Vancouver Folk Music Festival 2024: A comprehensive guide to the food and drink, artisan market, and kids’ activities
With everything from culinary offerings to locally made goods for sale to stilt-walking lessons, the music is just one highlight of the beloved fest
Pete “Redbird” Graham. Photo by Leah Villalobos
The Vancouver Folk Music Festival runs July 19 to 21 at Jericho Beach Park
SINGER-SONGWRITER-ACTIVIST Iris DeMent, Grammy-nominated The Milk Carton Kids, Grammy-winning Côte d’Ivoire musician Dobet Gnahoré, and Niger’s desert-blues-guitar-based Etran De L’Aïr: The 2024 Vancouver Folk Music Festival is shaping up to be another epic event. Complementing the artistry from around the world are other hallmark fest features, including food and drink, the artisan market, and kids’ offerings at the Little Folks Village. Here’s a glance at some of the non-concert highlights that VFMF will be rolling out this year.
Boteco Brasil Food Truck.
Food and drink
With close to 30 food and beverage vendors on-site, there’s something for every palate.
At Pete’s Eats, Dim Sum Express will be pan-frying shrimp, pork, and vegetable dumplings with sticky rice and serving up spring rolls, barbecue-pork buns, and chow mein, while Crack On will be on-site with its egg-focused gourmet beef, chicken, BLT, and plant-based sausage sandwiches with hashbrowns. Boteco Brasil Food Truck will have Brazilian chicken and cheese croquettes, plus beef, chicken, sausage, and veggie skewers, as well as feijoada, Brazil’s beloved black-bean stew in pork or vegan varieties. B&B Concessions is the place to find savoury (smoked salmon, chicken) and sweet (strawberry chocolate, Nutella, banana) French-style crêpes.
The Jerk Shack food truck is the place for jerk-chicken sandwiches; it will also be cooking up jerk-jackfruit sammies and Jamaican patties. G’s Donairs come in chicken, beef, and lamb varieties with freshly made sauces and Greek salad.
Taco Tigre.
Holy Taco & Mexi Eats is where you’ll find beef and chicken tacos along with agua de Jamaica, a hibiscus iced tea popular at traditional taquerias. Thai-food lovers will be lining up at Mugi for its plant-based curries, noodles, and salads; and at the Super Thai Food Truck, which offers chicken or shrimp pad Thai, chicken satay, and chicken, shrimp, and tofu curries. There’s Vietnamese-fusion food at The Taco Tigre, with dishes like pho fries, tacos, chicken banh mi, and pork-belly tacos, while plant-based cuisine is on the menu at Planted Love, with items such as falafel, fried oyster-mushroom sandwichs, and sabich bowls, the latter being an Israeli dish with fried eggplant and hard-boiled eggs.
Other vendors include Mama’s Fish & Chips, Teriyaki Boys, Urban Wood Fired Pizza, Gary’s Kettle Corn, JJ’s Hot Cobs, The Original Hurricane Potato, and Mister Artisan Ice Cream, to name just a few.
Hester Creek Estate Winery.
Pouring java are Aperitivo Coffee and Insomniac’s Coffee, while Juicy Green Express will be serving freshly squeezed lemonade, bubble tea, slushy drinks, and shaved ice.
New this year is a site-wide liquor licence, so people will be able to wander with a beer, wine, or cider in hand. Parallel 49 Brewing Company is the fest’s beer sponsor. For wine lovers, the South Okanagan’s Hester Creek Estate Winery has returned, and there will be artisanal ciders from Osoyoos-based Liber Estates.
The Welcoming by Mike Alexander of Thundercloud Designs, 36 x 48-inch acrylic painting on canvas, 2023.
Artisan Market
Nearly 30 makers and vendors will be on-site at the Folk Fest’s beloved Artisan Market, carrying everything from original art and clothing to leather goods and jewellery.
Find soap, shampoo, and skin lotion made from shea butter imported from Senegal and Ghana at African Fair Trade Society; proceeds go toward helping children and women in West Africa. Alchemy Fashions features organic cottons in men’s and women’s items, while sustainable sunglasses made out of bamboo are the specialty of Bambuddha. Bird Brothers Philanthropic Trading Company carries women’s and men’s clothing, bags, scarves, and jewellery from the Hill tribe people of Laos, Cambodia, and Indonesia; profits go toward helping those individuals and families. Kenyan artists make the olive-wood spoons and eco-friendly biodegradable sisal baskets at Boostani, which translates from the Swahili language to “garden”.
Handmade Northwest Coast Native art, along with artwork from North, South, and Central America, are for sale via Cheryl’s Trading Post, an independent, Native, family-owned and -operated business. Ugandan artisans make the soaps, scarves, wraps, tableware, and baskets on offer at Eco Mama’s Global Community Gardens, with profits going toward the building of eco-communities in that country.
Handmade basket by Boostani.
The Ivory Kraken Company is a First Nations-owned enterprise offering handmade beaded jewellery, while Iranian-born Farah Larki’s handmade jewellery and accessories at Larki Design are influenced by her ancestry and her extensive global travels. Terraria Studio, meanwhile, transforms hand-picked plants into wearable art; think moss, lichen, leaves, and flowers crafted into unique pieces.
Thundercloud Designs is the work of Anishinaabe visual artist Mike Alexander, a second-generation residential school survivor and 60s Scoop survivor. Duane Murrin incorporates graphic design into his colourful landscapes, which have been compared to psychedelic-inspired Group of Seven works. Dominique Montaño is a wildlife artist who uses watercolours, charcoal, inks, and various mixed media at Montaño Art. Lawrence Lowe does detailed ink drawing on paper, wood, stone, elk antler, and deer and elk hide on drums, as well as relief printmaking with wood and linoleum. Among the other market vendors are Capture+ Wire Jewelry, Felt You Up, Harmony Jewellery, Jasmine Pearl Schut, Liz Sax Ceramics, Mehndi by Iti, Ogilvie Designs Tie-Dye, Sylvan Temple Drums, and Unique Salish Art.
Red Bird and Friends. Photo by Yohei Shimomae
Little Folks Village
Located on the east side of the park just north of the main gate, the Little Folks Village is up and running on Friday from 3 pm to 5 pm and on Saturday and Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm.
Deer Crossing the Art Farm, a nonprofit community-engaged arts organization based near Gibsons, will be on-site with its interactive installation Eye of the Octopus. Partnering with shíshálh and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh knowledge carrier xets’emits’a Candace Campo, the team will transform a large fabric parachute into the spirit of an octopus, with storytelling, games, and creative play. Kids will also be able to make take-home art and puppets using harvested and re-purposed materials.
The Nylon Zoo by Angela Brown is an interactive, celebratory event for the whole family that takes place inside an inflatable sculpture of a red salmon. Storyteller Brunella Battista will dress kids in fun costumes and lead them in a parade and dance.
Kung Jaadee.
Kung Jaadee, who belongs to the X̱aayda (Haida), xwməθkwəy̓ əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Tlingit, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations and who is also part Hawaiian, will be on hand for storytelling, while Pete “Redbird” Graham and Friends will be at the fest teaching stilt-walking and juggling to people of all ages.
Concierto Desorden (Concerted Chaos) is a participant-friendly clown-musical show by BuenRostro that invites kids to celebrate Latin American children’s music. The Saint James Music Academy’s marimba ensemble will perform, as will the Sarah McLachlan School of Music’s student marimba ensemble; kids from the audience will be invited to play the marimbas. The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra will also be on hand giving ukulele lessons. 
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