The berries are crimson, and coming off the fields.
So it’s time for the annual Cranberry Festival.
From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. this coming Saturday, people can visit the festival at the corner of Glover Road and Mary Avenue in Fort Langley.
Fresh berries will be available for purchase and crowd control will be in place for COVID safety.
The Lion’s Club pancake breakfast is a go and there are some 60 vendors in the marketplace, in addition to 10 food trucks.
This is an outdoor event so masks are not required under provincial health orders but organizers ask people to wear masks when not eating or drinking.
The festival has been held on the Saturday before Thanksgiving as a way celebrate the berry with a history that goes back thousands of years. It’s been an important food source and commodity before and since European contact.
Started as a grassroots event in 1995, it has grown to be a popular regional festival with attendance at pre-COVID versions reaching about 35,000 people. It was organized for several years by the Fort Langley Business Improvement Association but has now been taken on by the Eric Woodward Foundation.