UBC Apple Festival Tickets Volunteer at Apple Festival!
We’re on our 33rd year!
UBC Botanical Garden’s Apple Festival is back celebrating one of BC’s favorite fruits! This family-friendly day out at the garden includes the sale of over 33,000 lbs of apples – all listed by variety and grown right here in British Columbia. At the event, you’ll find a myriad of local food vendors, a Children’s Area, and our always popular Tasting Tent. New this year, Cooking Demonstrations! Apple Festival is a fantastic opportunity to explore the versatility of this delicious fruit.
Organized by the Friends of the Garden, UBC Botanical Garden Apple Festival is a fundraiser that directly supports education, research, and conservation at the garden.
When: October 19 & 20, 2024
Time: 11am – 4pm
Where: UBC Botanical Garden, 6804 SW Marine Dr, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4
Read this blog to get a closer look at what to expect in this year’s Apple Festival!
Admission
Early Bird and Regular Priced Ticket Selling
- Early bird tickets are now available until September 30th, 2024 which can only be purchased online.
- Seniors’ (65 and older) pricing for admission tickets are also available.
- Regular priced ticket at $11 are available from October 1st up to the event dates (October 19 & 20, 2024). Tickets purchased on-site on the Festival weekend will be at $12.
- Festival admission includes access to UBC Botanical Garden.
Children (aged 7 and below) get in for free!
- Although there is no cost for children up to age 7, we require you to book a $0 ticket for each child.
- Children aged 8 and up need regular priced admission tickets and (optional) Tasting Tent tickets.
Please note that:
- Membership cards or passes for UBC Botanical Garden Members, UNA members, affiliated organizations, and discounted tickets are blacked out and are not accepted in lieu of the admission fee.
- Sorry, no pets will be allowed entry for the whole event (except service animals). Please leave your pets at home.
Plan Your Visit
Getting to UBC Botanical Garden
We encourage a variety of environmentally friendly options for getting to Apple Festival:
- Public transit, pedal power, carpooling, or on foot.
- Once again, we will be offering a shuttle bus from UBC Fraser Parkade and West Mall Parkade to the Festival site.
Transportation
There is NO parking at UBC Botanical Garden during Apple Festival. Please park at the West Parkade or Fraser River Parkade.
- There is a free shuttle busfrom the UBC Campus West Parkade and Fraser River Parkade beginning at 9:30 am and running every 15 minutes. The last shuttle leaves the Festival at 4:45 pm.
- The Garden is serviced by the #49 UBC/Metrotown bus and the UBC Shuttles #68 UBC Exchange/Lower Mall. Please check the Translink website for up-to-date bus schedules.
- Bike racks will be available at the main entrance. Please note that there is no Bike Valet this year.
Event Entrances
We will have three (3) event entrances this year:
- 6804 SW Marine Drive: This is the Garden's main entrance and where our shuttle bus stop is located.
- Stadium Road across from the St. John Hospice near the intersection with West Mall.
- 16th avenue between SW Marine Drive and East Mall for foot traffic
Vendor list coming soon!
This year’s Food Fair has something for everyone! From all kinds of apple pies to hot coffee, chocolate, pizza, hotdogs, pocket pies, cookies and popcorn – get ready to savor it all!
Stay tuned for the updated list!
Bagged Apples For Sale
We’re committed to partnering with local growers to bring you the best apples around.
Here’s what you can look forward to at this year’s Apple Market!
- Over 40 Apple Varieties including conventional and organic.
- Additionally, pears will be made available too.
- Something new! "Summerland Sunset", a delicious, late ripening red apple, will be introduced this year!
We’ll let you know the estimated quantities as soon as we confirm them with our growers. Stay tuned!
For reference, the 2022 list of apple varieties that were available for sale last year can be found here.
Apple Tasting Tent
The Apple Tasting Tent is back and better than ever! Don’t miss your chance to savor the most sought-after apples!
For an additional fee, apple enthusiasts can sample a wide array of both conventional and heritage BC-grown apples—there’s a flavor for every tastebud to enjoy!
- Up to 50 varieties of new and heritage apples grown in British Columbia
- Friends of the Garden's Apple Booklet ($5), available for purchase at the event, lists the history, propagation needs and features of more than 100 varieties of apples.
- Tasting sessions from 11:00 am to 3:30 pm, Saturday and Sunday.
Please note that not all the apples in the Tasting Tent will be available for sale due to the very limited availability of some heritage varieties.
A list of apples available for tasting will not be published ahead of the event this year.
Apple Trees For Sale
We will have over 50 varieties of apple trees available for sale this year. The size of the trees is mostly 1-year whip (60 cm to 120 cm tall).
Information on the apple trees for sale is now available! Feel free to read through the list here: 2024 Tree List and learn more about the apple varieties in this spreadsheet here: 2024 Apple Trees for Sale.
Here’s a helpful list of what you need to know about choosing and planting an apple tree: 2024 Tree Glossary
More information about the trees for sale at Apple Festival:
Tree rootstock: All trees are grown on dwarf or semi-dwarf rootstock (B9, M9 or M26).
Contact: Email garden.info@ubc.ca if you have questions
Note: The presence of apple maggot has been confirmed in non-commercial host trees in the Fraser Valley, Greater Vancouver, Vancouver Island and Prince George. Apple trees in pots from the Lower Mainland and Prince George should not be taken to the Okanagan, Similkameen and Creston valleys as they are the only commercial apple-producing regions in North America free of apple maggot.
Join us in our 33rd year of celebrating the apple! Events like Apple Festival wouldn’t be possible without our volunteers. Help with selling apples and trees, apple cider, apple pie; the apple display, the Tasting Tent and more.
If you are interested in being a part of this year’s festival, please sign up here: Volunteering or email garden.volunteer@ubc.ca
Environmental consciousness and deep respect for our beautiful Garden continues to guide how we operate Apple Festival.
We’re always working hard to keep UBC Botanical Garden clean and green – along with the rest of our environment.
Our continued efforts towards a waste-free Festival wouldn’t be possible without strong collaborations.
Waste Reduction
During Apple Festival we encourage Festival-goers to consume less and take the time to sort their waste. Recycling and composting receptacles allow us to sort waste to ensure that we don’t contaminate regional recycling systems.
Thank you to all Apple Festival visitors for their efforts in adopting our recycling and composting program. We continue to encourage visitors to look for the signs and put waste, compost, and recyclables in appropriate bins and not on the ground; cleaning up after yourself is cool!
Please don’t . . . pick plants or flowers, remove leaves or branches from our beautiful trees, enter ponds, or feed the wildlife.
Please do . . . enjoy yourself and minimize the amount you leave behind.
Waste Elimination
NO bottled water is sold in the Garden. We encourage all visitors to bring their own water containers; there are several spots throughout the Garden to refill your water containers.
Compostable cups and cutlery and even stir sticks and straws are used throughout the site. Please take the time to sort these items into their correct waste streams.
Do I need to pay admission to buy apples?
Yes, to access the apple buying area of the Apple Festival you need to pay admission and enter the festival grounds. Once you've selected your apples, there are so many other things you can enjoy, like our main stage, children's area, food vendor market and displays.
Do I need to buy tickets for children up to age 7?
Although there is no cost for children up to age 7, we require you to book a $0 ticket for each child, in order for us to understand how many individuals attend Apple Festival each year. Children aged 8 and up need regular price admission tickets and (optional) Tasting Tent tickets. All children under 13 must be accompanied by a guardian over 18 years of age.
Is there special pricing for seniors?
In response to a growing need to connect seniors, many of whom are on fixed income and experiencing unparalleled loneliness, with support and engaging communities activities we are introducing tiered Festival Admission prices for seniors 65+
What are the admission prices?
Festival Admissions
- Child 0-7: book a $0 ticket for everyone aged 7 and under
- Early Bird Admission (book online by Sept 30th): $9 for everyone aged 8-64
- Early Bird Senior Admission (book online by Sept 30th): $8 for everyone aged 65+
- Festival Admission (from Oct 1st): $11 for everyone aged 8-64
- Festival Senior Admission (from Oct 1st): $10 for everyone aged 65+
- Festival Admission (onsite): $12 for everyone aged 8-64
Tasting Tent Admissions
- Child 0-7: book a $0 ticket for everyone aged 7 and under
- Tasting Tent Admission: $10 for everyone aged 8+
Why does the option I want say unavailable or sold out?
If an option says sold out, then we are sold out of that particular arrangement of tickets with your festival entry time and tasting tent add-on option. Try selecting a different festival entry time and tasting tent ticket combination. If it says unavailable, the option you've selected does not exist (for example, selecting 11:30 am for the tasting tent when you have a 1 pm festival entry ticket).
Why is 2pm the latest Festival Admission time-slot?
The organizers want to give you plenty of time to enjoy everything the festival site has to offer! If you prefer to arrive later, your Festival Admission ticket(s) will still be valid. Please note that the grounds will close at 4pm. As capacity is very limited for the Tasting Tent, please adhere to the time-slot you selected for your Tasting Tent admissions (the Tasting Tent has time-slots up to 3:30pm).
If we still have Tasting Tent tickets available, you can go HERE to book them. You will only be able to book Tasting Tent tickets if you have already booked your Festival Admission tickets. Use the widget at the bottom of the Tasting Tent page to login to your UBC Tickets account, allowing the ticketing system to confirm that you already have Festival Admission tickets booked - once you have logged in, any available time-slots will unlock. If everything is sold out, check back on festival day, when we will release any tickets that become available.
What happens if the event is cancelled? Can I get a refund?
If Apple Festival is cancelled, you will be contacted at the email address that you used to purchase your tickets and your ticket purchase will be refunded to the card you used for payment. If there is any difficulty processing your refund - for example if the card has expired since your purchase - you will be contacted by the UBC Tickets box office at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts.
What is your refund or change policy if my circumstances change?
The UBC Apple Festival is a fundraiser for UBC Botanical Garden and run by volunteers. We do not have the capacity to exchange tickets for different days or refund tickets. If the Festival is cancelled due to circumstances beyond our control, ticket holders will receive a full refund.
UBC Botanical Garden is a pet-free zone. Please leave all pets at home. Service animals are welcome.
How do I contact you if I have questions?
If you require assistance or have additional questions about the UBC Apple Festival or UBC Botanical Garden, please contact garden.admissions@ubc.ca or call 604-690-3895. Someone will contact you within the business hours of 10 am - 4 pm.
If you require assistance or have questions related to tickets, please contact chan.tickets@ubc.ca or call 604-822-2697. We are open Tuesday through Friday from Noon - 4 pm and will respond to your query within two business days.