The Cumberland Chamber of Commerce and CIA (Cumberland Improvement Association) are joining forces with community volunteers and organizations to present the Cumberland Harvest Fair on Saturday October 18th at the Cumberland Cultural Centre on Dunsmuir at First (inside and out) from 10 am to 4 pm

This celebration of the turning of the season is focused on the themes of food, harvest, forests, trails and sustainability. All activities are free and include interactive kids activities, pumpkin sales (get ready for Halloween!) and pumpkin carving, gardening and composting workshops, local forest, plant and heritage tours, documentary films, community info booths, artisan displays, a plant sale and more.

Community members with extra apples in their yard are highly encouraged to bring their surplus fruit down to the Museum and Visitor Centre and LUSH Valley Society will help process it and get the food out to others in the community! This will also ensure that hungry bears steer clear of the Village as they head for hibernation.

Other scheduled activities include:

Not to be missed! Cumberland Pie Making Contest!

The Cumberland Harvest Fair features the much anticipated "Cumberland Pie Contest" where community members can enter to win amazing cash prizes for the best pie in the Village! Community members can come down to help select the "People's Choice" finalists from 12 till 1 and celebrity judges will be on hand at 1:00 pm to select the top 5 pies for 2008. All entries will be auctioned off after the winners have been selected. 1st prize brings $250 cash! Detailed entry forms for the pie making competition are available at the Cumberland Museum and Visitor Centre, by calling 336-8313 or emailing cumbchamshaw.ca . Advance entries only - accepted until Oct 16!!

Kids Activities include:

10:00 am Apple Crafts and Lentil Mosaics with The Great Escape - all welcome

11:00 am “Art Exploration” hands on activities for little and big kids

12:00 noon Scarecrow Building - all ages welcome – supplies will be supplied

ALL DAY - buy your Halloween Pumpkin and hang out and carve it with help from Cumberland's Pathfinders!

2:00 pm Relay races, three legged and other great games. Win fun prizes and burn off some energy!

A Harvest Fair Mini-Film Fest sponsored by Transition Town Cumberland and World Community.

10:15 am Sense of Place (28 min) Narrated by Susan Sarandon, this film explores the idea that achieving a sense of place may be the most important step in our life journey.

10:50 am The Luckiest Nut in the World (8 min) The quickest lesson on the impact of economic globalization on food crops, delivered by a guitar picking peanut.


11:00 am.The Story of Stuff (20 min.) Exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.

11:30 am -We Live in a Watershed (10 min) a beautiful short film of the Millard/ Piercy watershed.

2:00 pm The Ecological Footprint (31 min) One of the most important environmental concepts around today. Developed by UBC professors and presented by Dr. Mathis Wakernagel.


3:00 pm The Power of Community-How Cuba Survived Peak Oil (53 min). A very positive look at ways to address the crisis of declining energy sources.

Harvest Workshops include:

10:00 am LUSH Valley Food Action Society presents “Preserving the Harvest”

11:00 am “Putting the Garden to Bed for Winter" with Dr Dave and Ron Hansen

3:00 pm “Bin O Worms Composting” with Patty Rose, CVRD

Offsite Walking Tours Include:

10:00 am Useful Plants Tour (edible and medicinal) w/ Gwyn Sproule leaves from the Museum and Visitor Centre

11:00 NEW! Cumberland Heritage Walking Tour – leaves from the Museum and Visitor Centre

2:00 pm Cumberland Community Forest Society - Forest Tour with Andrew Nicoll - leaves from the Museum and Visitor Centre.

Community Exhibits all day include:

Cumberland Community Forest Society Plant Sale and Info Booth

Local trails, mountain biking and watershed information.

LUSH Valley Food Action Society Exhibition

Local artists and artisans.

Cumberland Chamber Chili and Cumberland Bakery Cornbread Concession

All events take place at the Cumberland Cultural Centre or at the Cumberland Museum and Visitor Centre. More events will be added to the schedule in the days leading up to the event so stay tuned or pick up a schedule Saturday morning. The 2008 Harvest Fair is presented by the Cumberland Chamber of Commerce with the help of their generous sponsors Sitka Silviculture Ltd and Cumberland Ready Mix.

Downtown businesses will be featuring dining and shopping specials all day long. Come and celebrate the Harvest - Cumberland style. The following Cumberland businesses have generously donated cash /goods /services or have organized in-store activities in support of Harvest Fair: Greenspirit Accupuncture, Village Yarn Shop, Rusty Rooster, Home & Garden Gate, Fusion Boardworx, Magnolia Gallery & Garden, Carmie's Cafe, Cumberland & District Credit Union, Dodge City Video, Gatehouse Bistro, Dodge City Cycles, Cumberland Winery, Alleycuts, Dr Colin Wilson, Waverley Hotel, Cumberland Hotel, Seeds Natural Food Market ...and the list continues to grow!

fmi 250-336-8313