Hippies intent on getting their whole peace, love and happiness message out, I have a message for you: your marketing stinks.

I blundered into the Hippie Fest in Vancouver on Fourth Avenue on the weekend - in the heart of hippie-gentrified Kitsilano. I had no idea there was even something on until I saw more than the usual number of tie-died, bandana wearing hippies wandering towards the action. I followed the unusually focused happy bunch until I arrived in the middle of the festival - well, the middle of four blocked-off streets, anyway.

There were some classic cars of the ’60s and ’70s on display - sort of like a car show, but without the requisite models or professional wrestlers. A few vendors were selling shirts, jewelry or drinks, but there were barely enough of them to warrant blocking off the area to traffic. A big sound stage was the venue for some classic hippie musicians, but the few people on the streets seemed too embarrassed for the unfortunate performers to give them much heed.

If anything, the foot traffic seemed even smaller than usual for the Kits neighborhood on that sunny afternoon.

I’m not really sure who dropped the ball on this one - or did I somehow miss all the promotions? Or maybe, just maybe, hippies aren’t much of a draw anymore. I can’t find anything on the Internet about this event. Does this thing happen every year and I’m just out of touch?

The car show, with some buffed-to-a-shine muscle cars, was probably the biggest draw for the little crowd - and the one thing that seemed really out of place. How many hippies could even afford them when they were on the market? Where were the VW vans or buses with splashy paint a la the Muppet Movie? There were only two vehicles that seemed to really be in tune with the theme of the festival - one is pictured above.

Better luck next year drawing the crowds. Peace.