A lot of people think the hardest part of running a big festival is the physical work. It’s not. The hardest part is managing people’s emotions. As a founder, every day I’m balancing different expectations —sponsors, vendors, volunteers, the team, and even the attendees. Everyone has their own vision of what the festival should be.And of course, not everyone is happy all the time. When the event is over, yeah, I’m physically exhausted.But the work isn’t actually done. There a

If you’ve been following the Canada Bubble Tea Festival from the beginning, you’ll know that the past five years have been a continuous process of experimentation and growth. From the very first edition, we’ve been asking ourselves the same question: What can a bubble tea festival become? At the start, it was simply about bringing people together to enjoy bubble tea. But over time, we began to notice something more interesting happening. This festival might not just be about

Most people think the hardest part of organizing an event is funding or securing a venue. But over the past few years, I’ve come to realize something: The biggest challenge isn’t putting the event together— it’s finding people who genuinely want to walk this journey with you. Behind every festival, there are many people involved. Some show up once, some stay for a while, and some realize along the way that this isn’t for them. That’s completely normal. Because building a fest

Looking back at the early days of the Canada Bubble Tea Festival (back when it was still called the Vancouver Bubble Tea Festival), it honestly feels a bit surreal. A lot of people see the festival today and assume it started as something big. But that wasn’t the case at all. At the time, I had only organized a few events. My biggest experience was probably a gala banquet with just over 300 people. When it came to festivals or large-scale outdoor events, I knew absolutely not

Many people assume the Bubble Tea Festival is simply one of Vancouver’s many food festivals. But the truth is, it has never been a food festival. Bubble tea itself is not really a dish. It is closer to a form of Asian lifestyle culture. Traditional cultural festivals are often about preserving heritage — traditional dances, traditional clothing, traditional food. But bubble tea culture is different. It is not a culture from the past. It is a culture that is still unfolding. F

In 2017, I attended a cultural event at Swangard Stadium. That day, I was sitting in the grandstand looking out across the entire venue. It’s a large outdoor stadium, with seating for about 4,500 people. The stage, the running track, the grandstand — the whole space was filled with people and energy. At the time, I only had a very simple thought: The people who are able to organize events in a place like this must be incredible. Back then, I was simply someone sitting in the

Many people think the Canada Bubble Tea Festival started in 2022. But the idea actually began much earlier — back in 2018. What started as a simple thought slowly grew into a city-scale festival. In the first of my Founder’s Notes, I’m sharing how the idea for the Canada Bubble Tea Festival first began. Read the story here.