The first Blackberry Festival street party happened in August 1993, organized by Shelly Halliday, who still lives in the qathet region. However, that was not the first iteration of the festival, according to Ann Nelson, a longtime resident and former organizer for Blackberry Festival and Arts Alive in the Park.
Ken Kemper and other community members began the first week-long festival way back in 1985.
“The first Blackberry Festival included activities such as wine tasting, a pie-eating contest, pancake breakfast and a potluck party at Willingdon Beach,” said Nelson, who is also treasurer for Townsite Heritage Society.
The month of August is when the dark-purple berry starts ripening and can be picked for free by the public almost anywhere. August is also when folks can find an abundance of all things blackberry locally, including homemade pies and jams.
The festival only lasted a couple of summers and was put on hiatus due to lack of sponsorship and funding. But that was not the end of the popular event that celebrated arts, music, food, fun and the tasty berry.
Eventually the now-annual festival received provincial funding and started up again in 1991, but it wasn’t until 1993 that Marine Area Business Association (MABA) adopted it and Halliday, who was still involved, conjured up the idea of a full-on street party.
Nelson recalls many Blackberry Festival events that came and went throughout the years: pub ‘o war, wine-tasting, hospitality Olympics, Blackberry Daze at the farmers’ market, professional chefs’ blackberry dessert contest, chariot races, pretty baby contest, highland dancers, fencing demonstrations, lantern contests and Arts Alive in the Park (an open-air art market at Willingdon Beach).
“We got away with having wine-tasting for quite a while,” chuckled Nelson. “It [the festival] was a lot of fun.”
Nelson thinks Blackberry Festival could be revived as a week-long event once again, and have more of a focus on participatory activities for festival-goers, demonstrations and entertainment.
“The Blackberry Festival has dwindled down to the one street party event with a fireworks finale, which has been great,” said Nelson. “People have tried over the years to build the festival back up to a week-long event but it hasn’t happened.”
For many years Nelson coordinated Arts Alive in the Park at Willingdon Beach, which coincided with the Blackberry Festival.
“I hear from people who miss [Arts Alive] enormously because it brought everyone down to a central place to showcase all of the arts, including music,” said Nelson. “I hope someone can come along and make it happen again.”
Rocky Mountain Pizza and Bakery started the pie-eating contest that continues today, and TAWS has held bike demonstrations at past street parties. This year MABA is holding a T-shirt design contest; public voting for a design will happen on the day of the festival.
According to Sunshine Coast Tourism, “Blackberry Festival has been going for 25 years on the third Friday of August, has been an evening that is long-awaited and many folks plan their summer around the festival. It is difficult to walk down the Marine Avenue street party for a minute without seeing a familiar face and that once-a-year conversation you can have with an old neighbour or co-worker happens at the Blackberry Festival.”
The grand finale is the fireworks at Willingdon Beach, when street party participants move down to watch the sky fill with lights by professional pyrotechnics.
No matter if the festival is a one day or a week-long event, the tradition of celebrating the blackberry continues as summer winds down and the community comes together to enjoy the annual event.
“We’re a community that values sustainability, food security, good environmental stewardship, as well as a dynamic and vibrant cultural community,” said Nelson, while commenting about the qathet region to art-bc.com.
A free shuttle from Town Centre mall starts at 5:20 pm on Friday, August 18, leaving every 10 minutes transporting folks to the street party on Marine Avenue.
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