One my way back from Grouse Mountain yesterday morning I decided to stop by one of my favourite places in North Vancouver and check out what was going on at Lonsdale Quay Market for the Olympics. They are in the middle of Winter Fest - in conjunction with the City of North Vancouver.
Lonsdale Quay is one of the transportation hubs for the Games – it is one of the pick up locations for the Olympic Bus Network. It is also where the SeaBus to downtown departs from. The SeaBus has proven to be extremely popular form of transportation during the Games, with wait times of up to one hours being reported over the weekend. I miss the SeaBus. I lived in North Vancouver for many years, and always loved taking it to/from downtown. It is such a neat and unique way to see the city.
The Market itself – regardless of their Olympic Programming is a great place to check out. Similar to Granville Island, Lonsdale Quay Market has a ton of food vendors – pick up some fresh off the boat seafood, fruit, pasta, cheeses as well as VQA wines from the Artisan Wine Shop. Take the time to browse through the other stores as well – they have some really cool stuff there.
The Olympic programming at the Quay is a little hit and miss. As with many things going on in the city, if you are there at the right time, there is a ton of stuff going on. Daily events include face painting and Balloon Sculptures for children and boat building demonstrations on the South Plaza. They also have large screens showing Olympic Events, Dance Lessons, music on the main stage, street performers and a variety of other things going on.
Close by the Quay is where the Russian Tall Ship the Kruzenshtern is docked. This 84 year old vessel is one of the tallest sailing ships in the world and is moored on the Lower Lonsdale Waterfront for the duration of the Games. The ship is open to the public daily from 10.00am to 4.00pm, with tours being available. Check here for more information or to book a tour.
Lonsdale Quay is definitely worth checking out if you want a break from the craziness of Downtown Vancouver. It is a slice of real life in Vancouver – away from the hoopla surrounding the Games. The Quay is a place many Vancouverites go on a daily basis. Make sure you stop by the Soup Meister… Fantastically delicious soup. So good!
4:50 pm
Extremely disapointing. Visited this moring with a group of 12+ Moms and Toddlers – no music, it had been cancelled, no Russian Ship – it wasn’t in the harbor that day – only 1 child friendly activity – all very poor in comparison with Valleyfest at Lynn Valley which we visted last week, which was FANTASTIC!
5:58 pm
Hey Suz, no coverage is being shown on the big screen TV, only advertising and no evening programming, Friday night at 9:00 it was dead. I’m very dissapointed as this is my hood!
I agree ValleyFest is much better.
11:34 am
Took the kids down to the Quay and had an amazing time. We looked at the schedule first online so we knew when the performances were on. The kids had a great time getting their faces painted and playing in the ballroom. We had lunch in the food court and watched the Olympic coverage on the TV screens, which are in fact showing the Games.
Winter fest was a blast! We headed up to Valley fest and had a wonderful experience there as well.
11:41 am
I’m glad you had a good experience, I think you watched the coverage on the screens in the food fare which is great but they do have the huge screen the same as Lynn Valley, just not sure why they haven’t set that up for coverage as well. I’d be at the Quay on Sunday for the men’s hockey and closing ceremonies if they do!
6:52 pm
Thanks for the comments all. I think as with many of the pavilions, timing is important! We try and give an accurate impression as we can on this blog. It can be hard when schedules change.