Powell Street Festival

Powell Street Festival 【パウエル祭】Japanese Canadian art & culture summer festival, plus year-round programs and events! The Powell Street Festival takes place every BC Day long weekend.

Powell Street Festival (PSF) is the largest event of its kind in Canada and the longest running community arts festival in the Lower Mainland. We provide a venue for emerging and established, professional and amateur, and traditional and contemporary artists in the Japanese Canadian and Asian Canadian communities. We also participate in co-presentations with other arts organizations throughout the year and produce our own programming as part of an annual season.

Join us on Sunday, June 7th for the 18th Annual Asahi Tribute Game! ⚾️☀️This year, we have moved the Tribute Game to the...
05/29/2026

Join us on Sunday, June 7th for the 18th Annual Asahi Tribute Game! ⚾️☀️

This year, we have moved the Tribute Game to the summer in hopes of better weather! This event will be in partnership with the DUDES Club of Vancouver: a local organization that creates participant-led spaces for men’s health and wellness that is grounded in supportive relationships, access to health care, and Indigenous worldviews. Together with DUDES Club, we are excited to bring the community together for a day of baseball, connection, and celebration!

This event is open to everyone regardless of any baseball experience. We will learn how to play the game in the morning, enjoy hot dogs for lunch, then wrap up the day with a community baseball scrimmage at Oppenheimer Park, which was the historic home field of Vancouver’s Asahi Baseball Team from 1914 to 1941.

Thank you to our community partners: Carnegie Community Centre, WePress, The Hub, the City of Vancouver, Vancouver Japanese Languge School & Hall, our friends at Oppenheimer Park, and the DUDES Club of Vancouver.
Link in bio to sign up!

Welcoming the 2026 Japanese Canadian Youth Cohort: Trevor, Kailey, and Iene! Now in its fifth year, this expenses-paid 1...
05/28/2026

Welcoming the 2026 Japanese Canadian Youth Cohort: Trevor, Kailey, and Iene!

Now in its fifth year, this expenses-paid 10-day Festival Production Residency brings together Japanese Canadian youth raised outside of Greater Vancouver to explore Japanese Canadian identity as vibrant and vital through hands-on Festival work, cultural field trips, and intergenerational exchange in Paueru G*i (Powell Street area).

This program is made possible through the generosity of our donors, thank you for helping us continue to grow and sustain this opportunity year after year!

Learn more about the program and meet this year’s incredible cohort on our website!

05/22/2026

Thank you to everyone who joined us at the book talk for Return to Paueru G*i! Alongside performances by UBC Bujutsu and Uzume Taiko, attendees enjoyed a thoughtful conversation with editor Emiko Morita and contributors Charlie Smith and Julia Aoki, moderated by Margaret Gallagher.

We’re grateful to everyone who came together to celebrate the book, shared memories, and exciting performances.

05/19/2026

Postcard packs available for purchase on our website!

We are deeply honoured and grateful. At our 50th Anniversary Dinner & Celebration, the Hirai family presented a landmark...
05/13/2026

We are deeply honoured and grateful. At our 50th Anniversary Dinner & Celebration, the Hirai family presented a landmark gift of $250,000 to the Powell Street Festival Society.

This extraordinary contribution reflects a shared commitment to Japanese Canadian arts, culture, and community; values that have connected the Hirai family, Fujiya, and PSFS for nearly five decades. From the earliest days of the Festival, Fujiya has been more than a neighbour and supporter; it has been a gathering place and a cultural anchor within Paueru G*i on Powell Street, helping shape the spirit of community, resilience, and celebration that defines this neighbourhood.

We extend our heartfelt thanks to the Hirai family and Fujiya for their generosity, and for their enduring belief in the importance of community-led cultural spaces. Their support goes far beyond this moment, it is part of a long-standing relationship built on care, trust, and shared history.

This transformative gift will establish PSFS’s inaugural endowment fund, strengthening the long-term sustainability of the Festival and helping ensure that Japanese Canadian arts, culture, and community programming continue to thrive for generations to come.

We are deeply grateful as we look ahead to the next 50 years, inspired by this legacy of generosity and connection.

Our Next 50 Years!As we step into our next chapter, we're launching our inaugural endowment fund with the Vancouver Foun...
05/13/2026

Our Next 50 Years!

As we step into our next chapter, we're launching our inaugural endowment fund with the Vancouver Foundation to secure our programs to and sustain our festival for generation to come.

This journey belongs to all of us, volunteers, artists, attendees, mentors, advocates, and friends. Lets build the next 50 years together!

We raised our sake cups, savoured every bite of salmon, danced the night away, and felt the warmth of a community that truly makes this all mean something. Thank you to everyone who joined us, you made the evening unforgettable. More photos coming soon to our website, so stay tuned.

photos by Matthew Chun

Instagram Ticket GIVEAWAY We’re excited to partner with for the chance to win 2 free tickets to an all ages film by Shi...
04/23/2026

Instagram Ticket GIVEAWAY
We’re excited to partner with for the chance to win 2 free tickets to an all ages film by Shingo Ota called Numakage Public Pool

“For over 50 years, Numakage, a public swimming pool complex called the “ocean” within a landlocked city in the suburbs of Tokyo, has served as a much-loved place for the elderly to improve their health, as a leisure facility for children and families, and as one of Japan’s best-known cruising pools for gay men. However, the urban development plan forces the pool to be demolished, ignoring the opposition of many residents and generating a sense of loss in the community. With Numakage Public Pool, Shingo Ota explores the nature of grief by using five psychological processes of denial, anger, negotiation, depression and acceptance, as examined by the psychiatrist Kübler-Ross, and questions the importance of loss that is usually only associated with human death.”

To enter:
Follow +
Like this post
Tag someone you’d bring to this screening (each comment = 1 entry)

WIN: 2 tickets to the screening plus Q&A
VIFF Centre Saturday, May 2 5:00pm

Giveaway Closes: Next Thursday, April 30th at 4pm
Winner announced via social media message!


We’re hiring 🎉The Powell Street Festival Society is looking for 3 Production Assistants to help bring the 50th Annual Po...
04/22/2026

We’re hiring 🎉
The Powell Street Festival Society is looking for 3 Production Assistants to help bring the 50th Annual Powell Street Festival to life!
From May 19 – August 21, you’ll be part of a collaborative, fast-paced team supporting one of Canada’s longest-running community arts festivals.

✨ G*in hands-on experience in event production
✨ Work alongside artists, vendors & community leaders
✨ Build real skills in logistics, outreach & festival operations
✨ Be part of a milestone 50th anniversary celebration

📍 Vancouver
Hours: (35–40 hrs/week)
Pay: $21-23/hr (commensurate with experience)
Apply by 11:59pm May 10, 2026

If you’re organized, adaptable, and excited about community-based cultural work, we want to hear from you. Find more information on our website!

Send your resume + cover letter to [email protected]

Tickets are now live 🎉Join us for a special evening celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Powell Street Festival Socie...
04/01/2026

Tickets are now live 🎉

Join us for a special evening celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Powell Street Festival Society. This milestone brings together years of community, supporters, and friends to honour our shared history and look ahead to the future.

Inspired by the original 1977 Centennial Stage, this year’s design reflects our roots while marking 50 years of community and culture.

Enjoy performances, a festival themed dinner, and meaningful connections as we celebrate past, present, and future.

🎟️ Purchase your tickets on our website
📅 May 8, 2026
📍 Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre, Hayashi Hall

📷 Tamio Wakayama, 1977

We are excited to announce that a feature performance by Katari Taiko will mark the opening of Return to Paueru G*i: 50 ...
03/19/2026

We are excited to announce that a feature performance by Katari Taiko will mark the opening of Return to Paueru G*i: 50 Years of Powell Street Festival at the Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre!

Katari Taiko, the first taiko ensemble in Canada, was formed in 1979 by Japanese and Asian Canadian activists and artists, some of whom helped produce the first Powell Street Festivals. The founding members were inspired by the Japanese American taiko groups that performed in the early years of the festival. Current members of Katari Taiko continue to respect traditions, to support creativity and to honour Japanese Canadian, Asian Canadian and Indigenous histories and cultures.
The group creates and performs original taiko music that incorporates vocals, martial arts, dance, poetry and theatre under the umbrella of the Katari Taiko Drum Group Association, a non-profit, charitable organization established in 1984 to promote the knowledge of Japanese drumming in Canada.

While the opening night is sold out, the exhibition is open to the public through September 5th 2026, be sure to experience the memories and celebration of the past 50 years!

Address

410/111 West Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC
V6B1G4

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 5pm
Tuesday 10am - 5pm
Wednesday 10am - 5pm
Thursday 10am - 5pm
Friday 10am - 5pm

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