The city of Vancouver is surrounded by great scenery and is full of culture and community activities. Visitors are made most welcome and vacations are even better when participating in Vancouver events. There are several annual festivals, which reflect the multicultural nature of the area and local culture. Some of these festivals are very unusual and cannot easily be found elsewhere.

The Illuminares Festival is a festival of light with hundreds of paper lanterns, made by hand. Local residents take a parade through Trout Lake Park in the East Van area after sunset. They are accompanied by music, provided by flutes, gamelan and drums, performed by local musicians.