One day each year Commercial Drive is closed to cars and is turned into a huge carnival. The theme is pretty loose, but mostly centers around how great it can be if there were no cars clogging up a vibrant street like the drive. Any myths around business dropping off without automobile access are quickly dispelled when you see the throngs of people taking advantage of such an opportunity.
Many restaurants on The Drive brought out their BBQ grills and cooked up tasty treats. The Portuguese Club of Vancouver (PVOC) was no exception and had their chicken rotissery going in addition to BBQing whole salted sardines and serving beer at $2.50 a glass. This guy has the jerry-rigged paintbrush, applying the infamous Portuguese Piri Piri sauce to the chicken. It was a bit epic getting our hands on a piece, but it was seriously worth it!
When we first passed the PVOC I ran into Bruno, the dude that cuts my hair. He hustled us into the club where we pushed our way through what seemed like thousands of soccer fans packed in to watch the Korea-France game. We got to the bar and Bruno had the bartender pour us up 3 small glasses of Port. We toasted life through the din of stoked soccer fans and a whole table of Brazillians playing hand drums, tamborines, and chanting. World travelling on a stay at home budget!
There was lots of live music going on. We stopped and watched this group of kids playing music of super-infectious Brazillian percussion genre. There were also several DJs set up along the street spinning tunes, scratching, mixing to appreciative dancers.The sun came out mid afternoon and the street was packed with people revelling in World Cup Fever and soaking in the car free Commercial Drive Groove.
1 comment:
Looks like fun. Wish I was there. Have a great weekend. This is 'deck building' time.
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