BC & Alberta Festival Stories & Event News

Dust, horses and the faint smell of fresh manure bring me back to childhood in rural Alberta.

We all know there’s no such thing as an overnight success. Mother Nature took millions of years to do her spectacular work on shaping the Kootenay/Columbia Valley region of British Columbia.

Like most forms of art, chalking can be very messy. The pastel colours get on your hands, on your clothes, on your face and in your hair.

I rolled into Horsefly, B.C. on a sunny Sunday afternoon, passing the General Store and parking at the Community Hall, after about 50 minutes on the road from Williams Lake.

I steadied myself, held my breath and unholstered my camera. Moments later, a dozen horses thundered past.

This is a tale of two types of horsepower: My four-legged horse, General, and Phil Pogue’s 1937 Dodge Rumble Seat Coupe – with the power of about 245 horses – in 100 Mile House, BC.

There aren’t many places where you can watch the sun set over the Rockies while you’re sitting on a midway ride. But you can in Cochrane, during the annual Cochrane Fair.

In the 1860s and 1870s, Barkerville in B.C.’s Cariboo was the largest town west of Chicago and north of San Francisco.

What makes a summer festival for you? Star-studded musical lineups that you have to line up for, or something a little more low-key and casual?

You can call it the Harbour City, a historic coal town, home of the iconic Bastion and Diana Krall, birthplace of the bathtub race, and originator of one of the world’s most popular and beloved, de

Mind. Blown. Did you know that in the middle of the Pacific Northwest there’s a 50-kilometre long island with the only paved runway in the Gulf Islands?

I doubt there will be many times in our life that we can shout, “Happy Sesquicentennial!” so we better practice saying it without stumbling over our lips. Happy Ses - qui – cen – tennial. Easy.

Feet raw from a hot afternoon of barefoot dancing, I dipped my toes into the cool flowing waters of the Tawatinaw River. Behind me, the band played on.

Vancouver Island can be known for it's moody, grey winters, but spring has sprung and the sunshine is out in full force.

Celebrating the days of the voyageurs, canoe enthusiasts will retrace the paddle strokes of David Thompson's 1867 route - and the Centennial Voyageurs who also did it in 1967.