Light Up Chinatown festival returns to Vancouver

For the fourth year in a row, the Light Up Chinatown festival is bringing food and entertainment to the historic Vancouver neighbourhood.

There will be live music and dance performances all weekend, and new to the festival this year is “Hawkers Lane,” a market offering street food dreamed up by 10 local chefs.

Also on offer is a passport program encouraging participants to collect stamps from local businesses for a chance to win prizes including gift cards, a signed Quinn Hughes jersey and tickets to upcoming concerts including Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish and Usher.

Last year, around 16,000 people attended the two-day event, said Carol Lee, chair of the Vancouver Chinatown Foundation, which puts on the festival. She added she hopes at least that many will come out this weekend.

“It is the time of year that we love the most because Chinatown really never looks better,” she told CTV News Saturday. “Everybody is getting ready for all these people to come and see what we have to offer, and I think that once they get down here they get a different sense of the community and its history.”

Lee said safety was organizers’ number one priority this weekend after three people were injured in a random stabbing attack during the festival last August. “We’ve been working very closely with the VPD,” she said, adding there will be an increased police presence at the festival and in surrounding areas.

Light Up Chinatown takes place in the 500 block of Columbia Street and runs from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.