Hi friends!
I keep a running list of weekend options on my phone. Most weeks it's short. This week I had to make cuts.
The Weather: 🌥️ Friday's a coin flip (60% chance of showers). Saturday and Sunday look good — mix of sun and cloud, highs around 20°C. Outdoor-friendly if you layer.
🚧 Oak Street is fully closed between 10th and 12th (near VGH) until September 22 for crane work. If you drive through there, plan an alternate route.
Saturday: 🥣 Cereal Cartoon Party at Park Theatre / 🐴 Kerrisdale Days
Sunday: 🎪 Car Free Day on Main / 🎬 Matilda at Park Theatre / 🌾 Richmond Farm Fest
Fri–Sun (road trip): 🎡 Hope Brigade Days
🏆 Option 1: The Main Event
The Gist: Main Street closes to cars from 10th Avenue to King Edward on Sunday, and for seven hours the whole stretch becomes a walking, eating, browsing, live-music street festival. Free. Rain or shine. Basically next door.
Why It Wins:
Free. No cars on Main Street for seven hours — strollers go wherever they want. Food trucks, extended patios, mini beer gardens. Show up whenever. It runs noon to 7.
What's there:
🎶 Live music across multiple stages
🍔 Food trucks + restaurant patios spilling onto the street
🍺 Mini beer gardens
🛍️ Market vendors and artisan stalls
🎨 Street performers
The Parent Specs:
📍 Where: Main Street, 10th Ave to King Edward — Mt Pleasant. A short walk or one bus from Cambie Village.
⏰ When: Sunday, September 13, 12 PM – 7 PM
👶 Ages: All ages. Streets are closed to cars, so strollers roll freely.
🚽 Potty: Okay — port-a-potties along the route, plus businesses along Main.
💸 Cost: Free entry. Budget $20–30 for food truck lunch and impulse vendor purchases.
☔ Rain Reality: Event runs rain or shine. Sunday's forecast looks decent (20°C, mix of sun and cloud), but there's no roof. Dress for it.
🍕 Food Situation: You will not go hungry. Food trucks, extended patios, beer gardens.
The Move: Start at the south end near King Edward and walk north. Easier parking down here, and less crowded than the 10th Ave entrance. Aim for 12:30 — the first hour is the least hectic.
One Sunday a year, you can eat a taco while standing in the middle of Main Street. That's the whole pitch.
🪶 Option 2: The "Low Drag" Play
Option 2: The "Low Drag" Play
The Gist: The Park Theatre is screening Matilda for its 30th anniversary. PG, 98 minutes, and you're going to enjoy it more than your kids.
Why It Wins:
Indoors. On Cambie. Ninety-eight minutes of sitting in a chair while someone else entertains your children. If you grew up in the 90s, you already know every line.
The Parent Specs:
📍 Where: Park Theatre, 3440 Cambie St — Cambie Village.
⏰ When: Sunday, September 13. Doors 12:45 PM, film at 1:15 PM.
👶 Ages: Rated PG. Best for 5+. Younger kids may not last 98 minutes (you know your kid).
🚽 Potty: Easy — indoor theatre washrooms.
💸 Cost: $16 general admission, $13 students/seniors. All tickets final sale.
The Move: Grab tickets online now — if it doesn't sell out, remaining seats go to the box office an hour before showtime, but don't bet on it. Movie wraps around 3 PM. Walk five minutes to Main Street and catch Car Free Day for the afternoon. Double-header Sunday.
🎪 Option 3: The Wildcard
The Gist: A free, full-scale farm festival at Garden City Lands in Richmond. Farmers market, kids' activities, farm wagon tours, a plant labyrinth, live music, food trucks, and cooking demos. Fraser Valley farm day without the Fraser Valley drive.
Why It Wins:
Free. There's a dedicated kids' zone — Little Farmers — so they're not just wandering a field. Farm wagons, a plant labyrinth, cooking demos. Ages 2 to 12 all have something. Sensory kits and quiet resting areas on-site, which is rare.
The Parent Specs:
📍 Where: Garden City Lands, 5040 Garden City Rd, Richmond.
⏰ When: Sunday, September 13, 11 AM – 4 PM
👶 Ages: All ages. Stroller-friendly. Free bike valet holds strollers, scooters, and skateboards too.
🚽 Potty: Easy — accessible washrooms on-site.
💸 Cost: Free admission. Bring cash for food trucks and market vendors.
🅿️ Parking: No parking at the festival site. Free parking + shuttle from KPU Richmond Campus or Richmond City Hall. Families with babies under 20 lbs — use the KPU shuttle. The City Hall shuttle can't accommodate them.
🍕 Food Situation: Food trucks and market vendors on-site. Come hungry.
The Move: Park at KPU and take the shuttle. Aim for 11 AM before the lunch crowd hits. The shuttle runs both ways and it's free. Do not drive to Garden City Lands expecting a parking spot. There isn't one.
Free, outdoors, and broad enough for siblings who don't agree on anything. One can investigate a tractor. One can run through the plant labyrinth. You locate coffee and call the whole thing educational. 🌾
Also Worth Knowing
🥣 Saturday Morning Cereal Cartoon Party — Saturday, September 12
The Park Theatre is hosting an all-you-can-eat cereal cartoon party Saturday morning. Three hours of mystery cartoons. Bring a non-breakable bowl. This one will sell out — grab tickets now. Same venue as Sunday's Matilda — you could do a Park Theatre weekend.
📍 Where: Park Theatre, 3440 Cambie St
⏰ When: Saturday, September 12. Doors 10 AM, show 10:30 AM.
💸 Cost: $23 adult, $15 kids 13 and under
🐴 Kerrisdale Days — Saturday, September 12
Kerrisdale is throwing its annual birthday bash this Saturday. Free horse and carriage rides (Yew & W 41st, 11–4), face painting, clowning, music, juggling, sidewalk sales, and free birthday cake at 3 PM (Yew St North & W 41st). There's also a free outdoor screening of Jurassic Park at Elm Park on Friday at dusk (from 7 PM) — rain date is Saturday. Friday has a 60% chance of showers, so check the sky before you commit.
The Academy of Modern Art is also running a free festival and workshops at Kerrisdale Community Centre (2408 W 41st) + a park exhibition — both days.
Saturday is the main day and the weather looks clear. If you need a low-key Saturday plan before Sunday's big options, this is it. Parking in the KBA Parkade between 41st & 42nd Ave at Yew St.
📍 Where: Kerrisdale Village
⏰ When: Friday & Saturday, September 11–12. Saturday has the most action.
💸 Cost: Free
‼️Heads Up‼️
🎡 Hope Brigade Days — Friday to Sunday, September 11–13
This is a road trip. Hope is about 90 minutes east on the Trans-Canada, and Brigade Days has been running since 1968. It's a full small-town fair — midway rides, food truck alley, a vendor market, and a grand parade down Wallace Street on Saturday morning at 11 AM. Sunday has a demolition derby. Kids love all of it.
If you're thinking about it, plan now. You'll want to leave early Saturday to catch the parade, or make a weekend of it if you've got family or a campsite out that way.
📍 Where: 6th Ave Fair Grounds, Hope, BC — about 90 min from Vancouver via Hwy 1.
⏰ When: Friday–Sunday, September 11–13. Saturday is the big day (parade at 11 AM).
💸 Cost: Free general admission. Midway rides and some attractions require wristbands/tickets (pricing on-site).
🍕 Food Situation: Food Truck Alley runs all three days. Saturday 12–10 PM, Sunday 11 AM–6 PM.
Know a parent who's still staring at the weekend calendar with zero plan? Forward this and save them the spiral.
We’ve got this!
Saba Yazdani
The Cambie Memo
