Hills Garlic Festival in the Slocan Valley of BC
Annual September Celebration Showcases Unique Communities
Sep 8, 2008
The biggest festival in the Slocan Valley is truly one-of-a-kind and not even held in its namesake village. The Hills Garlic Festival, takes place September 13th, 2009 in New Denver, BC on Slocan Lake. Because it draws thousands of visitors and vendors alike from hundreds of miles, the tiny upland community of Hills called upon the amenities and parks of its larger neighbour for space. For tourists on the lookout for experiences beyond breathtaking natural scenery and endless outdoor recreation, it offers the best local craftsmanship, musicians and entertainers, organic foods, a tasty meal, even grassroots politics and educational opportunities.
A Real Community Festival
Vegetables, fruits, berries and other foods harvested from regional gardens, orchards and ranches, including artisanal cheeses and prepared meats are marketed here. Potters, weavers, custom woodworkers, glass artists and other craftsmakers from the area offer the cream of their wares. The air is filled with a thousand attractive smells from the cooking stalls which sell meals of barbequed wild Coho salmon, to vegetarian pakora, to organic fair-trade coffee, to field blueberry pie with garlic ice-cream. Local folk or bluegrass music swells over the crowds.
Uncommon Exhibits and Products
"These turned bowls are made only from wood that is already fallen," Frederick Haake, of Driftwood Studio in Sproule Creek, displays a glossy spherical bowl intricately patterned with tiny wormholes. "This black walnut came from my neighbour's slash pile. I will not fell a tree."
Hernan Vera-Valencia, of Vernon, plays some mellow jazz notes off a wildly unusual saxophone. The bell is a seashell. "I call it a Saxophone Mar-Andino, since the seashell is from Del Mar, the ocean, and the Bamboo is from the Andes, where I grew up."
The daughters of Dianne Carter, of Carter's Handweaving and Spinning, weave brilliant coloured rugs from recycled cotton, while she demonstrates the use of an oldfashioned spinning wheel to fairgoers.
Plenty of Attractions and Entertainments for Children
Magic and puppet shows take place throughout the day. A handmade marimba is set up to illustrate one direction cultural courses can go at The International School of the Kootenays, and the instrument is a magnet for kids. Toysellers offer everything from handmade wooden trains to handfelted, embroidered and beaded dolls. The facepainting stall offers highly aesthetic imagery. A large playground stands in the middle of the fairgrounds, and although the lake is usually pretty cold by this time, the shores are lined with curiously flat, rounded slate stones which seem to skip forever.
Ecotourists: Learn What's Happening Locally to Protect the Area's Environment and Preserve its Way of Life
This year, the Valhalla Wilderness Society is uniting with the Land Trust Conservancy to purchase a mile-long strip along Slocan Lake at the foot of the Valhalla Wilderness, and solidify the wilderness preservation. An educational booth rallies interest in the campaign to save the last remaining herds of mountain caribou. Agricultural mavericks promote The Kootenay Harvest Revival, described as "a narrative and theatrical history of harvesting food in the Kootenays," and event featuring writers, storytellers, actors, farmers and radio hosts from the region.
In short, tourists who want to find out what is happening locally, please their palates and open their hearts to the larger picture for a true Kootenay experience will find few events fit the bill so thoroughly as The Hills Garlic Festival. To learn about another important community harvest and artisanal market in the region be sure to read about The Cottonwood Falls Market in Nelson, BC.
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