City considers car-free days and expanding Burnaby Blues and Roots

As part of the city’s efforts to enliven Burnaby’s streets, a new staff report came to council on Tuesday, Feb. 11, with suggestions for improvements and enhancements to the city’s cultural events, especially free ones. 

After coming close to cancelling Burnaby Blues and Roots Festival, which Coun. Joe Keithley described as “old cornball” during a February 2024 council meeting, the city decided instead to keep the festival and possibly rejuvenate it to attract younger, more diverse crowds. 

According to the staff report, the city’s efforts may have paid off, with an increase in attendee numbers during the 2024 festival. 

“Burnaby Blues and Roots Festival, in particular, was a success after council reinforced the importance of continuing the well-established event. The lineup, including Mavis Staples, Calexico, and Chrystal Shawanda, drew an estimated 9,000 people to the site. Total costs of the event were reduced by over $160,000 from 2023,” the report said. 

The report noted that attendance at the city’s free cultural events increased by 500% since 2019, with more than 150,000 people attending Burnaby’s events in 2024. 

“StreetFest on Central and Central Spark are estimated to have increased attendance by 10,000 people at each event. Other free cultural experiences offered by the Culture Division are also experiencing high demand; the Burnaby Village Museum (BVM) had seen a dramatic increase since 2019 when gate attendance was under 175,000. In 2023, this number rose to over 272,000 and was still high at 227,600 in 2024. In both years, 54% of the BVM’s total gate attendance occurred during the Heritage Christmas program,” the report said. 

During the Feb. 11 meeting, council members discussed the possibility of expanding the Burnaby Blues and Roots Festival (BBRF) and introducing car-free days. 

The report submitted to council provided five options for the BBRF, including a second stage, daytime activation, and even a weekend-long festival. The options ranged in cost from $12,000 for daytime activation, to $52,000 for a second stage and $175,000 for a weekend-long event. The various options sparked some discussion among council members. These costs would be in addition to the existing budget for the event, which is around $600,000.

“Not too keen on any of them, because they cost a lot more money. I will say just stick to what we did in the past and have a one-day event. Maybe you can start it an hour earlier or something so people can go home earlier, but I’m not sure that adding another stage on the east lawn would improve much,” said Coun. Pietro Calendino. 

Most councillors favoured introducing a second stage, outlined in option one of the options included in the report, but without any activation at the Burnaby Village Museum, which would cost around $40,000.  

The report also provided options for introducing car-free days in either Edmonds or Metrotown on Beresford Street. Councillors welcomed the idea to some extent; however, some remarked on the high cost of car-free days. The council report outlined three possible options. The first had a projected budget of $675,000 and assumed “a complex road closure with a large footprint and contracting of programming and production support similar to other major city-produced festivals.” 

The second and third options involved limited trials on Beresford Street or in Edmonds. The Beresford Street option was projected to cost $295,000, while the Edmonds option is estimated to cost $120,000.  

“I do like the pilot option of starting small and building from there. Option one seems very expensive for what it is. Beresford Street makes sense to me, especially since we’ve identified that street as a potential entertainment area in the future, and this would be a good test of that,” said Coun. Daniel Tetrault. 

Other councillors preferred the Edmonds option, considering its lower cost. 

“I would lean towards Edmonds because I think, really, that’s the area where a festival would be helpful. It is a driving business area. I’m sure the merchants on Sixth Street or Edmonds Street would be happy to participate,” Coun. Sav Dhaliwal said. 

Council will be discussing the options in more detail during its upcoming budget discussions. 

Council supports postal workers and Canada Post

City council also discussed correspondence from Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) about an Industrial Inquiry Commission upcoming review of Canada Post, which may result in changes to Canada Post. 

The correspondence requested that city council support efforts to keep Canada Post a public service, maintain universal service at a uniform price, expand services to diversify and generate new revenue streams without service cuts, avoid post office closures, and even introduce senior check-ins. It included a draft resolution for the city to sign and send to the Industrial Inquiry Commission reviewing Canada Post.  

“The resolution contains, as well, some practical ideas with regards to the improvement of those services, especially for those who need the most. I’d also like to thank again, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers for bringing this to our attention and for their continued advocacy, not just for their members, but to everybody and in our communities,” Coun. Maita Santiago said. 

Other council members supported it wholeheartedly, with Mayor Mike Hurley describing it as an attack on postal workers. 

“There’s no doubt that this is another attack on workers who many people feel should be working for less. Of course, that’s all part of the race to the bottom. And make no mistake, if they can get rid of Canada Post, it’ll go to the private sector, who will offer us a great deal for the first two years, and as always, the price will go through the roof after that,” Hurley said. 

Other councillors echoed the mayor’s sentiments regarding the postal service privatization. 

“If we look around the world, there is an attack on the public service everywhere, and if we see what has happened in the last two weeks just down south, we can see how destructive that can be. And going back a few months, we see that the government of the UK actually sold the Post Office service to a private corporation, not even a British corporation, but a foreign corporation. So you can imagine the type of service and the cost that people may incur when there is a private corporation that has to make a profit,” Calendino said.

This piece was made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.

Like what you just read? Do you support local journalism? Help us keep going—and growing.

Sign up for our once a week newsletter, or become an Insider to show your love for local reporters and writers.