I am very excited about the UBC's upcoming apple festival. I am wondering, however, if there are other fruits featured? I am originally from Alberta and am very interested in the diverse range of fruit produced in Vancouver area. Are there other festivals that feature different fruits?
I ran across a page listing various fruit and veggie festivals once upon a time, but I can't find it again. I can share a different resource though: the Knowledge Pantry at Farm Folk / City Folk is a good place to start learning about what is available locally.
Festivals like the one at UBC are great for getting lesser known cultivars of common fruits like apples and pears into the public eye. Other opportunities exist in the Northwest- Saltspring Island has an annual apple festival. The Western Tree Fruit Society in Seattle puts on an apple tasting in October. The Mt.Vernon fruit research station has a fall harvest day (and others through the summer) for fruit tasting and harvesting. Cloud Mountain Farm in Everson puts on a fruit festival this next weekend for tasting of local fruits. We live in an area where we can grow some incredible and extraordinary fruit- much beyond the supermarket pap.
