The Renfrew Ravine Moon Festival returns this fall, and Still Moon Arts Society is inviting local artists, musicians, performers, and interdisciplinary creators to bring their talents to this vibrant, much-loved celebration.
Each year, the festival draws more than 5,000 attendees to honour the harvest moon, Renfrew-Collingwood’s rich and diverse culture, and the beauty of the natural world. The event features art installations, live music, dance, spoken word, lantern displays, community workshops, and more.
Dani Zhang performs at 2024 Moon Festival. Photo by Chaotic Images.
The 2025 theme: Wetlands
Bog, quagmire, marsh, slough, swamp—whatever you call them, wetlands are incredible ecosystems teeming with life. They’re nurseries for fish, havens for birds, and homes to beavers and countless other creatures.
Beyond their biodiversity, wetlands play a critical role in climate resilience. Acting like natural sponges, they absorb water during the rainy season and release it slowly during dry months, creating stable flows that benefit fish and ecosystems alike. Wetlands reduce drought and flooding, purify water, and store carbon—sometimes even more effectively than forests.
Just downstream from Renfrew Ravine, Still Creek once spread into rich wetlands before being confined behind big box stores.
Now, as the area around Renfrew and Rupert SkyTrain stations densifies and weather extremes intensify, it’s the perfect moment to reimagine our urban wetlands.
This year’s festival theme invites us all to reflect on and celebrate wetlands—through art, music, dance, and spoken word.
Opportunities to get involved
‘Droning Sun by Kick Off The Truck Collective at 2024 Moon Festival. Photo by Pandora Yeung.
Still Moon Arts is accepting proposals for both major and minor festival events, including the Harvest Fair and Streamside Lanterns.
The Harvest Fair at Slocan Park is a family-friendly daytime event featuring lantern-making, crafts, costumes, and performances by local talent.
Streamside Lanterns is an enchanting nighttime experience at Renfrew Community Park, showcasing illuminated art, live music, and performances set amidst the trees and the gentle flow of Still Creek. Artists working in lanterns, electronic art, eco-art, land art, movement, sound, and other light-sensitive mediums are encouraged to apply.
This year, Still Moon Arts also welcomes proposals from artists interested in leading community workshops in lantern-making, eco-arts, or other cultural and creative activities.
Key info:
Application Deadline: Thursday, May 22, 2025, at 11:59 PM
As Vancouver faces increasing pressure from climate challenges like flooding, extreme heat, and water pollution, green rainwater infrastructure (GRI) is emerging as a mitigation solution. This approach integrates natural processes into the urban landscape to capture, clean, and return rainwater to the atmosphere and waterways, helping to build a more climate-resilient city.
What is Green Rainwater Infrastructure? GRI mimics natural water processes, using plants, soils, trees, and built structures to absorb and filter rainwater before it reaches our rivers, beaches and sewer systems. When rain falls on impermeable city surfaces like streets, sidewalks and rooftops, it collects oil, litterand other pollutants, contributing to water contamination and overwhelming drainage systems during heavy rainfall events. In contrast, natural environments and surfaces like soil are permeable, allowing rain to soak more easily into the ground, filtering pollutants and slowing the water’s flow.
GRI will Support Still Creek! Slocan, Beaconsfield, and Falaise Parks have been selected as sites to develop GRI to support the Still Creek Watershed in RenfrewCollingwood. Slocan will feature a new rain garden and Beaconsfield will be home to a new seasonal wetland. Both will be built this year. These GRI features will include a basin to capture rainwater and will be surrounded by native trees and plants. Not only will these sites help control the flow of water, but they are also exciting spaces that support biodiversity and provide community members with a natural space to de-stress and view wildlife.
At Falaise Park, the city plans to terrace the steep areas of the creek to slow the flow of rainwater and prevent erosion. This, along with expanding the streamside vegetation, will improve this rare stretch of neighbourhood stream and provide more shade on hot summer days.
Still Moon will Support Community Involvement The Still Moon Arts Society will host community planting parties at each new GRI site along Still Creek. Everyone is welcome to help create this ecological legacy that will serve Still Creek and its community for generations to come! Times and dates of the planting sessions are coming soon – to stay up to date, sign up for Still Moon Arts’ email newsletter at https://stillmoonarts.ca/newsletter.
Renfrew-Collingwood Community News 