Street Music Festival Replaces Hippie Days

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It appears the West 4th BIA is replacing the suffering community festival ‘hippie days’ with a music focused street party this summer.

Here is the official announcement by the page ‘Shop West 4th‘ Facebook page that reads:

JUST ANNOUNCED! Khatsahlano! The West 4th Music + Art Festival is our BIG Street Party coming Saturday July 23 from 11am to 6pm between Burrard & MacDonald… featuring 5 stages of FREE live music from 23 of Vancouver’s hottest acts including Jon and Roy, Aidan Knight, Yukon Blonde, Sun Wizard, The Evaporators and more… plus great sidewalk sales, patio parties, Kitsilano’s largest garage sale and lots of cool things all day long!

I give this event 2 very enthusiastic thumbs up!! It is about time we closed off the popular West 4th strip and put on an event the public will actually mark down on their calendars, and support the many independent small  businesses on the street. Yes, I am a bit biased as I am a huge fan of Jon and Roy & Aidan Knight, both who were performers at last year’s Jericho Beach Folk Fest. Regardless it sounds like the BIA is on the right path to creating an annual summer festival in Kits that shows off Kits cool side.

To stay up to date with more information, band announcements and RSVP for the event check out the West 4th Facebook page. The Kitsilano.ca crew will as usually be keeping you in the know as well!

Last modified: June 21, 2011

10 Responses to " Street Music Festival Replaces Hippie Days "

  1. Bill Barilko says:

    Could it possible be any more boring than that other excuse?

    I feel a yawn coming on……..

  2. Tommy Two says:

    I can’t believe how challenging it wqs to find information about this event on the internet.
    – Something to work on for next year !

  3. cvc says:

    It appears the West 4th BIA is replacing the suffering community festival ‘hippie days\’
    Escuse me..were you even there? Hippy Days was so busy and only took up the street from Burrard to Vine.
    It was a blast!

  4. Bill Barilko says:

    Well I was @ so called Hippie Days and it was stultifying-rubber boot tossing notwithstanding.

    Yesterday’s excuse was in it’s way just as lame with one exception-the Tacofino food truck.

  5. Dan says:

    I don’t like to be a negative voice, but I remember the last few Hippie Dayz and they weren’t so bad. At least there was a variety of things going on, and the businesses got in on the spirit of the day and had a supporting presence too.

    However, when I walked along 4th Ave during the middle of the day on Saturday, I failed to see what the attraction was meant to be. It was basically a street market. Every store had a stall on the closed road, and there happened to be a couple of stages. It felt like music was the sideshow, and everything else was to get people to spend money. I’m all for encouraging commerce in a collective way, but as I said, this was a pretty boring street market masquerading as a community event. Please think hard before you organize the same thing next year.

  6. Andrea says:

    Hey all,

    Love all the comments as usual, but just wanted to clarify that we at Kitsilano.ca did not plan the event. Instead we just cover the event and at times provide our opinions on the happenings in our community.

    Dan, one point to your comment. If people were spending money I’d say the BIA’s event was a success. We can all tell by the constant turnover on the W4th street that many biz’s are getting hurt by slow sales. I think any event that can draw consumers out to enjoy some music and support the local shops is a good thing.

  7. Dan says:

    I take your point Andrea, but it just made me a bit cynical about the whole thing. Like it was meant to be a community event, but really was just a street mall. It’s a shame, it could have been better. Bring back the soapbox derby, I say!

  8. Bill Barilko says:

    Great to see someone so accurately elucidate the real story behind the ersatz 4th Ave ‘festivals/celebrations/events/daze’.

    I always suspected that they were organised by people who have money as their god and now my convictions are confirmed.