Steveston Salmon Festival returns for its 77th year

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“Canada’s biggest little birthday party” is returning for its 77th year to Richmond’s Steveston Village on Monday.

The family-friendly Steveston Salmon Festival will feature live performances, parades, wood-fired salmon, and other programs and attractions.

Presented by the City of Richmond, Steveston Community Society, and Richmond Agricultural and Industrial Society, the annual event is one of the country’s largest Canada Day celebrations.

“There’s plenty of different style foods around, which is great, and I think the entertainment is really exciting, too,” says Alan Clark, president of the Steveston Community Society.

“The groups [are] going all day, and our theme for the stage [performances] is music through the ages, so we’re starting [with] the 60s, 70s, and working all the way up. We’ll have [an] Elvis [tribute artist] there and all different types of people. So I think there’s music for everybody.”

The event will kick off with a kids’ bike parade at 9:30 am, starting at the Gulf of Georgia Cannery parking lot and going down Moncton Street. There will also be people available to help children decorate their bikes ahead of the parade if they have not done so already, Clark says.

The main parade will start at 10:00 am at Garry Point Park, the route for which can be found online.

The live music will include headliners Dr. Strangelove, which is a dance band performing from 5:30 to 7:00 pm at the festival’s “Spirit of Steveston Stage,” and the Richmond-based group Midnight Cruiser at the “Catch of the Day Stage” from 4:00 to 5:00 pm.

Clark says the event has extended its live music, which used to close at 6:00 pm.

The festival’s salmon bake, which is a meal for $20 including a dinner roll, potato salad, chips, and either bottled water or soda, will be available starting at 11:00 am near Steveston’s Richmond RCMP station.

At the Steveston Community Centre parking lot, there will also be a pancake breakfast available for a minimum $5 donation from 8:00 to 11:00 am, and chow mein between 11:00 am and 5:00 pm while supplies last.

There will also be more than 20 food trucks at the event, including Cazba Persian Grill, Taco Nori, and MJ’s Caribbean Cuisine.

A marketplace and trade show are among the other attractions, as well as Japanese cultural performances, displays, and activities at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre and Martial Arts Centre.

The event will also feature an art show in the community centre’s multipurpose room. For kids, there will be “Sammy’s Fun Zone” at the centre’s playground, which will include an appearance from the Sammy the Salmon mascot, and a youth zone.

Visitors should arrive early, as the roads close at 8:00 am and it is difficult to find parking, Clark says. Tomekichi Homma Elementary, McMath Secondary, and Lord Byng Elementary schools have parking, but they fill up quickly. 

There will be two free shuttle services available with departures about every 20 minutes. One line runs between Richmond City Hall and Britannia Shipyards from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm, while the other route travels between West Richmond Community Centre and the Gulf of Georgia Cannery from 12:30 to 7:00 pm.

Clark suggests visitors use the shuttles if they are coming from outside the Steveston area.

In the past, he says the festival has attracted 60,000 to 80,000 people, with last year seeing between 70,000 to 80,000 visitors in the Steveston Village.

“A lot of people don’t even know all the good things that are going on in Stevenson, so it’s a great day for them to wander around and see all that stuff and even go up on the dike and go along the trails, which is good, too,” he says.

The first festival started as a sports day event in 1944 by the fishermen and farmers in the area to fundraise for a playground, Clark says.

“It’s all about family and community.”

Visit www.stevestonsalmonfest.ca/ for more information.