Here are some major events this spring and summer in Vancouver, Victoria and the cities of Edmonton and Calgary in Alberta.

Visitors can sample everything from the beachfront concerts of the Vancouver Folk Music Festival to the rousing Calgary Stampede.

If you're planning a vacation around an event, contact tourism offices for details and to confirm dates (see addresses below.)

Travelers should be aware that Canada's national day is July 1 - as big a party and as congested a travel time as our July 4th.

VANCOUVER EVENTS

-- Vancouver Children's Festival - May 13-20. Drama, music, mimes and more, for children and families. Held in the waterfront Vanier Park.

-- Canadian International Dragon Boat Festival - June 21-23. Decorated Chinese boats race in False Creek in central Vancouver. Onshore there's entertainment and an international food-fair.

-- International Jazz Festival - June 21-July 1. Jazz all around the city.

-- Kitsilano Showboat - Mid-June through August. Theater and music on an open-air stage at the waterfront Kitsilano Beach Park.

-- Canada Day - July 1. Communities throughout Canada celebrate the nation's birthday with fireworks, fairs, parades.

-- Sea Festival - July 18-21. A sail-past, swimming races, entertainment, heritage boat show, fireworks and the "bathtub" boat race from Nanaimo to Vancouver. Centered around English Bay near Stanley Park.

-- Vancouver Folk Music Festival - July 19-21. Folk music from around the world, plus some blues, jazz and children's music and entertainment. Outdoors at Jericho Beach Park.

-- Abbotsford Air Show - Aug. 9-11. Planes, planes and more planes at the air show at Abbotsford airport near Vancouver.

-- Pacific National Exhibition - Aug. 17-Sept. 2. Agricultural fair, arts and crafts, amusement park rides and more at the PNE grounds.

VICTORIA

-- Boat Parade - May 19. A parade of up to 100 decorated boats in Victoria's Inner Harbor.

-- Victoria Day Parade - May 20. The city celebrates Queen Victoria's birthday with an annual parade downtown.

-- Swiftsure Lightship Classic - May 24-27. Sailboats fill the Inner Harbor for the Swiftsure sailing race.

-- International Boat Races - June 22-23. Rowing crews from Oxford, Harvard and elsewhere race in the Inner Harbor and Elk Lake.

-- JazzFest International: June 20-30. Dizzy Gillespie and his band at the Royal Theatre, plus 50 more jazz performances around Victoria.

-- Victoria International Festival - July 8-Aug 17. Modern and baroque music, all around the city.

-- First People's Festival - Aug 3-5. Native Indian craft and dance demonstrations and story-telling at Victoria's Royal B.C. Museum.

-- Classic Boat Festival - Aug. 30-Sept. 1. Victoria's Inner Harbor.

-- Victoria Fringe Festival - Sept. 20-29. New and alternative theater.

ALBERTA

-- Calgary International Children's Festival - May 27-June 1. Clowns, jugglers, musicians and more entertainment, for kids (and their parents).

-- Banff Festival of the Arts - A summer-long festival of music, dance, drama and visual arts.

-- Calgary International Jazz Festival - June 23-30. Jazz concerts throughout the city.

-- Calgary Exhibition and Stampede - July 5-14. Rodeos, chuckwagon races, hot-air balloon races, stage shows, craft and agricultural exhibits, dancing and more.

-- Edmonton Fringe Theater Festival Aug. 17-25. More than 750 performances of new and experimental plays, dance, music and art.