Fort Langley Cranberry Festival 2016

It’s a Thanksgiving Weekend tradition at the Birthplace of BC! The 21st annual Fort Langley Cranberry Festival returns October 8th, celebrating the harvest and history of the cranberry in the region.

Fort Langley Cranberry Festival

Where: Fort Langley Village (free) & Fort Langley Historic Site (admission)
When: Saturday, October 8, 2016 from 10:00am to 5:00pm

Unique vendors, free entertainment, pancake breakfast, and family activities await everyone for what is always a great day in the centre of Fort Langley. Join over 60,000 other people from all over the region for this community celebration.

Over at Fort Langley National Historic Site, experience the popular cranberry stomp, and play a host of cranberry and farm related games. Admission rates apply.

About BC Cranberries

I researched cranberries around the region for a piece I wrote for Tourism Vancouver a few years ago and found all kinds of interesting facts:

• The cranberry is one of only three commercially-grown fruits that are native to North America.
• Traditionally, cranberries were hot trading commodities at Fort Langley (aka the Birthplace of BC) as local First Nations used them for food, dyes, and medicine. They would trade cranberries for HBC blankets, beads, and other items. In fact in 1858, cranberries were actually worth more than salmon.
• Of all the cranberries harvested in Canada every year, about 60% are grown for Massachusetts-based Ocean Spray, to which most BC cranberry growers belong as a cooperative — as a result 90% of BC cranberries are shipped to the USA.
• Approximately 50% of BC’s crop is used to make sweetened dried cranberries, 40% is made into juice, 9% is sold whole frozen and 1% is sold fresh, according to the Government of BC.
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Follow the Fort Langley BIA on Facebook for more information.