Fort Langley Hosts Thanksgiving Cranberry Festival

Credit: Flickr / Rene Schwietzke

Fort Langley hosts annual Thanksgiving weekend cranberry festival

Cranberry fields are flooded during fall harvest for easy picking.

Former BC capital turns red for 15th annual Fort Langley Cranberry Festival

Fort Langley’s annual Cranberry Festival has been on my to-do list for ages, but I seem to miss it each year. Last week, I was expressing my annoyance that I would miss the festival yet again when my co-worker guffawed, “A whole festival just for cranberries?”

I say, why not? Not only is the cranberry a delicious addition to sauces, drinks, desserts, breads, stuffings and pizzas, but it’s an important part of our local heritage, full of healthy antioxidants and it makes a picturesque, festival backdrop to boot. Fittingly, it is held on the Thanksgiving long weekend amidst feasts of ham, turkey, stuffing and sweet potatoes—the perfect opportunity to overdose on festive deliciousness.

Fort Langley has been throwing this shindig for 15 years, so they must know a thing or two about the unassuming tart berry. This little town has been exporting barrels of cranberries for almost two centuries, when local First Nations started bringing canoe-loads to trade at the Fort in the 1840s. Largely thanks to Fort Langley, British Columbia is in fact, the world’s third largest producer of the fruit.

On Saturday, October 9, start the day off right with a community pancake breakfast to keep you fuelled right through the festival. Nibble on fresh cranberry bannock and popcorn, or sample some cranberry jam. If cranberries aren’t really your thing, there will also be local arts and crafts with more than 80 vendors, live entertainment, canoe races and dog agility demonstrations. Check out the fesitval site for more details.

Rest assured you likely won’t have to hear the word cranberry again until… Christmas, but until then, I leave you with my favourite cranberry recipe and I hope you will share one of your own. I call it the Simon Special, after the lovely man who introduced me to such decadence.

The Simon Special: Cranberry and Brie pizza recipe

• 1 pizza base (I am lazy and typically buy pre-made)
• 2 cups chunky cranberry sauce
• 2 cups tomato sauce
• 1 small brie wheel, thinly sliced
• A couple chicken breasts, grilled and chopped into pieces

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Cover the pizza base with tomato sauce. Dollop the cranberry sauce over top of that. Spread grilled chicken pieces all over. Cover with slices of cheese. Throw it in the oven. Remove when Brie is melted and base is browned. Simple, yet delicious.