Bringing in tourists in the fall is a nice bonus for business. It’s a tricky ordeal, as school starts up and many people go home. Yet, there are still people taking advantage of the last bit of nice weather to hit the road and get out of town.
Revelstoke Tourism is hoping to get some of those people into town with its new festival, Cornucopia.
“Cornucopia is a fall festival of events in Revelstoke and I want to make it an annual thing,” Amy Flexman told me. “Every night there will ideally be some music and an all ages event as well, and something to do with food.”
Flexman dropped by the Times Review office to go over everything on the schedule for Cornucopia, bringing her usual enthusiasm to the subject.
It was a festival she started working on when she was first hired as the events co-ordinator for Revelstoke Tourism in the late-spring. Working with other groups, she has turned it into six days of events, with a different theme for each day.
The goal is to turn Cornucopia into a tourism draw in the shoulder season. The festival is being promoted through Kootenay-Rockies Tourism, on the CBC, through RV rental agencies, and in regional newspapers.
“We’re going to have it covered well this year so we can have a whole year to showcase what we did and build on it to make it bigger and better,” said Flexman. “Even if people don’t come from out of town, this is pretty great for Revelstoke to have.”
There are daily events planned – a toonie swim at the pool, deals at the driving range at the golf club, and special menus at restaurants around town. For the latter, which is being called the Taste of Revelstoke, there were six restaurants on board, with more expecting to be added. The specials will include $5 appetizers, $15 mains, $5 deserts and $5 cocktails.
“They try to source food as locally as they can and put together a full-flavoured Taste of Revelstoke menu,” explained Flexman. “People can go try different menus throughout that week.”
Cornucopia kicks off on Tuesday, Oct. 1, with Food for Thought, an event being hosted by the North Columbia Environmental Society at the Roxy Theatre starting at 6 p.m.. The evening will start with a chance for local youth, aged 12–29, to showcase multi-media projects with a local food theme. It will be followed by a film screening.
Later, at Benoit’s at 9 p.m., Joanne Stacey will host Songwriters in the Round, a showcase featuring herself, Matthew Carter and Lindsay May.
Wednesday’s theme is Fall Fashion, Flavours and Flair. The big event will be a dinner and fashion show at Revelstoke Mountain Resort that will raise money for breast cancer research.
The evening will begin with hors d’oeuvres at the Rockford at 5 p.m. At 6 p.m., there will be a ski talk and the gondola to the day lodge will open. At the day lodge, local clothing retailers will put on a fashion show showcasing their wares. That will be followed by harvest dinner and live music by JP Maurice and Broken Down Suitcase. Tickets are $60 and include dinner and a glass of champagne.
Thursday is being called A Taste of Revelstoke, “To remind people all these restaurants are having specials,” said Flexman.
On Thursday, the Kamloops Symphony Chamber Musicians (right) will be at the Revelstoke Performing Arts Centre to play a series of piano songs.
The main event is the first of four shows that mark the start of the Revelstoke Arts Council concert series at the Revelstoke Performing Arts Centre. On Thursday, the Kamloops Symphony Chamber Musicians will performance a series of late-romantic piano trios. Tickets are $20 and the show starts at 7:30 p.m.
That night, roots-rockers Elliott Brood will be at the Traverse and Devon Coyote is playing at the Last Drop.
On Friday, the NCES is hosting the HarvestPalooza at the United Church from 4–7 p.m. The event will include a potluck, colouring contest, scarecrow making, harvest displays, live music and more.
Next door, at the Village Idiot, Mt. Begbie will be launching their newest beer.
At the theatre, Everything Fitz, a family of fiddlers, will take the stage at 7:30 p.m. “They’re awesome,” said Flexman. “We saw them at Pacific Contact with the Arts Council and we signed them up to come here. They just blew us away. It’s really good for all ages. It’s just awesome.”
For the snowboard crowd, the Roxy Theatre and the Cabin will be presenting Dopamine, the latest snowboard movie by Absinthe Films. It will be followed by a party at The Cabin. Elsewhere, Daniel Moir is playing at the Last Drop and Corruption is at the River City Pub.
Saturday’s events are being dubbed Best of the Fest. From 1–7 p.m., there will be a street festival in downtown Revelstoke. The Rotary Club will be hosting the Best of B.C. beer tastings, and there will be local food offerings available. There will be a pumpkin carving contest, an apple cider press, a best of HarvestPalooza display and more. From 1–3 p.m. there will be an open mic. Cranbrook’s Good Ol’ Goats, who were named Artist of the Year at the 2013 Kootenay Music Awards, will play from 3–5 p.m. They will be followed by party rockers Whiskey Chief from 5–7 p.m.
Over at the theatre, the Loose Moose improv troupe will run workshops during the afternoon, and then will put on a show in the evening. Tickets are $10.
Sunday’s events starts with a pancake breakfast at the Last Tea, and continues with guided nature hikes, and guided mountain bikes with Wandering Wheels. Tours meet at the community centre at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
That night, jazz pianist and singer Laila Biali will perform at the Revelstoke Performing Arts Centre.
“I think it’s going to be fun,” said Flexman. “You don’t have to go to everything, but there’s something for all ages and all people to get involved with and get a sense of attachment to this festival.”