CAMPBELL RIVER SALMON FESTIVAL
40 YEARS
Somewhere around the late fifties and early sixties, for one reason or another, Campbell River's major celebrations, May Day, Canada Day and Labour Day, disappeared. Gone were the parades, fireworks, logging sports, ball games, kids sports and a multitude of other events.
Over the next few years some smaller events, organized by individual groups, occurred during the spring and summer, but there was still no major celebration.
In 1967 the Campbell River Canoe Club, reminiscing about the good old days, decided that Campbell River needed a festival. Being the Canoe Club and that canoeing events would be major part of the activities, the name Water Festival was appropriate. The July 1st date was selected since it was traditionally sunny.
1968First annual Water Festival held at McIvor lake |
1970Festival moves to downtown Campbell River and name Campbell River Salmon Festival was adopted |
1972The Festival obtained a L.I.P. grant and with community donations and volunteers constructed the Totem Pavilion on the Foreshore park |
1973 |
| Festival obtains a 2nd L.I.P.
grant and commissions local native groups to produce authentic native
artifacts which were given to the local museum.
|
The Cod Jiggers Stomp was
the first cabaret held in the new Arena and the tickets were $3.00
each.
Festival budget topped $22,000.00 Chamber of Commerce introduced the World Champion Oyster Eating Contest. |
1974
|
1975
|
1976
|
1978
Oyster
Eating Contest contestants vied for a place in the Guinness Book of
Records. 74 year old 115 lb. Hilda Dennis consumed 1724 grams of raw oysters in one hour to win the contest and a place in the Guinness Book of Records |
1979
Hilda
Dennis retains her world champion oyster eating title by downing 1798
grams of the slippery morsels. Cod
Jiggers Stomp is so popular that tickets are limited to 6 per person to
try and stop the severe scalping Mining
Sports demonstration added to Festival's events Rainy days start to plague the July 1st weekend, Maybe the Water Festival was a more appropriate name. Festival donates to C.R. Figure Skating for sound equipment at Strathcona Gardens Arena Festival donates to Lions Club to furnish a room at Yucalta Lodge Seniors Complex. Salmon Festival introduces the Miss Salmon Festival Pageant which is won by Yvonne Pellitier. Rotary exchange student off to New Zealand for a year and festival donates several dozen T-Shirts to give to her new friends down under. |
1980
Although popular, the Oyster Eating Contest is dropped due to bad press. Rule was, if you upchucked, you were eliminated and that was the fate of many contestants. This was felt to be disgusting to some and the bad publicity prompted the sponsor to drop the event.
Vancouver
Police Motorcycle Drill Team show their stuff for festival crowd. Festival budget tops $100,000.00. |
|
1982
Festival receives sanction by the Miss Canada Pageant for its Miss Campbell River Pageant. Winner Holly Patten goes to Toronto to compete for the 1993 Miss Canada title. Rain continues
to plague Festival |
|
1984Loggers Sports moves to second weekend in August to receive certification by CANLOG (Canadian Logging Sports Association) and the 1st Annual sanctioned Logging Sports was held at Nunns Creek park.
The Lunch Bunch Boogie Down the Campbell River (the Raft Race) was also moved to this weekend. Mascot Coho the bear was introduced |
1986The Festival and Chamber of Commerce host a Shop to Shore Sailabration as part of "Island Odyssey" (a 52 vessel circumnavigation of Vancouver Island). The Mining Sports was expanded from 2 to 9 events and became a competition rather than a demonstration.
|
1987Rainy days now outnumber the sunny days on July 1st and the cost of running the Festival exceeds $300,000.00 Canadian singer K.D. Lang performs at the June 12th cabaret at Strathcona Gardens Arena. Festival works with city to provide celebrations for the opening of the new fishing pier on July 4th. |
|
1988
Royal
Lipizzan Stallions dazzles sell out crowd at Strathcona Gardens.
Foreshore park and downtown |
1989Another wet July 1st weekend. 66 mm. of rain (15 mm. more than the combined average for June and July) fell during the 4 day celebration. Municipality notifies the Festival that they would not be allowed on the Foreshore Park next year. |
1990Festival begins 3 year plan to revamp celebrations and the July celebration is moved to Elm Park, the Raft Race is moved to late July and the Loggers Sports in August is expanded to 2 days. Festival receives Charity status from theFederal Tax Department allowing tax receipts to be given for donations. Canadian Snowbirds return for second air show marking their 20th anniversary. |
1991Oakridge Boys play for concert in Nunns Creek Park during the Logers Sports event in August. As part of the economic savings for the Municipality in tough financialtimes, Festival presents a 5 year budget plan to Council, outlining a $15,000 Grant-In-Aid reduction over a three year period. |
1992 - 25th ANNIVERSARYRestructuring program is now complete. July 1st is a 1 day celebration. The Raft Race is expanded to accommodate more events and the major Celebration "Salmonfest" is the second weekend in August at Nunns Creek park. Waylin Jennings headlines the concert at Salmonfest. |
|
1993Festival signs a “License of Occupation” with the Municipality for Nunns Creek Park and enters into a partnership with C.R. Minor Baseball, C.R. Men’s Baseball, C.R. Dog Fanciers & C.R. Skateboard Society to improve the Park. R.C.M.P., C.R. Trail Riders and Salmon Festival combine efforts to present the R.C.M.P. Musical Rides at the Trail Riders grounds. Event is taped and televised by Much Music. With
the reduction of our Grant-In-Aid Festival introduces a $2.00 adult
entry fee for the Salmonfest to cover Children’s Events. With the help of Ironwood Mall, Social Services program workers and Festival volunteers a trail, complete with bridge, from Ironwood Mall to Nunns Creek Park is opened.
|
1994A Festival office is established at Nunns Creek Park to allow onsite administration of festivities and the Park development program. Evening concert at Salmonfest featured the Legends of Rock & Roll: Bobby Curtola, Buddy Knox, Coasters & Platters. Final year for Raft Race as insurance cost for the event were becoming prohibitive. The Nunns Creek Park major baseball field rebuild, a joint project by the City, Minor and Senior Baseball, Community Businesses, Festival and many many volunteers was completed and officially opened. Work begins on Skateboard Park. Combined project between Municipality, Skateboarders and Festival.
|
1995Skateboard Park officially opened.
|
1996Lights
for the Major Ball Field completed in time
for the Minor Baseball’s Northwest Regional Tournament with teams
from British Columbia, Alberta, Washington, Oregon, Wyoming, Montana
and Idaho. The winner,
Oregon, went on to the Senior Babe Ruth World Series. Parade
is held for the first time on a Saturday and was a joint project
between the Shrine Club, Rotary Club and Festival. Salmon
Festival joins other community groups to put on the 3rd
annual Family New Years Eve Celebrations at Strathcona Gardens,
TideMark Theater and Community Hall.
The Festivals’ portion of the celebration was held in the
newly expanded Strathcona Gardens Arena/Pool complex and over 300
people braved the inclement weather conditions to make it was a
resounding success. Laurie Thaine Headlines the concert at SalmonFest. |
1997 - 30th ANNIVERSARYCity
of Campbell River celebrates 50th Anniversary.
The Municipality and many community groups, including Salmon
Festival worked together to put on “Jubilee Celebrations”
throughout the year. Campbell
River Children’s Festival, Municipality and Salmon Festival worked
together to provide an exciting July 1st Canada Day
which wound up with a spectacular fireworks display. Festival assists the Willow Point Foursquare Church with their first annual Christian Youth Conference in Nunns Creek Park. Salmonfest enjoys a heat wave (no rain), which was a good fit for the evening concerts featuring the sounds of the Caribbean band “Tropical Heat”. 700 people turn out for the Family New Years Eve Celebration at Strathcona Gardens and Community Hall to wind up the City’s Jubilee year. |
|
1998Many complements
from the public as Festival maintains the same quality fireworks
display as the Jubilee Year Salmonfest in
August is again blessed with 3 days of good weather. Salmonfest
introduces “Stage of Stars” 3 full days of stage
entertainment, replacing the evening only concert and expands the
Loggers Sports and Children’s activities.
Suzanne Gitzi and Gary Fjellgaard headline the Stage of Stars. New
Years Eve Family Celebration was a success with 800 in attendance. |
1999“Farmers
Daughter” is the headliner for the Stage Of Stars. Loggers
Sports, Children’s Events and Senior’s Events programs saw further
improvements and a Trade Show for local businesses was added to our
schedule of events. |
2000 - MILLENNIUM CELEBRATIONJuly
1st Celebrations by the Children’s Festival and Salmon
Festival wind up to another spectacular fireworks display. Paul
Brandt, Canadian Country Artist, headlines the “Stage Of Stars” at
Salmonfest in August. Loggers
Sports underwent a major expansion by offering 3 Canadian Championship
events and $15,000.00 in prize money.
Despite the poor economic conditions in Campbell River, the
logging community supported the expansion and provided 100%
sponsorship of the events prize money.
The Logging Sports was also filmed and shown on Outdoor Life
Network (OLN), a national cable television network, and was viewed
throughout Canada and United States. The Municipality, Wonders Of The Wild and Salmon Festival present a Millennium Event at Salmonfest called “Homecoming 2000 – Return of the Salmon”.
In
1896 Sir Richard S. Musgrave, on a vacation from England, embarked on
a fishing excursion with a First Nations guide and caught a
seventy-pound salmon.
His prize salmon, along with many a great tales, was preserved
and taken back to his home in England.
Although the fish was destroyed in a fire several years later,
it’s legacy lives on as the Campbell River Tyee Club was founded as
a result of that catch. The
B.C. Wildlife Studios in Campbell River made a reproduction of this
great fish, which was
unveiled at the “Homecoming 2000” event. Included in this
event was the recreation of the 1896 First Nations village and Sir
Richard Musgrave’s camp, plus carving, dancing and art displays by
the First Nations. |
|
|
2001 This year we expanded our Loggers Sports to include 38 events, 4 of which were Canadian Championships and raised our prize package to $20,000. This made Campbell River Loggers Sports the largest on the Island and one of the top five in British Columbia. The film produced for OLN was picked up by TSN and shown North American Wide. Our entertainment headliners were Patricia Conroy and Rick Tippie and they put on a tremendous show on Saturday night and through out the three days of Festival local musicians entertained the crowds.
|
|
2002 Loggers sports continues to be the popular event of the Festival and in 2002 became the 2nd largest in British Columbia. This years program was basically the same as last year with 4 Canadian championships, 34 other events and just over $20,000. in prize money. The two, half hour films produced of our Loggers Sports in 2000 continue to be shown on OLN and TSN. For the outdoor stage we featured only local talent and no additional cover charge was required. On Saturday and Sunday afternoon local teen bands were featured on the stage. Although some of the adults were not overly enthusiastic with their style of music, the teens did have fun. |
|
2003 Loggers Sports continues to be the main focus with 4 Canadian Championships and 35 other events. Contestants in the Open events came from European Countries, Australia, New Zealand, United States and Canada making this a truly International event. This year we increased the prize package to $22,000.00 to provide better prizes for the youth and teen events.
Once again we featured free local and island talent on the outdoor stage and all children's rides and games were also free. This years Crafts, Trade and Community Corner areas were the best ever with over 40 vendors. 2003 also saw the return of the antique vehicle display which drew a large crowd. |
|
2004 The Celebration known as SalmonFest/Logger Sports on the 2nd weekend in August took on the name "North Island Logger Sports". This name change was brought about because Logging Sports is the main event, it is the only CANLOG Sanctioned event on the North Island and sponsors come the North Island area. The logger Sports continued to be the 2nd largest in British Columbia and attracted competitors from all over the world. Local and international competitors competed for part of the now $25,000.00 prize package Logger Sports took on a new aspect by becoming part of the world circuit with the presentation of our 1st World Championship and Island Television Stations CH and the New VI filmed and showed highlights over the Festival Days. |
|
2005 North Island Logger Sports with the assistance of many businesses, community groups and volunteers by presenting 2 World , 7 Canadian Championships and 31 other events with a prize package of $31,000 became the largest logging sports event in Canada. This event was filmed by the Island Television Stations The New VI, CH and CRTV plus CTV from Vancouver. It was also the largest event and prize package Logger Sports Competition in Canada |
|
2006 Campbell River Salmon Festival with the assistance of North Island Communities and Businesses presented it's Annual North Island Logger Sports and hosted the most prestigious logging sports event in Canada. The Canadian East West Logging Sports Challenge where loggers from Ontario, Quebec & Maritimes pitted their skill against those from Alberta and British Columbia. The score was West 82 East 56. These events were filmed and aired by local, Island & Provincial Television Networks along with TSN & OLN. The major change for 2006 was the Parade moving from August to July 1st to be part of the Canada Day Celebration as it was years ago. |
 |
2007 This year the Salmon Festival cosponsored the Canada Day Celebrations by assisting with the Huck Finn and Small Fry Derby, Yuculta Lodge & Hospital Canada Day Celebrations, Parade and Skateboard Competition, assisted 28 community groups with assets and manpower for their events and presented Canada's largest Logging Sports for the 3rd consecutive year. This years North Island Logger Sports offered 43 events and $37,900.00 in cash prizes to local and international competitors plus hosted the STIHL Western Canadian Semi-Finals. Winners of the STIHL events advance to London Ont. for the Canadian Finals and the winner there will proceed to Germany for the World Finals For the second year in a row the event was filmed by local, provincial and national television. TSN will air the show on it's STIHL Lumberjack Series beginning in October 2007. |
P.O. Box 191, Campbell River, B. C. V9W 5A7
Phone (250) 287-2044 Fax (250) 287-2005
Campbell River Salmon Festival E-mail
Campbell River are jammed with people to watch the Canadian Snowbirds
Air Show.
