The 18th annual Fort Langley Cranberry Festival takes place on Saturday, October 12, 2013 around the village of Fort Langley. You can celebrate the history of the cranberry at the festival starting at 8:30am with a pancake breakfast followed by an entire day of family-friendly activities around the region from 10:00am until 4:00pm.

The festival will have contest giveaways, live music and entertainment on the main stage, cooking demos, fashions shows, and more. There will also be over 70 market vendors, selling jewelry, specialty candy, organic coffee, hand-made crafts, and other goods.

You can also enjoy 50% off admission to the Fort Langley National Historic Site, with baking bannock, barrel-making, and old-fashioned kids’ games. Discover how cranberries were traditionally harvested by the Katzie people, traded to the Hudson’s Bay Company workers at the fort, and exported to scurvy-ridden gold prospectors in the 1840s and 50s.

Fort Wine Co. for the Cranberry Festival

Over at the Fort Wine Co. (at 26151 – 84th Avenue) about 5 minutes east of the Village of Fort Langley, they will have activities, tastings, and even a helicopter tour that will lift you up to get a bird’s eye view of the cranberry beds and bogs during the festival on October 12th.

Marc Smith arranged an interview with Toby Bowman, the resident wine maker at Fort Wine Co., which specializes in berry wines. He invited me along to the Fort Wine Co. earlier this week so he could research his own segment for CTV Morning Live and chat with Toby about the berry wine business and the upcoming Cranberry Festival.

Once we were done in the wine shop and bistro, we took a quick drive out to the flooded cranberry bogs. Sporting hip waders and securing my camera around my neck, we walked out into the bog where ripe berries were popping up to the surface.

With a snow-capped Mount Baker in the background, Toby told us that cranberries are a relatively low-maintenance plant and around this time of year they thrive in cooler temperatures, glowing even more ruby red at harvest time.

The cranberries in these bogs are for Ocean Spray but the Fort Wine Co. can hang onto a certain percentage for their wines and for freezing. They are just one of about eighty family-run farms in the co-op.

About BC Cranberries

I recently researched cranberries around the region for a piece I wrote for Tourism Vancouver and found all kinds of interesting facts:

• The cranberry is one of only three commercially-grown fruits that are native to North America.
• Traditionally, cranberries were hot trading commodities at Fort Langley (aka the Birthplace of BC) as local First Nations used them for food, dyes, and medicine. They would trade cranberries for HBC blankets, beads, and other items. In fact in 1858, cranberries were actually worth more than salmon.
• Of all the cranberries harvested in Canada every year, about 60% are grown for Massachusetts-based Ocean Spray, to which most BC cranberry growers belong as a cooperative — as a result 90% of BC cranberries are shipped to the USA.
• Approximately 50% of BC’s crop is used to make sweetened dried cranberries, 40% is made into juice, 9% is sold whole frozen and 1% is sold fresh, according to the Government of BC.
  » Read more…

The Fort Langley Cranberry Festival in the Village of Fort Langley and at the Fort Wine Co. will be a great way to spend the day with the family in the cool autumn air. Pick up some supplies for Thanksgiving dinner (including the Saucy Cranberry fortified wine) and enjoy these local berries, grown with care. You can also visit on your own as a part of the self-guided Circle Farm Tour at other times throughout the year.

On this day in history (October 9, 1970) the Vancouver Canucks played their first (regular season) game as a National Hockey League team. Today, they took their 43rd team photo on the ice at Rogers Arena and in honour of this, I found an early team photo back from the Canucks’ days in the Pacific Coast Hockey League:

1946: PCHL Vancouver Canucks. Archives# CVA 586-4280.

And a few more photos from the Vancouver Public Library archives from the team’s PCHL and Western Hockey League days:

1960s & 1948: Seattle vs Canucks. VPL# 40864 & 84075A. Photo: Province Newspaper & Stu Hertz.

1948: Vancouver Canucks, PCHL championship team. VPL# 84097A & 84097I. Photographer: Ray Munro.

1948: Vancouver Canucks, PCHL championship team. VPL# 84097N & 84097T & 84097O. Photographer: Ray Munro.

1960s: Wayne Larkin and Bob Blackburn. VPL# 44069. 1950s: Canucks player. VPL# 40963. Photographer: Province Newspaper.

View more “Then and Now” photos and Vancouver history in my archives.

On Saturday October 19, 2013, Canuck Place Children’s Hospice will welcome guests to the Westin Bayshore Hotel for their 9th annual Gift of Time Gala, where over 600 partners, supporters and friends of the Hospice will come together for an evening to honour the courage found at Canuck Place.

Living in British Columbia, we have all likely heard of Canuck Place, its fundraising events and connection to the community. However, perhaps not all of us have had the opportunity to hear a personal story of care and continued support. I was fortunate enough to connect with Nelia Evans, who graciously gave her time so that I could share her story:

In 2007, Nelia became pregnant – bringing a third child into the family – a sister for Olivia and Isaiah. Nelia calls her third pregnancy an “unexpected blessing,” and that is where her journey with Canuck Place began. At just 18 weeks gestation, ‘baby Gracie’ was diagnosed with a severe form of hydrocephalus (water on the brain). Nelia and Andrew were given little hope for her survival. “The doctors were taking a long time reading the ultrasound,” said Nelia. “That’s how we knew something was wrong.”

Grace was born on February 14, 2008, and received a shunt operation which proved very successful. “For the first two months of her life, she was like any other newborn,” Nelia recalled. After that, Grace began to lose control of her eyes, and signs of constant seizures were apparent. Nelia and Andrew spent 40 days at BC Children’s Hospital by Grace’s bedside until September 11, when she stopped breathing. “At that point, the doctors at Children’s suggested Canuck Place for end of life care.”

“I think for me you know Canuck Place is tri-fold,” Nelia told me over the phone. “They’re there for end of life care, they’re there to help with symptom management and they’re also there for respite and I’ve been blessed to be part of all three. I think more-so for me Canuck Place was a haven in the storm and I think when you’re in the fight of your life, for your child, and everything is kind of at the worst it can be, Canuck Place is like that lighthouse.”

It’s been several years that the family has been without baby Grace but Nelia says that even now, Canuck Place continues to be that haven for her children. “They are revisiting their grief and they’re entering new stages as they’re getting older and asking us questions.”

Nelia with Grace. Photo courtesy of Canuck Place.

Nelia emailed one of the counsellors at Canuck Place recently to see if they could come in for play therapy. “Because my kids miss Canuck Place and my son was only two and a half at the time when Gracie passed away. He can’t remember her but he feels close to her at Canuck Place. And so he just asked us last week.”

“I mean that’s something you can’t put a price on although they provide respite and they do all those wonderful things. I mean there’s something really, really special about Canuck Place that can take an experience of losing a sibling at two and a half and still now at seven years old remembering Canuck Place with a longing and a joy to return so that they can take such a negative experience and it then becomes positive.”

Based on her experience, Nelia has been compelled to speak out on behalf of Canuck Place, to help other parents and families. “Very early on I felt just this overwhelming feeling of ‘I want to be an advocate’. I want to be an advocate for families that feel like they’re alone and when you’re walking through such a dark valley it’s really hard to relate to real life. Maybe friends of yours that talking about being up late with their babies and changing diapers, which is all normal and great but when you’re dealing with g-tubes and trachs and really difficult life-threatening things that your own child is going through you can often feel alone.”

“You’re in that storm and you can’t even see front from back and you see that light and it’s just that reprieve. I would say that Canuck Place more than anything was a haven for our family.”

There is a camaraderie that forms between families at Canuck Place but Nelia also wants to reach out to those who could use the care there as well.

“I was so blessed to be connected to Canuck Place and but before that, I felt so alone, I felt isolated. Grace was someone that didn’t fit a mold, she was constantly doing the opposite of what they thought she would do so I just often felt alone and Canuck Place really just supported us and came on our side. They brought that feeling of support and that I wasn’t alone. So I think for me it’s just kind of paying that forward and being an advocate to maybe people that are in a similar situation.”

“If I could look back now and if I could have been connected with Canuck Place from the moment Gracie was born, I can only imagine how much greater my life would have been in that time, how much less stress I would have had. I would have been able to put more energy into Grace.”

Throughout her experience years ago Nelia also started a blog as a journal, to keep family and friends informed and also to use as a therapeutic outlet for herself. She emphasizes that grief comes in many forms and is far-reaching, it’s not just from a loss of life but also in relationships, loss of a job, and so on. “I think [the blog] kind of morphed from just my story of Grace, my desire to sing her song,” Nelia added that people will know of Grace years from now, her own kids will be able to go back and have that documentation and journal of what the family went through, and others can learn from it as well. “It’s so nice to know that someone else is going through, and understands, what you are going through.”

Nelia has been in touch with other families and one of the main points she stresses is that Canuck Place is not just palliative care. “I think a lot of people have that idea of you know, that’s where children go to die. But it’s so, so, so much more than that! So, being able to encourage families to take that leap of faith, meet with Canuck Place — and it will make a world of difference.”

What I took away from our phone call, aside from the fact that Nelia is an incredibly strong and inspirational mother, is that the care and support of Canuck Place is long-lasting. There are relationships that are formed in time of need that extend beyond a family’s stay and by doing this, families can even support other families, creating an even bigger blanket of comfort for generations.

You can support Canuck Place and the Gift of Time Gala by donating online and sharing Nelia’s message, which is just one of many lives touched by the organization’s care and support.

The 9th annual Taste of Yaletown will take place October 16th to October 27th with 30 participating restaurants offering up set-price lunch and dinner meals for $25, $35, and $45.

Taste of Yaletown showcases neighbourhood eateries each year, offering a diverse range of dining options and creative dishes from local chefs. Aside from the specialty menus and convenient pricing, a portion of profits support the Greater Vancouver Food Bank.

As a media partner of Taste of Yaletown I have a pair of gift cards to give away, each valued at $50, for participating restaurants La Pentola della Quercia and Glowbal Grill.

Here’s how you can enter to win one of these $50 gift cards:

• Leave a comment naming your favourite menu item listed in this post from La Pentola della Quercia or Glowbal Grill (1 entry)
• Post one the following on Twitter (1 entry)

OR

I will draw two winners, who will each receive one gift card, at random from all entries at 12:00pm on Wednesday, October 16, 2013.

Reservations are recommended during the Taste of Yaletown. For more information, including free trolley locations and schedules, follow the Yaletown Business Improvement Association on Facebook and Twitter.

Update The winners are Rajbinder Kaur & @SpencerDubas!

Vancouver’s latest attraction is FlyOver Canada, a fantastic flight simulation ride for all ages at Canada Place. The 30 minute experience (preshow, boarding zone, and the 8 minute Ultimate Flying Ride) will have you taking off into the giant dome screen with the latest in projection and ride technology creating a true flying experience complete with wind, scents, and mist. You’ll soar over the country from coast, to coast to coast.

Getting into the spirit of the season, FlyOver Canada is adding some spine-tingling entertainment to its popular, must-see attraction for Halloween.

From October 17th through to November 2nd, evening shows from 4:30pm to 9:00pm will be all about Halloween, including spooky decorations, a themed pre-show and a witch on site granting an exclusive “FlyOver Broom License” to all the boys and ghouls who see the feature film. Activities will be aimed toward kids aged 4-12.

FlyOver Canada is also offering special ticket prices for the Halloween shows: Adults (13+) are $16.95 and Children (4-12) are $11.95. Children must be at least 102cm (40″) to enter FlyOver Canada. There is a further discount if bought online, which is recommended.