Yup, yet another summer festival! After being disappointed with the Caribbean Days Festival last week, I had higher expectations for this weeks’: The Powell Street Festival! As for the festivities, according to their site, it is to celebrate the arts and culture of Japanese Canadians and Asian Canadians, to encourage Asian Canadians to take a leadership role in the development of the arts in Canada, and to foster community development through cultural events. However, I will have to say it is not that much Asian but mainly Japanese. Not complaining here! Enjoy this photo essay.
I couldn’t help myself snapping this picture!
Just as in most other festivals, there are vendors/stands.
Please, do NOT ask…
How about some dim sum candles? (They also had sushi candles!).
Martial arts demonstration. If memory serves me right, this was aikido.
And, here, iaido.
Despite the previous picture showing the instructor with a steel sword, here, they were using bokuto, aka, wooden swords. Just don’t call them big boys playing with wooden swords, OK?
In the main stand, something traditional vs. something modern. In the first instance, taiko drums; in the second instance, j-pop.
As for this watermelon, they do have an activity named watermelon smashing(suikawari)!
After going around, it was time for the food! Now, unlike some festivals, where the vendors are from actual restaurants, here they are mostly from small associations. Having said that…
There were a lot of people queueing in!
When you see all this wood, you should know some serious cooking is taking place, right? 
In this case, salmon!
This was $10; however, being a Japanese festival, I would be eating something else instead.
Beef curry; they had a vegetable version as well.
Manju, a confection
Yakisoba + korokke, potato croquette
No Japadog stand but I guess this would have served as a substitute. Sorry, did not order any of these…
Snow cone, similar to the Panamanian raspado. Shaved/scrapped ice with some flavoured syrup. In the second case, matcha with red beans.
Gyoza
Takoyaki. There was a HUGE line specifically for this one but I was not so enthusiastic… Sorry!
Grilled onigiri/rice ball
Now, finally, what I ordered, hehehehe.
Yakitori, or chicken skewers (2 pieces for $4). Made with pieces of dark meat, yummmmm!
Does this look like pancake? Yup, it is (sort of)! This is okonomiyaki. It was filled with cabbage and had some minced meat at the bottom. Quite interesting to share dish.
Hiyashi chuka, or as they call it, cold ramen noodle salad. This one was good. Cold noodles (could have been “colder”, though) with hints of sesame…
Finally, imagawayaki – think pancake batter filled with red beans. Oh, did somebody say taiyaki? ^_^
There were a couple of dishes I did not take pictures of, like inari sushi, aka, tofu pocket sushi and corn-on-the-cob. Overall, I will have to say the food was quite good, specially when the price is taken into consideration. If memory serves me right, the most expensive item in all the stands, aside from the salmon dinner, was the takoyaki ($5) and the manj?. If there was a fail in all this, it would have been the lack of table/dining area. As a result, I ended up sitting in any area available. But, past that, I will have to say I liked the festival itself so looking forward for next year already!
The Powell Street Festival 2009 closes on August 2nd.
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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Let me help fill in that ? mark you had for that one food item. Its a “u”. As in Manju.
Nice to see the festival had success this year, despite having to relocated temporarily to this location on Woodland Dr.
shokutsu, ah, somehow the macron didn’t go through correctly (it also happened to the “o” of bokuto). Fixed both instances. Thanks for that! But, yes, this is case where a festival will succeeded no matter where it takes place simply because people like it. However, if this is made permanent, can it still be called “Powell Street Festival”?
Fantastic photos of PSF! I think you really captured the essence of the festival, especially of the food. I especially loved the snowcone with the macha and red bean (name?). It’s even better with the scoop of ice cream. The other thing that really impressed me was the eco-conscious garbage collection, and the biodegradable bowls and spoons. I know it’s not a big deal for some people, but things like festivals (Richmond Night Market) create huge amounts of garbage. I think Vancouverites enjoy the food more when they don’t have to pretend there’s no eco-impact. Wish you had pictures of Rhythm Clash, the ethnic cool of the PSF: http://tinyurl.com/klaxrv
Alden, welcome and thanks a lot for your comments! Red bean -> azuki bean. Yes, I completely forgot about the eco-conscioness of the festival. I mean, when you have somebody standing beside those blue bins to make sure the garbage is sorted on the spot… Also, unlike a lot of other similar festivals, they had some faucets for you to wash your hands (not to drink, though!) – you just had to use the foot pump. Unfortunately, no pictures of that show down: I was in the festival on Saturday!
Those are very tantalizing pictures Kim. It’s making me hungry! I have to laugh at the watermelon picture, as I dropped one on the floor today and it smashed everywhere. It was so ridiculous that I laughed for hours.
Pleasure seeing you there last week – we had been going garage sale-ing with Ms mom and stopped by for only a short while. It was way too hot! I should have queued for the takoyaki, it was the best thing last year.
I also made it to the Pride Parade the next day, although no food adventures ensued.
Jessica, good to see you there too! Sorry I did not mention you in the original post. Had I done so, that might creative some expectations from readers – Hey, Jessica was there as well so… Where is her post?
Mmm! Ok, I’m totally sold! I need to go to this festival! Your pics are AWESOME!
Hey Kim,
I realize this post is really, old, haha, but I just found it and noticed you have a picture of me in it!
Peter
oishizo.blogspot.com
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