New residents to Powell River not realizing the prevalence of Rubus armeniacus in the area might think the city’s annual Blackberry Festival is an event sponsored by a mobile phone. That is not the case.
Powell River’s biggest party is thrown for an edible fruit, and an invasive one at that. The 29th annual event hosted by Marine Avenue Business Association (MABA) started August 15 and continues until Sunday, August 20.
Six days of activities include a blackberry trivia contest, high tea and a pancake breakfast.
“It started off with a group of people who had a blackberry wine and pie contest,” said Cathy MacDonald, executive director of MABA, “and it just evolved into a festival.”
Movie under the Stars is the first big event of Blackberry Festival and features the animated musical comedy Sing at Larry Gouthro Park on Wednesday, August 16.
But the blackberry’s biggest day is Friday, August 18, when Marine Avenue between Alberni and Duncan streets is transformed from a highway to a walkway for the popular street party. Thousands of people wander up and down Marine sampling food, much of it infused with blackberries, enjoying live entertainment and catching up with friends.
The street party could be referred to as the see-you-next-year event of the summer season. Many people who attend see certain friends and acquaintances only once every 365 days, on the street at Blackberry Festival.
“It's where I will see people who live in Powell River that I never see except for once a year,” said City of Powell River councillor CaroleAnn Leishman. “Everybody you don't run into in your normal routine comes out to the street party and you see people you haven't seen in years, or just once a year.”
The crowd eventually converges at Willingdon Beach later in the evening for the Festival of Lights fireworks spectacle.
Former residents come home specifically for the street party. No fewer than three high school reunions have been purposely planned to coincide with this year’s festival, including Max Cameron Secondary School classes of 1967, 1975 and 1977.
“I know from personal experience that graduates of high school in Powell River always try and arrange their reunions around that weekend,” said Leishman.
Dawn Adazynski will be attending the class of 1977 reunion with nearly 350 of her fellow graduates.
“We picked the date because we thought if people were coming to town it would be something for them to do on the Friday that we didn't have to organize,” said Adazynski.
The Himalayan variety of the blackberry was brought to BC in the late 1800s by Western Europeans and has aggressively taken over landscapes and displaced native species ever since.
The irony of festival being held for a plant considered a weed by definition is not lost on Invasive Species Council of BC executive director Gail Wallin.
“It's a catch-22 because the blackberry is part of our environment now,” said Wallin. “The chances of getting rid of it are slim and none. You can celebrate it without realizing you've actually changed the local ecosystem.”
In other words, if it cannot be eradicated, celebrate it.
Closing out the week of events, local artists present their work at Willingdon Beach during Arts Alive in the Park on Saturday, August 19, and Sunday, August 20.
For more information, go to Powell River - MABA Blackberry Festival on Facebook.
