Summer festival season continues across Metro Vancouver this weekend, with events celebrating, dumplings, garlic, arts and literature all scheduled. Here’s what’s happening: BC Dumpling Festival For the fifth year in a row, Coquitlam’s Town Centre Park will host a celebration of all things dumpling this Saturday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. The BC Dumpling Festival features dozens of food vendors serving up filled dough bites from across cultures. There’s also a dumpling-eating contest, live music and dance performances, a community marketplace and a kids zone. Admission is free and a full schedule of events can be found on the festival’s website. Car Free Day Port Moody The party moves up the road to Port Moody on Sunday. Food vendors, musicians and local businesses will take over St. Johns Street between Queens and Moody streets from noon to 5 p.m. for Car Free Day. Port Moody’s is the third Car Fee Day festival in Metro Vancouver this summer, after Surrey and North Vancouver held their events in June. Additional Car Free Days are scheduled for later this month and next in Port Coquitlam, Burnaby, Maple Ridge, and Vancouver. More information on the Port Moody event can be found on the city’s website. Garlic Festival Richmond’s The Sharing Farm will host the annual Richmond Garlic Festival from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at its location in Terra Nova Rural Park. Featuring hundreds of pounds of locally grown garlic for sale, plus live music, a farmer’s market, birds of prey demonstrations, local vendors, farm tours and more, the event promises “a celebration of sustainable agriculture and local garlic.” Admission is by donation, with a suggested $5 minimum. Visitors are encouraged to arrive by bike or transit. Parking and shuttle buses are available off site. More information can be found on the farm’s website. Arts Alive Festival Head to downtown Langley on Saturday for the 30th annual Arts Alive Festival. More than 200 visual and performing artists will showcase their talents at the event. Guests can enjoy live performances, peruse artworks by local painters, potters, sculptors and jewelry designers, and dine on offerings from local restaurants and food trucks. The free event takes place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Fraser Highway between 204 and 206 streets in the City of Langley. Filipino Canadian Book Festival The Museum of Vancouver will play host to the Filipino Canadian Book Festival this weekend. Billed as “a literary and community gathering dedicated to celebrating Filipino/a/x and Filipino-Canadian writers, artists, storytellers and readers,” the festival will feature nearly 30 authors appearing across panels, workshops, a marketplace and community programming. The four-day festival runs Friday through Monday and admission to individual events is free, but online pre-registration is required. For the sports fans The Whitecaps and Lions are out of town this weekend, but the Vancouver Canadians are wrapping up a series against the Tri-City Dust Devils. Games are scheduled for Thursday night and Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Vancouver FC will welcome B.C. rivals Pacific FC to the stadium at Langley Events Centre on Friday at 6 p.m., while Vancouver Rise FC will host Halifax Tides at Swanguard Stadium on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. With files from MOVE 103.5’s Leanne McLaren
