Martina Zuidema in her ocean cottage studio on the Sunshine Coast Art Crawl
The Mushroom Dinner on October 19th was a dazzling experience last year, with an edible forest dessert sculpted in chocolate, moss candy and portabello ice cream.
Sunshine Coast, BC, Canada (PRWEB) October 10, 2013
Small town festivals are a tradition in Canada, and this October the Sunshine Coast welcomes foodies and fine art lovers to partake in a variety of festivals spread throughout seven unique coastal communities.
The Halfmoon Bay Apple Festival is an old-fashioned favorite, with giant apple butter pot on the park's fire pit, home preserves, fresh pies, and a variety of apples from gardens across the Coast, including some rare heritage varieties. Held in the tiny Coopers Green Regional Park every fall, this event is always full of music and laughter, with the occasional group of scuba divers doing certification dives just beyond the fire pit for variety. Boogie, Brats and Beer are available from mid-morning on both Saturday and Sunday. All proceeds from the event go to the Halfmoon Bay Child Care Society and the Food Bank, for truly satisfying apples.
This year also marks the 5th Annual Mushroom Festival presented by the Sunshine Coast Mushroom Society. Held largely in the Pender Harbour area, this three-day event is popular with amateur mycophiles and the legions of the curious, with an all-day exhibit at the Pender Harbour Community Hall. Mushroom identification tables, experts on hand to help new shroomers identify what is found in local yards and forays, a variety of dried and fresh mushrooms to purchase, fantastic tastings of mushroom-based dishes, and even a fibre dyeing demonstration using fungi for color. Forays, expert talks, and a number of tasting opportunities and recipes fill out the weekend.
For art lovers this is the best weekend in the year to visit the coast, with a very high per-capita ratio of artists for the 30,000+ population base. The Sunshine Coast Art Crawl, now in its 4th year, is hugely popular, with 122 participating galleries and artist studios with over 300 artists showing their work, from Port Mellon/Langdale to Powell River and Lund at the farthest end of Hwy. 101. In 2012 there were 18000 studio visits, a doubling from 2011 numbers and this year promises the same as hundreds of 'crawlers' follow a gorgeous keepsake map and legend, planning their route by community, discipline or venue to get the most out of the three day weekend. There is live music at many of the events, and many studios and galleries also showcase local restaurants and food vendors as well for a tasting as well as art viewing or purchase.
The Sechelt Arts Festival offers a sneak preview of their main event weekend - happening the following weekend - with the 'Here and Now' and 'Snapshots: Our Coastal Heritage' exhibitions in the open post and beam Seaside Centre Friday through Sunday. There is a Saturday morning Print Making Workshop, and a Mainstage Event Saturday evening at the Ravens Cry Theatre honoring Sunshine Coast resident and internationally celebrated artist Joni Mitchell. 'Covering Joni' is an artistic performance presenting highlights of her diverse body of work through music, dane, theatre and multi-media, a not-to-be-missed event.
Getting to the Sunshine Coast:
The Sunshine Coast is a part of the BC mainland separated from Vancouver and Squamish by the Howe Sound fjord. The region is serviced by daily BC Ferries vessels operating on a fixed schedule for both vehicles and walk-on passengers and the crossing time is 40 minutes. Regular transit service is available out of the Langdale terminal. Regular floatplane service from Vancouver Airport's south terminal, Coal Harbour downtown Vancouver and Nanaimo is available, and there is also an air charter operating between Victoria, BC and the Sechelt Airport. More information is available on Bigpacific.com's Great Big Guide to the Sunshine Coast.
