Parties in parks and more: What to do in June

Beaches and parks are filling up with people. The school year is crawling into its final days. Baby geese are growing into their feathers. These hallmarks of early summer and more mark the arrival of June.

June brings along Pride celebrations, Father’s Day, and reliably warm and sunny weather. With that sunshine comes outdoor activities and festivals of all stripes in communities across the Fraser Valley. Get ready to shop, snack, dance (and, in one case, jog for some reason) at a summery celebration near you.

The month of June starts out with a bang in Yarrow every year with Yarrow Days, a weekend of festivities and general small-town merrymaking.

This year marks the party's 51st anniversary. Beginning on June 3, the Yarrow Days festival will stretch across the first weekend of June and feature a family run, dinner and dancing, a parade, market, and more. This year’s event theme is “It’s always a beautiful day in the neighbourhood.”

Join in the festivities on Saturday morning for a by-donation pancake breakfast at the Canadian Reform Church and the Yarrow Family Run, both starting at 8 am. The run, also by-donation, sends joggers, walkers, and bikers along river trails for 2 to 5 km before returning them to the centre of town for pancakes. (Truly the best post-exercise meal.)

The small-town parade, which organizers last year called a “lost art,” will kick off from Yarrow Community School at 10 am as breakfast winds down. Afterwards, the Yarrow Pioneer Park will fill with vendors, activities, and live entertainment for the rest of the day. Local musicians, dancers, and puppeteers will perform. Kids can check out a climbing wall and petting zoo. The evening will conclude with a pig roast dinner and dancing from 6 to 11pm. Tickets for the dinner and dance are available online.

Saturday morning will also include a car show at the Yarrow United Mennonite Church from 8am to 12:30pm. Sunday morning will have a by-donation brunch and nondenominational church service in the park.

The organizers call it a celebration of small-town living, and warn that parking will be crowded. Guests are encouraged to arrive early (parking is first-come first-serve from 8am), or walk or carpool.

Festivals on the Fraser River

Yarrow isn’t the only town throwing a big party in a big park this month. Mission’s Fraser River Heritage Park will host a pair of exciting, family-friendly events this month. The Fraser Valley Children’s Festival, thrown by the Mission Arts Council, will take place in the park on June 11 from 10am to 4pm. The event is free, and will feature music, vendors and activities geared towards young children. Parking is by donation.

Later this month, the Greater Vancouver Food Truck Festival will return to Mission after a five-year hiatus on June 24 and 25. Eat tacos, chips, barbeque and more of your favourite festival fare—all sold from trucks, trailers, carts and tents.

Older revelers will also get a treat this year with the return of a beloved music festival south of Chilliwack. The Forest Echoes Music Festival hasn’t happened since the beginning of the pandemic but will hit the stage in the scenic parklands near Cultus Lake from June 30 to July 2 this year. The all-ages show will feature 15 musicians in various styles and camping on-site.

Father’s Day

Father’s Day is June 18 this year. While the day doesn’t always get the top billing that Mother’s Day sees, check out a few events set up to celebrate fathers across the Fraser Valley.

The Kirby Historic Site in Harrison Mills is hosting a Father’s Day celebration from 11am to 3pm, with craft beer for sale in the café and hands-on homesteading activities including water witching (a mysterious process used to locate water underground), fiddle music, and wooden toy making.

The Bez Arts Hub in Langley is throwing a parking lot party this Father’s Day, with a $15 fried chicken dinner and gospel choir concert outdoors from 1 to 4pm. The evening will hold a separately ticketed indoor concert featuring BC Entertainment Hall of Fame member and roots gospel singer Marcus Mosley. The event will also celebrate Juneteenth, a traditionally African-American holiday celebrating the end of slavery in the American deep south.

Pride month

June is also Pride month, the North American month-long celebration of LGBTQ+ people, communities, voices and lives. Though many of the Fraser Valley pride organizations throw their official celebrations later this summer, several events will pop up this month to mark the occasion.

The Trading Post in Langley is teaming up with One TWU, a LGBTQ+ group at Trinity Western University (read more about the group here), to host a Pride Weekend celebration at its Langley City Tasting Room location. The party will run from Friday, June 9, to Sunday, June 11, and will involve face-painting, a drag-show bingo, karaoke, and live music.

Corky’s Irish Pub in Chilliwack is hosting a pride month show at 8pm on June 1. A second show will happen (organizers call it the she-quel) on June 9 with local drag show legends in District 1881. And in Hope, Mountainview Brewing will host a pride-themed music trivia night on June 23 at 7pm.