New for Fall (Victoria)

REGIONAL REPORT
WHATS NEW AND HAPPENING IN VICTORIA THIS FALL


RED FISH BLUE FISH OPENS WITH A GREEN TWIST

Red Fish Blue Fish is a new canteen-style, take-out fish restaurant which has opened in a steel shipping container on Victoria, BC's Inner Harbour. The shipping container's reuse is part of a trend called "upcycling" which aims to reuse material without using energy to break down its components in the recycling process. Red Fish Blue Fish aims to reduce its entire footprint. All food service materials are made from potato starch and are either compostable or recyclable. All food waste will be removed by reFUSE Food Waste. The green roof is topped with soil and will grow sedums. Red Fish Blue Fish serves 100% Ocean Wise sanctioned local fish including Pacific halibut, wild salmon, albacore tuna, Qualicum scallops and Fanny Bay oysters. Chef Kunal Ghose, most recently of Vancouver's Go Fish, has developed a menu that is highly creative. The seafood taqueria serves seafood sandwiches on daily baked Portuguese buns, fish tacones which are grilled tortilla hand rolls (taco-cones), wild Pacific fish and chips or choice of fish on the BBQ. Add hand cut, twice cooked Kennebec fries, house made slaw, a salad of organic greens or Pacific Rim Chowder made with Chipotle coconut and sweet corn with sweet garlic Pacific white fish confit. Red Fish Blue Fish is open daily for lunch and dinner from 11:00 am to 9:00pm. For more information visit www.redfish-bluefish.com.



THE CURTAIN RISES ON CAPITAL ARTS FESTIVAL

From October 1-31, 2007, the Capital Arts Festival 2007 will be held in Victoria, British Columbia's capital city. The festival will be a month-long celebration of Canadian arts, culture and heritage throughout the Capital Regional District. Regional professional arts events in dance, music, literary, performing and visual arts will be showcased. This year's festival will comprise 17 member participants and represent more than 750 practicing professional artists. Both traditional and non-traditional venues will be used to stage events ranging from Canadian Pacific Ballet's production of Victor Hugo's La Esmeralda - The Hunchback of Notre Dame at Victoria's McPherson Playhouse, to the Eagle Feather First Nations Artists' Gallery who will feature the artwork of local Coast Salish master carver Doug LaFortune, to a small and intimate dining establishment where visitors can enjoy a relaxed atmosphere, regional cuisine and live acoustic guitar preformed by Brad Prevedoros. A complete calendar of event listings is available on-line. For more information isit www.capitalartsfestival.ca.



BREAD AND WHEAT FESTIVAL

Held October 27, 2007 in Victoria, BC, Canada's first Bread and Wheat Festival will bring culture and celebration back to local food production. The Bread and Wheat Festival will celebrate 170 years of Canadian Red Fife wheat. This heritage variety is the foundation of many modern wheat varieties. Originating in the Ukraine and arriving in Canada in 1840, Red Fife fed Canadians coast to coast from 1860-1900 and was noted as a superior baking and milling wheat. Recently rediscovered, it is adapting to growing conditions and fields across the country and is being enjoyed in a diversity of baked goods. The festival will feature a variety of speakers, events and workshops such as wheat weaving, paper making, small scale grain growing, sourdough bread baking and an evening of music with seed, wheat and harvest songs. Visitors can meet farmers, millers and bakers working with local and national grains and learn about the various uses of wheat including fuel, fodder and fiber as well as crafts, house building materials, religious celebrations, fertility symbols, artistic inspirations and weavings. Of course, visitors will also be invited to taste this amazing 1860's wheat in regionally produced artisan breads and pastries showcased at the event. The cost for the Bread and Wheat festival is only $5.00 CDN. Profits from this event will go towards funding local organic and heritage wheat project work. For more information visit http://www.breadandwheat.com.



FROM WINE TO WHISKY, CIDER TO CALVADOS

Local wine and cider makers are beginning the next evolution of Victoria, BC's wine region - distilling. Located on the Saanich Peninsula 20 minutes north of Victoria, Winchester Cellars currently makes small lots of handcrafted wines from some of the finest vineyards in British Columbia including their own, Barking Dog Vineyard. Barking Dog is the first and only certified organic vineyard on Vancouver Island. Winchester Cellars is set to become the first distillery on Vancouver Island. Winemaker Ken Winchester travelled to Scotland to learn from the world's master distillers. Licensed and installing the new still, Winchester's first release will be an eau-de-Viognier this autumn with plans to make small lots of high-end spirits ranging from grappa to single-malt whisky.

Merridale Ciderworks, located in the Cowichan Valley 25 minutes north of Victoria, is building a distillery and will begin producing Calvados or cider brandy. The first release of Merridale's Pomme de Vie and Blackberry Brandy will also be available this fall. The distillery will be a unique arts and crafts style building designed to showcase the process and the products and an individually crafted copper Mueller still from Germany will be used. The distillery will be available for private tours and functions including a distilling lesson and private tasting. Merridale Ciderworks is Canada's largest producer of craft cider from English and French cider apples. For more information visit www.winchestercellars.com and www.merridalecider.com.



ANNUAL SALMON RUN AND EAGLE EXTRAVAGANZA SPAWN IN VICTORIA

Every autumn, visitors to Goldstream Provincial Park in Victoria, BC will witness an amazing spectacle of nature as the spawning salmon make their annual return to the Goldstream River. Located only 20 minutes north of downtown Victoria, Goldstream Provincial Park is easily accessible to visitors and the Goldstream River is steps from the park entrance. The salmon appear beginning in October and are seen for approximately nine weeks. Of the five kinds of North American Pacific salmon, it is the Chum salmon that is most abundant in this river. Come December, Goldstream's Eagle Extravaganza begins. Over 250 bald eagles and other birds of prey move into Goldstream Provincial Park until February to feast on the salmon. The Freedom King Visitor Centre, nestled at the mouth of the river overlooking the Goldstream estuary, offers educational programs, wildlife viewing and children's activities. Hiking trails in the park take visitors from the valley floor to the top of Mt. Finlayson and picnic areas round out the visitor amenities. For more information visit www.goldstreampark.com.



Filed by Holly Lenk.