Some 20,000 people are expected to join in the pre-Juno festivities Thursday in Vancouver.

Celebrations for the 38th Juno Awards are set to begin in Vancouver on Thursday, three days before the star-studded event lights up GM Place on Sunday evening.

Up to 20,000 music lovers are expected to join in the pre-Juno festivities. Many will be partying under tents that will stretch for blocks along Granville Street in the heart of downtown Vancouver.

Three outdoor stages will also showcase bands like Victoria's Hot Hot Heat and Vancouver's Said the Whale.

The CBC's Jian Ghomeshi will host a live show on Thursday night featuring Bif Naked, Divine Brown and Loverboy's Mike Reno.

The Juno Awards will be handed out at GM Place in downtown Vancouver on Sunday.

Ghomeshi, the host of Q on CBC Radio One, fondly remembered his own earlier experiences attending the Junos in the late 1980s.

"I was a teenager and I was actually a seat filler, you know. I was helping out, and at one point I ended up sitting near Bryan Adams."

The event is not only anticipated because it will bring some of Canadian music's brightest talent into town, but also because it's expected to bring huge revenues to area businesses.

When the awards show was hosted in Calgary last year, it pumped $7.5 million into the city's coffers. Organizers are hoping that number will increase to between $8 million and $10 million this year.

Tickets for all the events are still available, including for Sunday's big gala.