Overview Flats Fest is a free, all-ages community festival in South Flats, the creative and technology district on Vancouver's False Creek Flats. Low Tide Properties hosts it in the plaza at 565 Great Northern Way, and MRG Live produces it. The point of the day is to introduce Vancouver, and Mount Pleasant next door, to the district's new tenants. On site It runs noon to 9 pm. Live music moves between a Main Stage, an Acoustic Stage and a DJ Stage. The Kids' Zone has a bouncy castle, a climbing wall and its own stage of character shows. Ice cream is free. In the Innovation Zone, South Flats studios and schools run VR experiences and game demos. An Artisan Market and a Student Marketplace line the walkway, food trucks park along the plaza, and a site-wide licence lets guests carry a drink out of the beer garden. Audience The crowd is the neighbourhood. Families bring young kids, art and design students sell their own work, and residents walk over from Mount Pleasant. Dogs on a leash are welcome. Parking is scarce, so guests come on foot, by bike or by transit, and a free bike valet runs on Carolina Street. Talent and Influencers Past main-stage headliners include Canadian indie rock band Yukon Blonde and The Harpoonist and the Axe Murderer, with sets from Logan Staats, Fionn, ZADA and Mauvey. Local singer-songwriters hold the acoustic stage while DJs play through the afternoon. Track record Flats Fest began as a four-hour afternoon. It now runs nine hours, having added the Innovation Zone and later a Community Zone as more of the district's tenants took part. MRG Live has produced more than 55 community festivals across British Columbia and Ontario, Khatsahlano Street Party among them. Brand presence PCI Developments is the event sponsor. Other brands take booths. Costco, Electronic Arts, MEC and O2E Brands have set up on site, and 1933 Liquor Co and Strathcona Beer have poured in the beer garden. A share of every alcohol sale goes to the Food Stash Foundation, a South Flats food-security charity.