Temporary pop-up plaza in Vancouver’s Sunset Beach Park

A temporary pop-up plaza with a bright ground mural inspired by the sunset, picnic tables with umbrellas, and food trucks is now animating Sunset Beach Park.

The Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation opened the pop-up plaza on Sunday in a parking lot near the popular Beach Avenue bike path (between Park Lane and Hornby Street). Two ping pong tables will arrive in July.

Last summer, Beach Avenue was the busiest cycling route in Vancouver, regularly exceeding the 10,000 cycling trips per day milestone that other routes occasionally see. As the summer season draws near, peak volumes are expected to increase and surpass existing records.

“As the community recovers from the COVID-19 global pandemic, enhancing outdoor spaces will provide people with healthy, social, and safe environments to reconnect with Vancouver parks and with each other. This pop-up plaza will create an exciting place for outdoor activities and will support the important ongoing work of the West End Waterfront Master Plan by providing a hub for public engagement activities in mid-summer,” said Camil Dumont, Park Board Chair.

The West End Waterfront Master Plan will create a long-term vision for the neighbourhood’s beaches, parks, and surrounding streets.

Reserved parking, accessible parking stalls, and the EV charging station at the Sunset Beach lot will be re-opened and enhanced for the 2021 summer season. Three new accessible stalls have been added for a total of five. General public parking at the Sunset Beach lot will remain closed while the Jervis parking lot has been re-opened.

Food trucks and/or food carts will be stationed in the pop-up plaza throughout the summer, as well as at the nearby Inukshuk parking lot, which is also closed.

The pop-up plaza will remain in place for 2021 and, based on the outcomes, will be assessed for continuing into 2022.

The operational changes being piloted this summer will be assessed through the West End Waterfront Master Plan engagement and park master planning process. Park Board staff will continue to monitor usage of these areas and activations, and will provide updates on the pilot both online and at future public Park Board meetings.