The first annual West End Car-Free Festival was a huge success! Check out what everyone is saying about it:

Wednesday, June 11, 7-8:30pm at the Gordon Neighbourhood House (1019 Nelson St. at Broughton)

If you are signed up to volunteer or just thinking aobut it, we strongly encourage you to attend the volunteer orientation session. There will be lots of useful info, you get a chance to meet some of the organizers and learn about the awesome party YOU are putting on!

The festival will feature tons of activities for kids in their Kid Zone, centred in front of the West End Community Centre. Activities in the Kid Zone will include (among other things):

• Music for Young Children with Catherine Steele
• An imagination station where kids can decorate themselves and their bikes
• Bubble-blowing!

The West End Car-Free Festival invites everyone who lives in the West End to come out and post their business card or tear off contact strip on the Local Business Card Wall.

This is a great opportunity to let your neighbours know about services you offer. We have an amazing amount of talent within walking distance. Let’s tap into some of that Car-Free local energy!

In addition to two stages of music and a DJ area, the festival will also feature a Spoken Word Tent! The lineup is:

1pm - Vancouver Poetry Slam
Host: Chris Gilpin
Featuring: TL Groves, Nola Semczyszyn, Magpie Ulysses, Helen Gregory

2pm - World Poets
Hosts: Ariadne Sawyer (English), Alejandro Mujica-Olea (Spanish and English)
Featuring: Bernice Lever (English), Diego Bastianutti (Italian and English) Jacqueline Marie (French and English), Ibrahim Honjo (Serbo-Croatian and English)

If you're a local artist or crafter, we want to see YOU at the West End Car Free Festival on June 15th. We've got several artisan spots available for $75 a table. If you want to save on costs, splitting a table with a friend is A-OK with us.

If you're interested in selling your handmade wares at the festival, please contact Karen Parker (westendwebsite@gmail.com) for further details.

Come by the dance area at the West End Car Free Festival to see local dancers perform salsa, tango, swing, cha cha, and more!  They'll also teach hourly lessons where festival attendees can learn a salsa dance called Casino Rueda.

Vancouver's own SHAH DJs will be running a stage featuring FUNK / DOWNTEMPO / HOUSE / DRUM N BASS. Look for them in front of the Denman Place Mall!

The West End Car Free Festival will feature two live music stages - a main stage and a world stage. Main Stage

Are you interested in getting involved?

Do you live in the West End and want to know more about how the festival will affect you?

Come to this meeting!

When? Tuesday, June 10th at 7:00pm

Where? Gordon Neighbourhood House, 1019 Broughton Street (@ Nelson)

More Info: CarFreeWestEnd@yahoo.ca or call Dave at 604-646-4615

Are you planning on attending the West End Car-Free festival? RSVP for our events on Upcoming and Facebook. And if you think this festival is a worthwhile event, please take the time to let your friends know about it too. Blog it, twitter it, digg it, facebook it, or do whatever else you want to let people know that Denman Street will be car free on June 15th!

We urgently need volunteers to help us keep Denman Street closed to traffic so that our community can celebrate! There will be a huge volunteer party after the festival! Shifts start at 10am, 12pm, 2pm, 4pm and 6pm leaving plenty of time to enjoy the rest of the festivities. If you can help, contact us now at wecarfree@gmail.com.