Comox Nautical Days

Comox Nautical Days is one of Vancouver Island's longest-running community festivals — a free, family-focused celebration that has marked the BC Day long weekend on the Comox waterfront for close to seventy years. Centred on Comox Marina Park, with the harbour, marina and Comox Glacier as a backdrop, it leans into the town's nautical heritage with three days of parades, entertainment and seaside fun that draw crowds from across the Comox Valley and beyond.

The program is deliberately broad, so there is something for every age. Highlights include the BC Day parade and a vintage car show, more than a hundred craft and artisan vendor booths, food trucks, and a licensed beverage garden, plus a full slate of children's entertainment — rides, games, crafts and the Rotary splash park. The weekend builds to the Quality Foods Festival of Lights fireworks display over the harbour on the Monday evening, a longtime local tradition that lights up the water. Because admission is free, it is an easy, low-cost day out, and the waterfront location means you can pair it with a walk along the Comox marina, a paddle on the estuary, or a meal in nearby downtown Comox or Courtenay. If you are visiting the Comox Valley on the August long weekend, Nautical Days is the anchor event — arrive early for parking and a good spot for the fireworks, and make a full day of the market, music and marina.