonsdale District of North Vancouver is one of the region’s most popular and interesting places. It’s home to Lonsdale Quay, the Polygon Gallery, SeaBus terminal, the Shipyards and numerous great bars and restaurants.

Located just a 15-minute SeaBus ride from downtown Vancouver, the Shipyards are where you’ll also find the Pipe Shop, Tap & Barrel Restaurant, Shipbuilders’ Pier, and the Lower Mainland’s newest and largest outdoor covered public plaza.

Also in the area is North Vancouver’s newest attraction – the MONOVA Museum which opened for the first time to the public on September 25th, 2021.

North Vancouver's Lower Lonsdale — Lower Lonsdale and the Shipyards

What to Expect

At the Shipyards Festival you can expect to see lots of people having fun. The event attracts families, young adults, seniors with their grandchildren, tourists visiting from abroad and locals from across the Lower Mainland.

At the event you’ll see child-friendly entertainment, folks ages 19+ enjoying drinks while they wander around, and bands performing on the various stages. There are also food vendors, market vendors and kids’ play areas.

If you visit Lonsdale Quay and the Shipyards on a weekend in the summer, depending on when you go, you might see a farmers market, artisan vendors, food trucks or people doing yoga in the plaza by the SeaBus terminal or out on the pier. You might also see a band playing in Shipbuilders’ Square, art on display and people just wandering around and enjoying the place.

At the Shipyards Festival you can expect to see most if not all of the above, plus a whole lot more, and much of it happening all at the same time!

Expect to have a blast at the festival! And apart from the food and market items for sale, most of what you’ll get to do and see is free! It’s such a great event and the bands are phenomenal!

2022 Festival Entertainment

Live entertainment happens pretty much all day at the Shipyards Festival. Most years bands play on both the Shipbuilders’ Stage and the Shipyards Common Stage as well as a couple other places. Kid-friendly entertainers also perform at set times in the afternoon on the Family Stage.

2022 headliner acts were Said the Whale and Yukon Blonde, while other top performers included Bratpack, Raincity, Teon Gibbs, Lex Leosis, Adewolf, Babe Corner, Uncle Strut, Ellevator, Girly and Bad Magic.

The schedule for each stage in 2022 is listed below. (Note: Times and performer details were subject to change.)

Shipbuilders’ Square Stage

Bands that performed on the Shipbuilders’ Stage in 2022 included the following:

12:00 pm – Noodle Boys
1:00 pm – Nikkaela
2:00 pm – Off Topic
3:00 pm – Bad Magic
4:00 pm – Ellevator
5:00 pm – Lex Leosis
6:00 pm – Adewolf
7:00 pm – Raincity
8:00 pm – Yukon Blonde

Shipbuilders’ Square Stage is usually in Shipbuilders’ Square where the Shipyards Night Market used to take place on Friday evenings in the summer.

The stage in the square is a permanent outdoor structure that’s between the Pipe Shop (where the festival’s artisan market takes place) and the giant yellow crane. It’s also right beside the Tap & Barrel Pub and across the plaza from the Pier 7 Restaurant.

Shipbuilders' Square Concert Crowds — Shipbuilders’ Square Stage (in 2019)

Shipyards Commons’ Stage

Groups that played on the Shipyards Commons’ Stage in 2022 included the following:

12:30 pm – Holy Felix
1:30 pm – Kealoha
2:30 pm – Ahsia
3:30 pm – Girly.
4:30 pm – Uncle Strut
5:30 pm – Babe Corner
6:30 pm – Teon Gibbs
7:30 pm – Brat Pack
9:00 pm – Said the Whale

Shipyard Commons is the new covered plaza at the Shipyards. Located just a few steps east of Shipbuilders’ Square near the start of the pier, it was completed in the summer of 2019 and is a wonderful venue. It’s huge, under shelter but still outside, and the acoustics are surprisingly good for concerts.

Car Free Day Stage

Groups that performed on the Car Free Day Stage included the following in 2022:

12:00 pm – Moving City
12:45 pm – Tobacco Brown
1:30 pm – Sarah Osborne
2:15 pm – Anton Seth
3:00 pm – Kylie V
4:00 pm – Redwoods
5:00 pm – Bookclub
6:00 pm – Vox Rea
7:00 pm – Blonde Diamond

The Car Free Day Stage is likely located in Carrie Cates Court, which is where the Car Free Day event takes place on the same day in North Vancouver.

Seaspan Family Stage

Entertainers that performed on the Seaspan Family Stage in 2022 were the following:

12:00 pm, 5:00 pm – Mike Battie
1:00 pm, 3:00 pm – Robin Reddy Show
2:00 pm – Mom Bop
4:00 pm – Kung Jaadee

Street Performer at the Shipyards — Mike Battie at the Shipyards

Shipyards Festival Concert Video

To give you an idea of what one of the concerts looked like in 2021, check out the video below. It shows scenes of the performance by the band Bedouin Soundclash which is based out of Toronto.

The concert by Bedouin Soundclash was the biggest of the night because the band was one of the festival’s two headliner groups and the last one for the night. The concert by The Zolas last year was just as impressive and took place just before this one. The concert by The Zolas, however, took place outdoors in Shipbuilders’ Square, not Shipyard Commons (which is the covered area where the concert in the video took place).

As you can see in the video, the concert by Bedouin Soundclash was impressive! The festival was the first major music festival since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and the venue was packed. It was so much fun!

What’s In the Area?

There is a lot to see and do in the Lower Lonsdale area even when there isn’t a major festival going on. There is the world-famous public market at Lonsdale Quay, the Polygon Gallery and Shipbuilders’ Pier. All are free to explore (or by donation in the case of the gallery).

Also in Lower Lonsdale are dozens of great restaurants and interesting shops. It’s a beautiful place to walk around, enjoy a coffee, have a meal, treat yourself to an ice cream and simply hang out.

Lonsdale Quay is also connected to downtown Vancouver and Waterfront Station via the SeaBus which makes it a fabulously convenient location.