I like attending the Powell St. Festival.  Somewhere in my clothes drawer I have a t-shirt from the 10th Anniversary festival back in 1986.

This year's Powell Street Festival will take place at Woodland Park – moving Eastward between Clark Drive and Commercial Drive, North of Venables St. – but South of Hastings St. – photo of 2007 festival by Todd Wong

Many of my friends have Japanese ancestry such as Jeff Chiba Stearns, John Endo Greenaway, Julie Tamiko Manning, or Joy Kogawa…. I grew up folding origami cranes, and relating to Japanese culture in a Pan-Asian-Canadian kind of way…

I have even performed my accordion at the Powell St. Festival main stage.  One year I played with my friend Sean Gunn as part of the “Number One Son” band… or maybe it was under the name of “Yellow Lackey Dogs.”

My friend Walter Quan is always there to sell his unique “sushi candles” and once when he was wearing a Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team cotton shirt, he was asked if he was “Todd Wong.”

Walter Quan and his sushi candles booth at the 2007 Powell Street Festival – photo Todd Wong

Check out the Powell Street Festival on Saturday and Sunday.

www.powellstreetfestival.com

Here's a great article in the Vancouver Sun by Kevin Griffin:

Powell Street Festival: Metro Vancouver's Japanese Canadians celebrate a resilient culture

Powell Street Festival: Metro Vancouver's Japanese Canadians …