In many ways, the crown jewels of the TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival are the free parties that bring tens of thousands of culture lovers to three very different public places: Granville Island, David Lam Park, and Robson Square.
Jazz will be heard on two free stages at Granville Island (a stage in the Public Market as well as in Performance Works) for the duration of the festival, but it'll truly take over the island on Canada Day when two additional stages are added: one in the Railspur District and the other in Ron Basford Park.
Yaletown gets the jazz festival treatment the weekend of June 29. Free performances featuring a mindboggling array of jazz talent will take place in the Roundhouses performance centre, exhibition hall, and studio, and on an outdoor stage in David Lam Park. There'll also be a family zone for the kidlets, and a food and artisan market on Drake Street.
But the biggie is the Downtown Jazz Festival Weekend taking place at and around Robson Square (including a couple of lanes of Howe Street) between noon and 9pm on June 22 and 23. More than 100,000 people are expected to turn out for the concerts (15 each day on three separate stages), as well as the food and artisan markets, two bistros, and the nightly dance parties next to the ice rink.
Here's Sabrina Furminger's list of her nine favourite free concerts.
