People will get the opportunity to explore, experience and get a taste of what the Saanich Peninsula has to offer at the upcoming Flavour Trails event.
An initiative of the Capital Region Food and Agriculture Initiatives Roundtable (CRFAIR), the event will feature many different stops, old and new, among the Peninsula’s agricultural producers.
The event starts Friday, August 19 at Muse Winery with a barbecue and entertainment.
The opening venue on the weekend will be the North Saanich Farm Market, followed by a new venue this year, The Fickle Fig Farm Market and Cafe. Fickle Fig opened earlier this summer and is in dual operation with an organic farm on Mills Road.
Another new stop this year is the Tseycum First Nation, which will feature their shoreline restoration work. Visitors will be able to tour the shoreline and hear about traditional First Nations food.
People will also be able to visit 10 Acres Farm, a successful organic farm on McTavish Road. They will open their doors for all to see their integrated and multi-level operation in full swing.
“Flavour Trails is about tasting, it’s about experiencing and it’s about learning, so I think that is something we will expect at all of our stops. Some of them will integrate all three components and that’s the exciting part …” said Events and Outreach Co-ordinator with CRFAIR Jelena Putnik.
Another, she said, is the new McTavish Academy of Art, which hopes to have more food-based activities as they grow. They have a long term vision both on the property and inside the former elementary school and will talk about that.
“The linkage of art and a creative, healthy, vibrant community is also linked into the roots of the soil and into our own food system,” Putnik said.
Many other events will take place, including music, art and culture workshops, dog herding demonstrations and this year’s big focus, biking.
“We’ve always had a really successful flavour cycle we call it and it’s run by a company called Tides,” said Putnik, adding that they organize a whole tour that people can pay to do on one of their electric bikes, or simply bring their own.
Putnik said this year’s Flavour Trails event encourages the community to come out by bike to do some or all of the trails.
“There’s such a more rich experience when you’re on a bicycle. And so we’re offering (lower) prices to folks that come out on bikes, especially young folks, people under 30, kids,” she said.
They have the support of CRD’s People Power Initiative who have come up with great prizes in the Youth Bike2Farm contest.
With 17 different sites and activities on the Flavour Trails, people can come to the event at their leisure, running between Aug. 19 and 21.
Next week, the News Review will have two pages of North Saanich Flavour Trails maps, event listings and more, leading up to the start of this year’s agricultural tours.
For more details visit flavourtrails.com.