Watch for wooden Pink salmon swimming in downtown storefronts and restaurants this week.
As the Pacific Salmon Foundation’s first Pink Salmon Festival approaches on July 28, local businesses are showing their support for these often overlooked fish by decorating their windows in pink and including the funky little pink fish in their displays.
Local organizer, Larry E. Stefanyk and his crew spent many hours hand-making the fish and will be selling them at the festival for $5.00 per fish. All proceeds will be directed to Pacific salmon restoration and regeneration projects in the Campbell River area.
Activities at the Pink Salmon Festival will include complimentary tastings of barbequed Pink salmon, which was donated by Canfisco and will be prepared at Robert Ostler Park by the Kinsmen Club of Campbell River from noon until 4:00 p.m. Quay West will be serving their delicious chowder with all proceeds to be contributed to the cause.
Many other local restaurants are showing their support by donating $1.00 to the Pacific Salmon Foundation for every salmon entrée served during July. Watch for restaurant staff wearing Pink salmon T Shirts in your favourite restaurants this month.
The festival will also include live music, kids’ activities, educational opportunities, giveaways, raffles and angling activities. The kids’ bicycle parade will be featured, with participants assembling at the Longhouse in Robert Ostler Park at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday morning,
The goal of the festival is to promote the Pink salmon species as a sustainable food source and to provide the opportunity for the public to sample this tasty fish and learn more about them.
All activities are free and Pink is the colour to wear! Watch for the fish as they travel upstream through Campbell River, stopping just long enough to visit and educate.
About the Pacific Salmon Foundation:
The Pacific Salmon Foundation was created in 1987 as an independent, non-government, charitable organization to protect, conserve and rebuild Pacific Salmon populations in British Columbia and the Yukon. The Foundation’s mission is to be the trusted voice for conservation and restoration of wild Pacific salmon and their ecosystems and works to bring salmon back stream by stream through the strategic use of resources where local communities are mobilized. www.psf.ca