Nice day for a picnic in Annapolis Royal

By Lawrence Powell

Spectator

NovaNewsNow.com

There was a picnic in Annapolis Royal Sunday and hundreds of people showed up. They ate corn on the cob, hodgepodge, hamburgers, hotdogs, fruit smoothies, and a picnic basket full of other locally produced food – and they loved it.

“The vendors are doing a fabulous job,” said Andi Rierden, who helped organize the Incredible Picnic for Annapolis Royal. It was one of eight in the province sponsored by Select Nova Scotia and the Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture’s buy local program. It drew the hungry and curious from as far away as Windsor, Liverpool, and Yarmouth.

The Farmers and Traders Market venue was packed with local fruits and vegetables, organic meat, baked goods, and food cooked up and served by local restaurateurs – including a hodgepodge to die for.

Rierden said the event was organized to celebrate and promote local food, and to try to change the mindset about shopping. She wants people to think about local farmers and how supporting them is good for the local economy, the environment, and helps keep farmers who produce good local food going.

Danny Bruce of Bruce Family Farms in Centrelea was one of the vendors and didn’t anticipate such a large, hungry crowd. He ran out of hamburgers, sausages, and kabobs but still had cider and preserves left.

Jennifer Bent was selling blueberries and plums from her father Francis Halliday’s farm in Granville Beach, a business that has been in the family for generations. The berries were popular and she was letting them go for just $2 a box.

Jo-Ann Canning had a booth set up for the Atlantic Master Gardeners Association and was fielding all manner of questions about plants and planting. Geoff Butler manned the kiosk for the Annapolis Region Community Arts Council, and Kathleen Shea pushed the ‘buy local’ theme at the Annapolis Digby Economic Development Agency table.

“Eat local, buy local is one of our main initiatives,” said Shea, whose organization was a local sponsor of the picnic. “It’s all about promoting local food from the ocean and the land.”

One of ADEDA’s projects is promoting experiential tourism which includes the experience of tasting local products which she believes are among the best in the country, given that the Annapolis Valley is pegged as one of the richest growing regions in Canada.

“We want people to know about it,” she said.

Janie Barkhouse from Inglis Farm in Tupperville was no stranger to the Annapolis Royal venue. She’s been a vendor at the Annapolis Royal farm market for 26 years and makes a blueberry cheesecake from her own berries. She was busy Sunday selling fruit and carving up the cheesecake.

Fran Clayton and Sheila McBride usually serve food from the Country Nook Café, just up the street, but Sunday they were out in the fresh air, dishing out their menu in a picnic atmosphere.

Also on hand were other local interests with a stake in local agriculture and the economy. They were Destination Southwest Nova Scotia, Democracy 250, and the Annapolis Royal Wharf Society.

Once visitors dished up all the food they could handle, they staked out claim at one of the many picnic tables lined up on St. George Street which was closed off to traffic. Just across the street at the wharf, a stage was set up and local musicians provided a musical backdrop to a warm and sunny day.

Entertainment was provided by jazz musicians, Gilles Leocard, John Murray and Co., and the irrepressible, seven-member Shoestring Swing Band from Bear River.

Towards the end, Brennan Caverhill and company took to the stage with the play S.H.A.R.K., a comedy with music for all ages, starring a Piping Plover, a Blanding's Turtle, an Eastern Ribbonsnake, and a Southern Flying Squirrel.

The Incredible Picnic - Annapolis Royal was sponsored locally by the Town of Annapolis and the Annapolis Digby Economic Development Agency.

Rierden looked around at the height of the picnic and was impressed with what she saw – scores of people having lots of fun.

“A lot of people want to support local foods,” she said. “This (Incredible Picnic) is an indication of that momentum.”