Presented by The Strathcona BIA

This July, we’re celebrating Strathcona’s vibrant café culture with a neighbourhood-wide cafe crawl and contest that showcases the range of third-spaces in Strathcona, and rewards the people who champion our local economy. From July 7th–30th, 2026, visit participating cafés throughout Strathcona, enjoy your regular or discover something new, and enter for a chance to win a $100 gift card from the cafés you visit.

Participating Cafés

• Rumor Cafe
• Eden Cafe
• Pallet Coffee
• Prototype Coffee
• Railtown Cafe
• Tommy’s Wholegrain Bakery
• Rise Up Marketplace
• Doe Coffee
• HAVE Cafe
• Peace and Culture Coffee
• The Garden Strathcona

How It Works

1. When you visit a participating Strathcona café, write your contact information (name & email address/phone number) on the back of your receipt.
2. Drop your receipt into the contest box located inside the café. Your entry will be eligible for that café’s $100 gift card draw.

To enter without making a purchase, email contest@strathconabia.com during the Contest Period with:

• Your full name
• Email address
• Telephone number
• The participating cafe’s draw you’d like to enter
• A 50-word essay describing how you’d spend a day in Strathcona.

Eligible no-purchase entrants should indicate which participating café they wish to enter and will receive one (1) entry into that café’s prize draw.

At the end of the campaign, one entrant will be randomly selected from each participating café’s entries to receive a $100 gift card to that café. So whether you’re kick-starting your day, meeting a friend for lunch, or picking up something on your way home, your visit is another opportunity to win while supporting Strathcona’s café cluster. 

Contest Rules

• Contest period: July 7, 2026 at 12:00 AM PST to July 30, 2026 at 11:59 PM PST.
• This contest is open to BC residents, age 19 and above, excluding café and Strathcona BIA staff.
• Any qualifying purchase transaction at a participating café is eligible. There is no minimum purchase value.
• Participating cafés are limited to Strathcona cafés that have the contest box. For cafés with multiple locations, only the Strathcona location with the contest box is regarded as a participating café.
• Only one (1) entry is permitted per purchase transaction. Multiple entries are permitted, provided each entry is supported by a separate qualifying purchase transaction.
• Entries must include a legible/valid name and contact information (phone number/email address).
• For no-purchase entries, entrants must write a 50-word essay on the topic “How I’d Spend a Day in Strathcona”.
• One winner will be selected from each participating café.
• A total of 11 prizes are available to be won. Each prize consists of a $100 gift card.
• A single $100 gift card will be won at each participating café. (approximate retail value: $100 CAD).
• Each winner will receive one (1) $100 gift card to the participating café from which their entry was selected.
• Random draw will occur on or around Thursday August 6, 2026
• Prizes will be awarded by the Strathcona BIA.
• The odds of winning depend on the number of eligible entries received.
• Before being declared the winner, the selected entrant must correctly answer a time-limited mathematical skill-testing question administered by the Strathcona BIA.
• Selected entrants will be contacted within 5 business days following the random draw.
• Personal information is collected solely for administering the contest.
• The Strathcona BIA reserves the right to select another entrant if no response is received after five days.
• The Strathcona BIA reserves the right to modify or cancel the contest if necessary.

Ready to win? Start exploring cafes and start submitting those entries. Your next favourite spot awaits.

Come curious. Leave learned.

Asian-Canadian Special Events Association. One might simply be attending one of their major festivals for good eats and great music, but Managing Director Charlie Wu’s goal is that you leave with more understanding of Taiwanese and Asian culture. In this interview, he tells us about how it all started, why culture is more than just food and performances, and how curiosity can be a powerful tool for moving from multiculturalism to interculturalism. Please enjoy our conversation and visit the website to see the schedule for TAIWANfest happening from August 30 – September 1.

Please tell us about your organization.

I’m the Managing Director for the Asian-Canadian Special Events Association. That’s the organization that took over TAIWANfest back in 2009. Prior to that, the festival was called Taiwanese Cultural Festival and was organized by another charity, the Taiwanese Canadian Cultural Society. I was part of that organization, but because the festival expanded, we had to form another organization to oversee it. Then we expanded in 2010 as the Cultural Olympiad was looking for a partner in organizing events for Asian communities, and we were brought in to create our second event, LunarFest, a legacy event from the Cultural Olympiad in 2010. We’ve put on LunarFest over the years, and it’s still a flagship festival in the wintertime. I also lead another organization called The Society of We Are Canadians Too, which was founded after Canada celebrated its 150th anniversary. We felt that there was a need to focus beyond the Asian community, so The Society of We Are Canadians Too was established to speak to this concept of interculturalism especially from the newcomers and the first-generation perspective. With this organization, we organize the Jade Music Fest. It was created to elevate Chinese language music in Canada. Now we’ve sort of evolved to include more languages. In the past, most of our music festivals were primarily dominated by English or French artists and we didn’t have a lot of opportunities for people with different backgrounds to include their mother tongue into their work. Right now, we’re not seeing linguistic diversity within the music industry, and it isn’t just me saying this. The Canadian Live Music Association reports that there’s an under-representation of racially marginalized communities in the music industry. The Jade Music Festival is our answer to that. So we have these three festivals that we host on an annual basis, but we also build partnerships throughout. For example, we work with Vancouver International Film Festival, Vancouver International Children Festival, Vancouver Public Library, Museum of Vancouver, and the Dutch Cultural Association of BC. These are some of the partnerships that we coordinate programs with. In Strathcona, we work with the Eastside Arts Society and being here now, we’re trying to be part of the arts community as well.

Tell us about the move to Strathcona

We used to be in the South Marine area, and we didn’t see ourselves as a good fit, especially with our neighbours being businesses that didn’t know what we did. Since we hold our events in Downtown Vancouver and we have a lot of partners living and working in the Strathcona area, we thought it was time that we finally belonged to the arts community. It’s something we’ve been looking forward to, as our footprints are quite often in the East side.

Why is connecting people to culture important to you?

Being from Taiwan, I have always embraced the concept of diversity. Taiwan has Indigenous populations like Canada, and there are newcomers, say people from Southeast Asia and all over living in Taiwan. However, there’s a certain narrative that perhaps comes from past colonization and political situations. People didn’t know how Taiwanese people wanted to identify and thought they were just one group. I’ve seen that here in Canada as well, where people speak of Taiwanese people in a certain way, and I have to explain that we also have Indigenous populations, just like Canada, that aren’t Taiwanese or Chinese, that sort of thing. So that concept of diversity and allowing people to be who they are and have their own way of identifying themselves, it’s very important here in Canada. Sometimes we see cultures being presented in a very stereotypical and superficial way, reduced to the food that we eat, the outfits or the music, and this becomes attached to our identity, but it’s much more complicated. In Canada, we’re so lucky to be surrounded by different cultures and we wanted to make sure there’s an opportunity for everyone to be curious and realize that there’s more than the food. The curiosity factor is something that we want our events to address. When people come for the food, they just want to eat. That’s hunger, not curiosity. Curiosity says “Hey, I’m waiting for you to tell me something that I don’t know” because when people walk away from an event learning something new, that’s something that’s going to affect their lives.

Where do you get your inspiration from?

I love watching sports because of my upbringing. So I get a lot of inspiration from competition and teamwork. I’m inspired by people that work hard and try to be good at something, and this applies to everybody. It applies to artists, creatives and everyday people, because the success that we have is because of the people that we work with. I don’t do this myself, I have people that support the vision, and partners that I don’t always agree with, but we sit down and try to work together. I see a lot of sports analogies in my work. I need help from people, partners and institutions. I need people to be willing to listen to my stories, and I see this best represented in sports. 

Beyond ticket sales and attendance, what does a successful event look like? 

We used to be so focused on building attendance, setting ticket prices and such, sometimes because of commercial sponsorship that wanted us to do certain things, and that created a false perception about our events. Since we moved our events downtown, that’s never an issue anymore. We don’t have to worry about attendance because there are a lot of people on site. But it allows us to learn more about everybody else. Downtown Vancouver is not a neighbourhood that we are in all the time, so we’re mindful of the experiences of the people who work and live there, making sure that we’re not intruders. We want to be positive rather than a disturbance. We want to be that plus factor rather than the minus factor. Now over the years with these intercultural dialogues that we’ve created, people tell us that they didn’t know about their connection to Taiwanese culture. I tell this funny story of when we had the dialogue with the Dutch community. They set up a market as part of TAIWANfest, and it’d never been seen before. But there’s a historical connection, because the Dutch colonized Taiwan for over 30 years. So we reconnected because of this relationship. I remember overhearing two European-looking people ask “Why are we here?” And one person told the other “Hey, we used to colonize Taiwan”. So I think that’s the curiosity aspect, making people ask questions and dive into conversations, rather than, “Hey, this food tastes great” and that’s the end of it. 

What’s been the most challenging moment in your journey so far and what did it teach you? 

For me it’s presenting new aspects of culture to the community and they go, ” I don’t recognize this as Taiwanese culture.” That’s not because they’re not Taiwanese, but that even for them, there’s a part of discovery or exploration that they need to do. So presenting to a Taiwanese community, sometimes that’s a hurdle. Some people don’t recognize it and so don’t see it as a part of them, but as we’ve grown, people now expect to attend TAIWANfest and learn a bit of the past that they didn’t know, and learn about other cultures that are connected to theirs. It took a bit of time before we built this reputation, but in the beginning, it was very hard. 

What does the future of your organization and Asian-Canadian expression in Vancouver look like to you?

As much as our organization is Asian-Canadian and we do a lot of events from this perspective, I see it as a starting point to help our community to learn more about ourselves. Ultimately, I think we all need to have a new perspective of what an intercultural Canada could look like. We all recognize our differences and we share our citizenship as Canadians, but that doesn’t mean that we have to give up our cultural heritage. In my ultimate vision of the future, all cultures are regarded as mainstream, and I think Canada has a great opportunity to do just that. The multicultural policies were a good starting point, but now we have to move towards interculturalism. 

Hello, summer!

What better time to take advantage of our beautiful Vancouver weather than to plan a tour through some of Strathcona’s historic and colourful neighborhoods. 

For moments when friends or family visit from out of town or you’re craving to do something a little different without going too far, we have a list of some self-guided and guided tours for you to choose from. Find a few of our favorites below!

Curated Tastes – Gallery Tour

Curated Tastes is Vancouver’s first and only art mediation company that creates fun and engaging tours for anyone looking for something different to do in Vancouver. No previous art knowledge or experience is necessary! 

• Discover 2 art galleries in Strathcona
• Learn about contemporary art
• Learn how to appreciate and talk about art
• Meet curators, artists and gallerists 
• Discover a new face of Strathcona 
• Make new friendships over a sample beer or wine (depending on route) at one of Strathcona’s iconic breweries. 

• Price per person: $ 33 (early bird) / $36 (regular)
• Saturdays 12pm-2pm 
• Social distancing and masks in indoor spaces are recommended
• Groups will be limited to 12 attendees + 1 tour guide

Powell Street Walking Tour

Uncover the hidden history of Vancouver’s pre-war Japanese-Canadian community. 

It is not common knowledge that prior to the Incarceration, Displacement and Dispossession of 1942, the Powell Street corridor was once the home to 8000 Japanese Canadians and over 400 Japanese-owned businesses. Today, there is an abundance of remaining history and architecture that tells the story of a community that thrived in this unique area of Vancouver!

• $10 for the general public | Free under 18 
• Masks and socially distant spacing will be required.
• Groups will be limited to 8 attendees + 1-2 tour guide(s)

Tours can be offered in Japanese. 

Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/historic-powell-street-walking-tours-vancouver-bc-tickets-152774682187

Strathcona Mural Tour 

If you’re looking to plan or head out on a spontaneous self-guided mural tour Strathcona is the perfect start. The Strathcona neighbourhood is filled with the city’s second-highest concentration of murals within walking distance of each other, with a few delicious stops on the way. Head East on Cordova St. towards Campbell Ave. to catch some great street art then loop around to Hastings to stop for a cold drink or bite at Strathcona’s favourite The Heatley. 

There are also some special guided tours happening this year as part of the Black Strathcona Resurgence Project (BSRP). The Black Strathcona Tour runs 10am Friday, Saturday, and Sunday every week from Aug.4-22. Discover the BSRP Year 1 murals and the cultural history of the Hogan’s Alley neighbourhood led by Vancouver DeTours guide Alasdair Butcher, BSRP Curator Krystal Paraboo, and a special guest expert from the Black community. Tours are by donation.

Sunday August 22, the BSRP Bike Tour is happening. Jump on your wheels and experience the magic of murals produced by Black artists across the city on a special bike route. There will be multiple group riding slots throughout the day and an opportunity to learn about the history of the Strathcona neighbourhood.

Download the Vancouver Mural Fest app or visit their website for a full map of murals throughout Strathcona and the remainder of the city. 

Brewery Tour

Are you really experiencing Strathcona if you haven’t taken in one of our many breweries? We have you covered. Get your squad together and take a tour to a few (or all) of our fabulous breweries – there are a total of five to choose from! 

To plan your own self-guided tour through Strathcona’s breweries visit our website for a full list of locations 

For a guided tour through Strathcona Brewing and Luppolo Brewery and a few other East Vancouver breweries visit Canadian Craft Tours. 

We can’t wait for celebrations again.

It’s been a challenging year for Vancouver and the rest of the world. One that has kept us distanced from almost everyone we know and missing the times when we could get together, eat, laugh and celebrate with our family and friends. 

A year of doing our part to flatten the Covid-19 curve has left nearly every planned event resulting in cancellation. Weddings and birthdays were reduced to small bubbles or postponed all together, baby showers and other accomplishments were and still are being celebrated virtually. As vaccines roll out and we hope to slowly get back to our normal lives we’re keeping our spirits up for an end to restrictions on gathering with loved ones. 

Strathcona is home to a number of companies that work to help special events of all sizes look and feel their best. Whether you’re planning a small celebration with your close circle or a big, fat, post-Covid bash these four businesses can help bring the “wow” to your upcoming festivities. 

Check out our list below to learn more about these local Strathcona businesses.  

Please remain aware of B.C’s current restart plan and restrictions before attempting to plan an event or celebration outside of your bubble. All businesses mentioned are currently operating while following B.C’s mandated health and safety measures. 

Four Strathcona Businesses to Hire for your Next Small Event.

Meyer’s Floral Company

The first thing that comes to mind when thinking about taking any celebration decor to the next level is flowers. And as most of us can agree that the foundation of every special event is the decor.  

Meyer’s Floral Company has been distributing wholesale flowers to Vancouver and the lower mainland for over 30 years. Located in Strathcona at 1209 Adanac Street in Strathcona, Meyer’s creates some of the most beautiful bouquets we’ve seen on this side of the viaduct. Consider this Strathcona small business when planning the flowers for your next wedding, celebration or other event. 

The Garden Strathcona

A hidden gem in the heart of Strathcona, The Garden is a cozy and lush space to host your next local small event. 

A 1200sft space with large, bright windows that can be rented with amenities such as sound system, banquet tables, chairs, catering and more. The studio can also be rented alongside the accompanying downstairs cafe for small weddings, events, film shoots and more. A unique space to rent for your next event or just to grab a coffee and take in the vibes.

Cocktails & Canapes

The star of the show at any event is almost always the food, so impress your guests with some of the yummiest catering Strathcona has to offer. From canapes, to food stations, to fine-plated dinners, Cocktails & Canapes specializes in creating a culinary experience with their world-class cuisine that’s sure to elevate your next celebration. To extend their business offerings during COVID they now also feature a delivery brunch box for special occasions like Mother’s Day.

Debut Event Design

Take your event dreams and bring them to reality. 

Debut Event Design is a Strathcona-based business and a must-have for the design of your next celebration – big or small. If you’re planning a wedding then you’re in luck, Debut Event Design insists on creating a unique and memorable design that you’ll never forget. If you’re just looking for help with rentals such as furniture, backdrops, and more they do that too. There is no limit to the event goals you can reach with this Vancouver company.