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Parks Canada hosts free food festival near Sidney

Learn how to perfect your camp cuisine skills at McDonald Campground July 29
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Andrew Ferguson and Meghan Yamagishi prepare Dutch oven fruit crumble in the woods. (Contributed photo)

July 29 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., learn how to “go beyond the hot dog” with Gulf Islands National Park Reserve.

The food festival is free to attend at McDonald Campground, where visitors are invited to wander from campsite to campsite and learn how to cook one-pot meals, breakfasts and desserts without the amenities of their home kitchen and even without the aid of a stove.

The food festival is part of a Learn to Camp program, which often hosts overnight camp-outs at locations such as Fort Rodd Hill National Historic Site. In partnership with Mountain Equipment Co-op, Parks Canada says this year’s food festival through the Learn to Camp program is a new and unusual way they are attempting to entice future campers - “through their bellies.”

Information booths will be set up at McDonald Campground about wildlife safety, planning camping trips and more. Visitors are welcome to sample dishes and pick up camp cuisine tricks for their own trips.