The Burnaby Village Museum is one of the best-kept secrets in Metro Vancouver — a 10-acre open-air heritage village recreating a 1920s BC streetcar town, all within Deer Lake Park in central Burnaby. Admission is free. The village has more than 30 restored heritage buildings including a working blacksmith shop, a barbershop, a general store, a schoolhouse, a Chinese herbalist shop, and a Japanese-Canadian farmhouse that tells the story of the interwar Japanese-Canadian community in Burnaby. Costumed interpreters work in most of the buildings and demonstrate period crafts.
The star of the village is the Don Parsons-Pickering Carousel — a 1912 C.W. Parker carousel with original hand-carved wooden horses that was restored and moved to the museum in the 1990s. Riding it costs $3 per person (the only charge in the museum) and it's the best $3 you'll spend in Metro Vancouver with a child under 10. The carousel runs year-round, weather permitting.
The museum hosts several major seasonal events: the Heritage Christmas program in November and December (one of the best Christmas light displays in Metro Vancouver), Haunted Village at Halloween, and a Canada Day celebration in July. Combined with the adjacent Deer Lake Park, it makes a full day out that costs almost nothing and is genuinely unique in the region.
How to get there
By car, exit Highway 1 at Kensington Avenue, follow signs to Deer Lake Park — free parking. By transit, the 144 SFU-Metrotown bus stops at Canada Way and Sperling, a 10-minute walk from the museum entrance.
Local tips
- Admission is free — only the carousel ($3 per ride) costs money
- Heritage Christmas in December is the best time to visit
- Combine with a walk around Deer Lake for a full day out
- Costumed interpreters are in most of the buildings on weekends