Car Free Day Vancouver

Joey Moore, Car Free Vancouver Society Board member, wrote a guest editorial today for Vancouver is Awesome in response to the question, “What the heck’s up with Car Free Day?” He states:

For me, nothing explains what Car Free Day is, better than that awkward, disorientating moment at the very beginning of the day when the barricades go up and the stream of cars and trucks is gone from the streets. While most adults still are glued to margins on the sidewalk, unsure of what to do, some less tamed child or youth will get on their skateboard, or simply run, right down the yellow-line. This simple, joyful act breaks the spell and the rest of us more disciplined folk spill onto the street.

At the core, this is what Car Free is about – rethinking what streets are and what they might be and allowing us to experience the truth of the Car Free slogan: Less Cars = More Community = Less Cars…

Read the full editorial on Vancouver is Awesome

Erika Rathje is the Car Free Day photo contest winner. We thank Erika for sharing her photos to promote this year’s Car Free Day festivals. Here are her winning entries:

Car Free Vancouver Society Board member Tanya Otero also contributed some images to promote this year’s festivals:

We encourage everyone to share these images with your friends and networks to promote Car Free Day on Sunday, June 16th (with neighbourhood block parties in Kitsilano and Grandview-Woodlands on Saturday, June 15th). Click the images to open them full-size, then right-click to save them to your computer.

Thank you to all the contest participants for your entries!

We need your help. All of the Car Free Day festivals in Vancouver are 100% volunteer organized and run, and we hope you’ll sign up to volunteer with your friends, family and  neighbours. We also encourage you to sign up on your own – volunteering at any of our festival sites is a great way to connect with fellow Vancouverites. No experience is required!

The best and easiest shifts we need filled are our opening and closing barricaders. If you volunteer for these shifts, you get to volunteer before or after the festival, enjoy the entire Car Free Day, and still have energy leftover to attend our super fun after-party!

Volunteer orientations for the major festival sites begin very soon, so don’t delay in submitting your volunteer application form! Thank you for helping us make this year’s festival wonderful.

Our May newsletter is now available online. This month we’re revealing some fantastic festival highlights including roller disco and derby, community-supported stages featuring dozens of bands, kids’ yoga, a pet parade at “Bark”lay & Denman, and more!

The newsletter also includes information about how to volunteer with your friends and neighbours at this year’s street festivals. Sign up today!

There’s plenty more to read in the May newsletter – enjoy and get ready for all the fun we’re going to have in June!

Show us what Car Free Vancouver Day means to you! Based on the success of LA’s CicLAvia Facebook cover series, Car Free Vancouver Day 2013 is launching a contest to gather your images for our own get-the-word-out campaign.

Send us your image (photo or drawing) and we’ll choose up to five for Facebook cover photos or social media profile pictures that Car Free supporters can use in the days leading up to June 16th, 2013.

For any images we receive:

• The image needs to convey the spirit of Car Free Vancouver Day (no cars, fun-for-free, D.I.Y.)
• You need to own the image or have rights to reproduce it
• You acknowledge that we may alter the image by including the Car Free Day logo, date and time, etc.
• You acknowledge that we will be releasing the image on social media for other supporters of Car Free Vancouver Day to use.

Contest winners will receive two wristbands to the Car Free Vancouver Day organizers’ after-party!

Contest deadline is Monday, May 13, 2013. Please email your submissions to info@carfreevancouver.org with “Facebook Contest” in the subject line.