More than 25,000 people are expected to descend on Minoru Park this Saturday for the second Richmond World Festival.
The festival won a national award in its inaugural year and the City of Richmond, which runs the event, is anticipating even more people to flock to the venue this weekend, with YouTube sensations Walk Off The Earth headlining, as well as top children and cultural entertainers and a diverse fleet of food trucks lined up.
The free, Labour Day weekend event was considered a huge success in its first year and, with a few tweaks, organizers hope it will eventually become a two-day party.
City spokesman Ted Townsend told the Richmond News preparations are in full swing to help welcome the crowds back to Minoru Park on Sept. 3.
“We’re always a little bit weather-dependent when you have an outdoor festival, but hopefully the rain will hold off for this weekend and we will build on the success of last year,” he said, adding the positive word of mouth that circulated among festival-goers last year bodes well for a strong crowd on Saturday.
“Plus, we’ve got a bigger and better lineup, so we expect to continue to build towards our vision, which is a weekend event. And for 2017, we are planning to move to two days.”
Townsend said it was a huge honour this spring for the event to win the award for Most Outstanding Event in Canada at the Canadian Event Industry Awards.
“We were up against some pretty stiff competition in that category that have some pretty high profile and big budgets. But it speaks to the success of the vision and execution of our festival,” he said.
“We took the cultural mish-mash that is Canada, B.C. and Richmond and tried to present that in the festival with music, food, sports and culture that went across the spectrum and provided something for everybody.”
Asked if that now raises the bar for this year’s event, Townsend said he doesn’t feel it makes it tougher.
“We achieved what we were aiming for in 2015 and now we’ve got a new vision for 2016 and are working hard to achieve that and build for future years,” he said.
One of the big changes for this year is to hold more events indoors on the grounds of Minoru Park.
“We have a lot of activities planned in the Cultural Centre, as well as the plaza outside,” Townsend said. “That gives us a new footprint and new activities that we didn’t have last year.”
For example, inside, the library will host numerous family-based activities at its Imagination World that will include a performance by well-known children’s entertainer Will Stroet.
There will also be a host of interactive, multimedia activities that will be part of the Richmond Youth Media Festival.
Cinevolution’s Your Kontinent Digital Carnival is also back for another evening of innovative audio-visual storytelling at the Richmond World Festival. According to organizers, this year’s Digital Carnival will celebrate cutting edge digital technology and promising media artists from the Lower Mainland and Canada.
Visitors can look forward to unique and compelling pieces that incorporate sound, image, movement and more. The Digital Carnival runs from 7:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Some activities starting on Friday afternoon will take place on a single venue called The Bamboo Theatre Stage outside the Richmond Cultural Centre, which is organized by the Vancouver Cantonese Opera Society and will feature music and dance from around the world.
The festival will also feature more than 60 music and dance performances on other stages dotted around the park.
Headlining the festival will be Ontario-based Walk Off The Earth, the reigning Juno Group of the Year-winning band that has garnered a considerable following on YouTube.
As for how visitors can best enjoy the festival this year, Townsend said the most important thing is to come armed with a sense of adventure.
“This will be a great opportunity for people to try something they have never experienced before,” he said, alluding to the wide array of live performances, plus an array of food choices provided by the 40 or so foods trucks that will be on site.
“If you’re willing to be adventurous you can check out the Cantonese opera and find out what it takes with all the makeup and costumes to create the characters that take part in Chinese opera,” he said. “And give yourself lots of time to visit the various stages.”
Since parking in the area is always at a premium, Saturday’s festival will be no exception.
So, on the day, visitors are encouraged to take public transit or other forms of transport to the site.
For those who do drive, the south parkade at Richmond Centre and Richmond City Hall lot will be set aside for festival traffic. For more information on the Richmond World Festival, visit online at RichmondWorldFestival.com.
