StrideFest 2025

Do you hear it? Can you feel it? Festival host The Long Table Society and Burnaby’s creative community bring you StrideFest 2025, a celebration of creativity and connection. Enjoy visual art displays and installations, live music, poetry, artist demos, workshops and more. With accessible and free family-friendly programming and exhibits spreading out from North Burnaby StrideFest serves as a colourful reminder that creativity is happening all around our city all year long. With this year’s theme Just Imagine!, anything is possible.

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Just Imagine! – StrideFest Arts at the Shadbolt
Extended art exhibition in the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts (atrium)
March 8 – April 12

The most StrideFest art in one place! Opening before and closing after StrideFest this extensive exhibition features exciting visual and written works by many of our StrideFest creatives. During StrideFest week from March 22-29 add a visit to nearby Christine Sinclair Community Centre, one of our many Art Walk host sites.
Check Shadbolt hours here.

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Just Imagine! Lighting Up the Night
City of Burnaby light display
March 22 from dusk to dawn (off from 8:30-9:30 pm for Earth Hour)
Location: City Hall and BC Parkway (Skytrain line) near Metrotown

This dazzling nighttime display connects every Burnaby citizen through the human language of art. It’s a luminous celebration of community and will remind everyone who sees it that creativity never sleeps. Our yellow, red and blue primary colours motif is an artful metaphor for the multitude of ways each of us can contribute to something bigger than ourselves.

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Art Walk
March 22-29, 24/7
Multiple locations

On our popular Art Walk you’ll discover diverse visual artworks from photography to painting to sculpture – all made by local artists and visible from the sidewalk. Don’t forget to check out the products and services on offer inside our many Art Walk host venues and keep your eyes peeled for Poets Corner written works. Stroll through this outdoor art gallery guided by our Art Walk map.

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Poets Corner
March 22-29, 24/7
Multiple locations: Outdoor advertising columns on each Hastings Street corner between Ingleton and Madison Ave. plus inside McGill Public Library.

Experience the art of the written word as you shop and stroll the Heights. Look for our bright yellow poems written by talented Burnaby wordsmiths. It’s one more way to add art to your day.

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Burnaby Art Calling (Free Little Art Gallery)
24/7, 365
Location: Outside the Heights Dairy Queen at 103-4191 Hastings St.

A decommissioned phone booth in Burnaby Heights is now the city’s smallest community art gallery. Make art, take art or leave art. Sharing something small in the FLAG can have a big impact in the neighbourhood. Find the newest piece for your budding art collection in this ever-changing exhibition curated by YOU. Free!

Birthday announcement: Burnaby Art Calling is 2! Here’s to all who have been giving and taking home mini artworks for the past two years. You make our community awesome. Keep it up!

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Human Library
Where: McGill Public Library – Program room
When: March 22, 1-4 pm
By registration: Visit any BPL location, call 604-436-5400 or visit bpl.bc.ca/events.

Have you ever ‘checked out’ a human book from the library? Now, you can! Sit down with a StrideFest Art Walk artist for a one-on-one conversation and hear their story. Explore their creative processes, learn new perspectives and be inspired by fresh ideas.

Spaces are limited.

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Celtic Kitchen Party
Where and When: TBA

Now a StrideFest tradition, this all-ages live event weaves together energetic music, passionate storytelling and warm community spirit. Connect with neighbours, old friends and new faces at this entertaining and engaging community gathering.

From Rob (Celtic Kitchen Party artist):
Long ago in rural Canada, the kitchen was a community hub. People would gather in a neighbourhood kitchen to socialize, tell stories, play music and dance. Join us for our “Celtic Kitchen” event where we hope to recreate the atmosphere of the community kitchen party. We’ll present lively tunes, soulful songs and compelling stories to warm you on a spring evening. Bring your dancing shoes and dance with your friends and neighbours!

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24 Hours in Edmonds film screening
Where: Bob Prittie Library
When: TBA

Experience this 24-minute long collaborative film project celebrating the spirit of Burnaby’s vibrant Edmonds neighbourhood.

Filmed over 24 hours by 24 Edmonds residents and directed by StrideFest’s own Yunuen Perez Vertti. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the artists.

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Poetry Workshop
Where: McGill Public Library program room
When: March 29, 1:30-3:30 pm
By registration: Visit any BPL location, call 604-436-5400 or visit bpl.bc.ca/events.
Presented in partnership with Burnaby StrideFest and the Burnaby Writers’ Society.

Join us in a guided creative process, where poets Cynthia Sharp and Lara Varesi from the Burnaby Writers’ Society will help writers craft a unique sensory poem. Participants will respond to the prompt “What Stories Are In Your Hands?” and study poetic devices in popular poems for editing tips to strengthen flow and tighten diction.

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Overlyn Mansion Art Extravaganza

Where: OverLynn Manor
When: One day only. March 29, 10AM-4PM

Part arts market, part performing arts space and all fun! Connect through art and celebrate creativity in the beautiful Overlynn Manor heritage building.

StrideFest is proud to once again shine a spotlight on the Seton Villa community during this one-day popup event.

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We are sincerely grateful to our sponsors, community partners, local artists and exhibition host venues for creating a space where the Arts and community can become one.

StrideFest has been made possible by the Government of Canada, City of Burnaby, Global BC, Tourism Burnaby, Burnaby Photographic Society, We are Burnaby, Heights Merchants Association and Height Neighbourhood Association. Their commitment to fostering creativity and supporting the arts in Burnaby is invaluable.

To learn more about StrideFest please visit our website at https://weareburnaby.com/stridefest/ and follow @StrideFest on Instagram and Facebook.