Attendees of the Horsefly River Salmon Festival were treated to a beautiful day on the shores of the salmon-bearing river for day one of the annual event, Saturday, Sept. 9.
There was fun for all ages on the banks of the Horsefly, with activities, including a scavenger hunt to complete across the event. All kinds of booths were tucked into the trees, and visitors could stop and enjoy live music thanks to a number of different performers throughout the day.
Many of the information tables hosted their own activities for festival-goers.
The Willow Grove Inn’s Christina Mary helped people make willow beads and pens you could use to draw with ink made from hollyhock flowers.
One Hundred Mile House potter Cindy Faulkner of Sun Spirit Studio had clay salmon for people to make and hang in the trees as an offering or to take home.
Tolko had a booth where they gave away trees for planting and had plant pots for painting visitors could keep.
Educators with the Streams to Sea program by Fisheries and Oceans Canada had tables, one where a salmon was being dissected to show the animal’s anatomy and life cycle and a table with a model watershed to show how the water moves through a landscape and system and some invertebrates which provide food for other species like salmon.
The Invasive Species Council of B.C. had their interactive trailer on hand, helping educate people about the different invasive species, both plants and animals, and the risks they pose to local ecosystems.
Other booths included the Nature Conservancy of Canada, Wild Safe BC, Quesnel River Research Centre, Rivershed Society of BC, and the Canadian Wildlife Federation.
The traditional Japanese art of gyotaku fish printing returned, an annual favourite, providing an opportunity to make beautiful prints of fish with paint onto cloth for visitors to take home with them.
Elder Ernie Archie of Williams Lake First Nature provided a salmon blessing ceremony as well.
The event ran again Sunday, Sept. 10 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
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