Car-Free Food Day
On Sunday 20 August 2017 from 12:00 to 19:00 (7:00pm) upwards of 5,000 people are expected to take Port Moody’s high street over from cars for the city’s inaugural Car-Free Day along St. Johns from Douglas to Moody Streets. As this is a City of the Arts, people will be greeted with a wide variety of artists (including performances on the main stage), artisans, fine craftspeople, arts organizations and other kinds of creative enterprise. And of course, there will be no shortage of exceptional local food and drink on offer over the course of the day.
Over 100 vendors have signed on to participate. “We’re thrilled with the overwhelmingly positive response from the Port Moody business community for our very first Car-Free Day,” Ron Higo, General Manager of Community Services, City of Port Moody told Port Foody. ” Food culture – the city has issued twenty food permits for the event.
The Brewer’s Row Beer Garden on Queens Street Plaza is as good a place to start your day or end it (or both) with a cold beer from one of Port Moody’s four breweries. From one end of St. Johns to the other, people will be able to sample the offerings of places such as Eden West, Mulino Italian Deli, the innovative Fuud meal delivery service, The Jerk Store, Gabi & Jules, and Sergio’s Pizza. A number of east side food establishments including Brew St. Craft Kitchen, Romer’s, The Little Butcher and Caffé Divano, will have satellite operations in the centre. Car-Free Day will even host the launch of a new Port Moody-based publishing enterprise, Sweetheart Bakery Press.
Some local establishments that line St. Johns Street including Golphis Steak and Lobster, St. Street Grill, Rocky Point Taphouse and Burrard Public House will feature patios with the latter three extending right out into the street. People will have a unique opportunity to sit and sample some tasty local fare right in a spot where cars would normally be zipping by. For its part, the Burrard Public House will have a licensed patio with 80 seats offering a special menu and drink specials. For the first time it will also allow families into the pub.
In the period since the refresh, rebrand and relaunch of Jake’s Crossing as The Burrard Public House six years ago, Port Moody has witnessed tremendous growth in the scale, quality and vitality of its food culture. It’s not hard to argue that the Burrard, in its almost-eighty-year-old building, was at the forefront of this changing culture. According to Roland Mueller, General Manager of the Burrard Public House, the fantastic reception the relaunch received proved their suspicions, that people were looking for a different kind of quality food and cocktails in Port Moody. This was well before the emergence of craft brewing in Port Moody and the Burrard started the first cask nights in the city. “There was a stigma that good food, craft cocktails and craft beer was only something you would find if you went into the city and we really wanted to change that,” said Mueller. “Car Free Day was the easiest thing I have ever said yes to.”
It was a short distance from the spring 2017 idea for a car-free day to the launch on 20 August 2017. It was propelled by the enthusiastic response from Port Moody individuals and businesses. Over the past few years the City has encouraged and supported events such as Ribfest, the Food Truck Festival, and Oktoberfest. According Ron Higo: “The success of these events is a reflection of the strong working relationship these event organizers have with the City.” It seems no coincidence that these events revolve around food for as Higo observes, “Food is a universal language between cultures and the City has embraced the value that this brings with the development of the sense of community and social vibrancy of life in the City.”
Over the course of the event we will be posting photos and updates on Port Foody’s facebook page. Follow along by clicking here.