The Vancouver Bubble Tea Festival returns with a taste of Taiwan
The second annual festival will be bigger than ever with various events this weekend
The 2nd annual Vancouver Bubble Team Festival will be serving up a taste of Taiwan at Swangard Stadium in Burnaby from July 7 to 9. (Submitted/Pexels/RDNE Stock project/Keet Kailey)
This summer is bubbling up with refreshing festivities like the second annual Vancouver Bubble Tea Festival which returns to Swangard Stadium in Burnaby from July 7 to 9.
In addition to bubble tea vendors, there will be street food and various forms of entertainment like movies, stage performances, and games.
“We want to make it more fun because so many people will say, ‘Oh, if it’s only bubble tea, [we] can just buy from the shop,’” says Eric Yang, founder of the chairman committee for the Vancouver Bubble Tea Festival.
“We try to bring all kinds of fun elements into one festival and make [it] more like a friends-and-family oriented festival, and it’s quite cool.”
Bubble tea vendors include Chatime which has over 1000 locations worldwide in 26 countries, and Gram Cafe & Pancakes, originally from Osaka, Japan, amongst many more.
“We created our own bubble tea as well. So we have three flavours of bubble tea and we named [each] inspired from the beautiful things of Burnaby.” Yang says. The three flavours are called Rose of Burnaby Mountain, Maple in the Lake Fork, and Hollywood North Cranberry Amphitheaters.
Yang says the creation of the festival started with a visit back to Taiwan in 2019.
“My friends took me to a few different cities, some which I’d never been there before. Then I realized, ‘Hey, it’s kind of cool,’ it’s different than my expectations,” he says.
When Yang came back, he decided to put on a bubble tea festival to show people the different styles of Taiwan through the drink.
“I think [bubble tea] may be the most popular thing that came from Taiwan,” Yang says. “Not only in Canada, it’s also quite popular in [the U.S.], in London, even in Japan.”
He also founded the Canadian Community Action & Restorative Empowerment Society, which helps youth who are trying to get settled in Canada. The event works to generate income to help those wanting to start up a business here.
The event is themed “Taste of Taiwan,” to showcase the diversity in bubble tea throughout the country.
“[Attendees] can feel like [they’re] walking in Taiwan because drinking bubble tea is not only a beverage, it’s binded to people’s lifestyles,” Yang says.
There will also be various sites featured at the event, which Yang says hold significance for Taiwan.
The site Ximending is named after a neighborhood in the Wanhua District of Taipei, Taiwan, an area for students to hang out after school. Raohe Street, another site at the festival, is named after the Raohe Street Night Market, a popular food destination also in Taipei.
Site Yongkang Street is named after the street in Taipei and was ranked as one of the most popular streets in the world. Site Jiufen Old Street is also named after the street in New Taipei City and is a popular tourist attraction in Taiwan.
“Last year, we had 65 booths and this year, we have 103 so far,” Yang says.
Around 22,000 visitors attended the Bubble Tea Festival last year, with more than 65 per cent being 39 years of age and under, which is why other festivities such as games and movies were added to the festival, Yang says.
The event is open from 3:00 pm to 10:00 pm on July 7, 12:00 pm to 10:00 pm on July 8, and 12:00 pm to 7:00 pm on July 9.
To learn more about the festival and to purchase tickets, visit www.vanbubbleteafest.ca/.
