Beer sales at Vancouver Island’s most remote pub have brought home support for Cape Scott Provincial Park.
The partnership that bought and revitalized the Scarlet Iris Pub and Restaurant, located in Holberg, B.C., near the northern tip of Vancouver Island, got together in Nanaimo on Friday, May 26, to present a cheque for $2,200 to representatives from B.C. Parks and the B.C. Park Foundation.
The money was raised from sales of North Coast Trail Ale, a craft beer the pub owners created in partnership with Longwood Brewery in Nanaimo in 2021 with the idea of donating 25 cents from the sale of every can to support improvements and upgrades to the North Coast Trail.
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Aaron Miller, B.C. Parks section head for the north Island west coast, including Cape Scott, said there are no immediate plans for how the money will be put to use.
“There are certainly lots of things, whether it’s infrastructure-related in the park, conservation-type projects, or … if there’s any opportunity for interpretive information that we want to get out,” he said. “I think there’s an opportunity to work with the Ibis and see if there’s anything that they want us to use [the money for].”
Al Houghton, Scarlet Ibis partner, said the donation program will continue and there is no specific fundraising goal.
“I think we’re just going to keep it going,” he said. “We don’t want to set limits on it. There’s always work to be done on the park, I’m sure, and the need for more funds.”
He said if the beer develops a strong following and word gets out about the donation program, there’s potential to “mushroom” the fundraising effort.
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chris.bush@nanaimobulletin.com
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