Car Free Day Vancouver

Car Free Day Vancouver is a community-based, volunteer-run event in Vancouver, British Columbia, which closes busy streets to car traffic and sets up day-long community festivals to promote active transportation, sustainability, and public spaces. It is similar to other Car-Free Days held around the world. It has traditionally taken place once per year on the third Sunday in June (Father's Day). In recent years it has expanded to events on both the Saturday and Sunday, in addition to an event in North Vancouver in August. The neighbourhoods involved often host smaller block parties in conjunction with a large street festival to celebrate. This day eliminates cars from the event sites along major streets and encourages people in these communities to interact with each other in the spirit of reducing carbon emissions. The larger street festivals include many non-profit organizations, artisans, artists, businesses, and food vendors. Some festivals also include live performances ranging from musical guests, to spoken word, to dance and more. The goals of these events are to remind people of their ecological impact on the city, to decrease dependence on personal vehicles as transportation within the city, to encourage active and alternative forms of transportation, and to help people see streets as public spaces for all.

Vancouver Car Free Day began with the Commercial Drive Festival in 2005. The Festival was the start of a community wide event known as Car Free Day Vancouver. It was run and organized completely by volunteers, consisting of 30 main organizers along with 300 more volunteers. In its first year of operation, over 25,000 people were in attendance to celebrate this community event. The idea was in response to the BC provincial government's Gateway Program, which aimed to significantly reduce congestion into the City of Vancouver. The first annual Car Free Vancouver Day took place in 2005, on Sunday June 15, and included different festivals taking place in Kitsilano, Commercial Drive, Main Street, and the West End.

There are now four neighbourhoods that regularly participate in Car Free Day: Kitsilano, Main Street, Commercial Drive and West End. There is a fifth event organized by the Car Free Vancouver Society in North Vancouver.

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