Hats Off Day is an annual parade in the North Burnaby area. Every year on the first Saturday of June, a part of Hastings street is blocked off to vehicle traffic and there is a big street party. It starts off with a parade, consisting of community organizations and companies, followed by a few hours of vendors and street food. I’ve been to the parade every year since I was a child, it’s just a tradition for me to come here even if I have outgrown the activities. This year was no different, and we couldn’t have asked for better weather. It was warm, the sky was a beautiful bright blue encompassing us, and the clouds were white and fluffy.
The parade started at 10am. We got there around 10:20am, so a few floats had past us already. Unfortunately, I was standing at an awkward area so I didn’t take that many pictures of the floats. I also thought that the floats this year weren’t as big or decorative as previous years.
For our first stop, we ended up getting some chicken skewers from Chad Thai, which I have done a review on before. Each skewer was only $2, compared to a place down the road where they were selling it for $5 each! They were really juicy, fresh, and well seasoned. Tasted like a standard grilled chicken skewer, nothing “Thai” about it :). I ended up getting a slight stomachache after eating it, I think my piece of chicken wasn’t cooked enough since they looked like they were spitting those things off the grill like crazy.
Even the higher class and fancy Pear Tree Restaurant had a booth outside to entertain the community too. The Pear Tree is only open for dinner, so I was surprised that they were out here serving mini lunch dishes. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to try it since we had just ate, and the line up was pretty long.

The local fire department was open for visitors as well. They had a few firetrucks parked in their fire hall, where kids got the chance to climb in and take pictures. Here is one of my cousins, I like to call them the monkeys because they’re always very hyper and cute.
Dunk tank by the fire department by donation.

One of the booths was also offering Polaroid shots for $1 per photo. I’ve always loved seeing Poloroids on social media, and haven’t taken one since I was a child so we decided to take a couple shots! Also, say hi to polka the cat again. He comes to the rescue when I don’t feel like posting my face on the world wide web to see. 😉
To wrap up the fun day, the monkeys decided to get some free face painting courtesy of some volunteers after lunch. It was a good afternoon spent in the neighborhood and looking forward to the event next year already!

Disclaimer: This post was not sponsored by the Heights Merchant Association, everything was paid for ourselves.
-Carmen