Over 1,000 people came to the Commons on Sunday, Oct.6 to enjoy the combined Apple Fest and Fall Fair co-hosted by the Agi Co-op and the Gabriola Commons. It was a highly successful collaboration between these two organizations, the first of what both hope will be an ongoing working together around food security in the community.
There were over 100 entries in the vegetable, fruit, flowers, crafts, baked & preserved categories of competition, with crowd favourites being Lynda Toews’ giant snake bean gourd and Jr. baker Jenna’s chocolate chair cake. The event was organized by Shirley Whalen.
Pollen Heath organised a display of many apple varieties from his orchard and around the Island, and arranged for people to taste a range of samples plus vote for their favourites. #1 Florina was the winner.
There were what looked like at least 100 dogs in the dog show, organized and run by Gerry Stefanson and the Lions Club. The performances and costumes were spectacular.
Over 30 entries in the squash races hurtled down the raceway track to cheers and groans of a crowd that was often three and four deep; five were in the “classic” (90% squash) variety. Organizer Mary Mitchell reported no injuries this year, with the only tears owing to people laughing so hard.
There were 26 tables with vendors and community organizations selling locally made things and food, and explaining some of the important common-good initiatives being undertaken on Gabriola, with this organized by Aiden Ross and Monica Kristiansen.
197 meals were served from the Commons Community kitchen, orchestrated by Suzanne Campbell and a dozen Grub Huggers. And over $1,000 of apple juice was sold in bottles, jars and paper cups.
Bobbi Rose O’Brien was the lead organizer for the Fest-Fair event; she’s on the board of the Agi Co-op and a member of the Commons Farm Team. In the lead-up, she was guided and supported by long-time Commons members and Agi Co-op board members, who helped set the scene, provided a framework for working under the name of each organization, fill in policy and logistical gaps, and lay the groundwork for a sustained and successful partnership of the two organizations in future projects. Commons members from Finance, Farm, Property Stewards, and Kitchen teams were Deb Ferens, Gloria Filax, Heather Menzies, Kim Kasasian and Brent O’Malley. Agi Co-op board members were Rachel Dubois, Elana Evans, Drew Staniland, Graham Bradley and Simon Nattrass, as well as Agi bookkeeper Victoria Banford.
On the day of the big event itself, more people representing both organizations turned up to help set up, to run activities such as apple juicing and the raffle, and to clean it all up afterwards! Betty Kehler led the apple juicing, with Paul Gledhill and Bob Pizey helping run the press and sell bottles and cups of juice. Bob Andrew, Deb Ferens and Jinny Hayes hosted the Commons table. At the Agi Co-op table, Dana Mitic sold raffle tickets with Rachel Dubois while Graham Bradley shared the history of the Agi Co-op with the community. Heather Cameron, Alyssa Semczyszyn, and Yarrow Koontz showed off the Agi Fibre Pod’s activities and creations, and showed the community how to process wool and flax. Commoners Gloria Filax, Diane Conrad and Sharon Arnell sold tickets for the Ravenskill Orchards’ Cider, while Bob Martin took charge of sorting the compostable garbage from the not, and Simon Nattrass and David Skinner helped in many other essential ways, such as moving things around and installing drinking water stations.
There are probably names missing. But anyone reading this will get the picture. A lot of people both from the Agi Co-op (and its pods) and the Commons (and its many teams including the Farm Team, Finance Team, Work-bee soup makers team and Property Stewardship Team) came together to share the work of staging this exciting new collaboration.
If you have an interest in advancing food security and community resilience on Gabriola, get involved with either the Agi Co-op, the Commons, or both!
~ Photos by Bill Pope
More Photos by Bill Pope
Bill Pope has put some fabulous photos on his flickr feed. You can see them below.
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