We don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Kitsilano (or indeed most places in Vancouver) is full of dulcet tones in the summertime. Irish accents everywhere.
So much so that Kits has earned itself an affectionate nickname from the influx of Irish visitors: County Kitsilano.
The phrase has been adopted by neighbourhood locals as a loving nod to how Kitsilano has become an honorary home to many expats here on the Canada Working Holiday Visa.
“Kitsilano has such a strong vibrant energy to it,” says Kevin Mircescu, a transplant from Dublin. “You can tell how well-knit the community is together.”
Mircescu arrived in Vancouver for a second summer in May and this time he’s hoping to stay, if all goes well.
He’s one of a group of friends who have taken their love for County Kitsilano and turned it into a line of merch they sell online.
The budding business owner says he met his fellow County Kitsilano founders on the job. “I was working in a bar at the beginning of the summer,” he recalls, “I was serving them, and we just started chatting. They were both really friendly and we started discussing how many Irish people were in Kitsilano.”
They had all heard the term County Kits before and knew more Irish people were likely arriving over the course of the summer so they began brainstorming fun ways they could create something to represent and welcome the sub-community.
“We wanted to create a hub or somewhere everyone could feel included,” says Mircescu.
The brand launched earlier this month with a collection of T-shirts, totes, and mugs with County Kitsilano on one side and a whimsical map of the area on the other.
Above the map is the Gaelic word for welcome: Fáilte go. "Fáilte go to County Kitsilano," it reads as a subtle if-you-know-you-know nod to the group who loves Kits so much.
What draws Irish visitors to Vancouver?
Looking at Vancouver through the eyes of a visitor can be a great way to gain a new perspective on the things locals might take for granted.
“In Ireland, we don't really have such a big city—you go downtown [in Vancouver and] you see all the skyscrapers—everything about it is so mind-blowing when you first get here,” says Mircescu.
“You see the pictures on Google and you're like ‘wow, this looks like a great place to stay,” he adds.
As for Kitsilano, “What’s not to like about it really?”
On his first summer in Vancouver, Mircescu was living downtown, but when came back this year he knew he wanted to be closer to Kits because that’s where he and his friends always seemed to end up.
“Don’t even get me started on the beach,” he laughs.
Mircescu thinks Irish people are drawn to the neighbourhood because of the proximity to amenities like community centres, sports fields, the pool, shops, and food.
“We have a Jamaican patty shop down the road, that's crazy. You’d never find that at home,” he says. “It’s everything that you could want for people that are just exploring, leaving the country for the first few times. You're going somewhere so new and so outgoing.”
