The Kitty Coleman Woodland Gardens Artisans Festival, taking place Labour Day weekend Sept. 1 to 3, has become one of the highlights of the outdoor festival season in the Comox Valley.
Now in its 16th year, the festival has been created to showcase the many talented artisans, artists and craftspeople who travel from near and far to set up booths to sell their creations.
While there are always new exhibitors, there are many who see the value of the event and have been returning year after year.
Woodcarver and turner Courtenay Powell has been coming to the festival since its inception. Many of his pieces are created from the salvaged wood of thousand-year-old trees and are truly one of a kind.
“The festival for me is like a homecoming,” says Powell. “Over the years I have become friends with many of the exhibitors, and having the opportunity to reconnect with these special people in this special place is something I look forward to.”
Angela Termarsch, who creates unique and funky indoor and outdoor sculptures, at times experimenting with many different mediums, is another artisan who has been coming back for years.
“The gardens are the perfect setting for displaying my work,” says Termarsch. “Unlike other festivals this one is more relaxed because the booths are set up throughout the gardens which make it nicer for both the exhibitors and visitors.”
World-renowned photographer Roy Hancliff, whose unconventional sublimation format for printing images of birds in flight or landscapes, echoes both Termarsch and Powell’s comments.
“The gardens themselves are fantastic but it is the friends I have made with the public, the other exhibitors and the garden’s owners that have kept me coming back.”
Fine artist Sharon Hubbard takes it a step further. “It’s the people who make the location wonderful. The owners treat me like family and the care they put into the property with its relaxing beauty is evident around every path.”
Potter Darrel Hancock, another long-term exhibitor, says he keeps going back to Woodland Gardens year after year because it is a beautiful venue.
“We consider it a paradise and enjoy the interaction with all the visitors and other participants.”
New to the festival this year is Inuit artist Annie Aculiak. She is one of the last Canadian Eskimos to be born in an igloo. Overcoming many challenges in her life, from being taken from her family at the age of four and surviving the residential school system to being rescued from Vancouver’s Eastside, she has persevered.
Her works are now in the collections of Buckingham Palace, Rideau Hall and Queen Beatrice of Holland.
Along with the highly talented artists and artisans, the festival also features a variety of talented musicians. This year’s lineup features Greg Joy, Luke Blu Guthrie, Anela Kahiamoe, David Somers, Tracy Canil, Saskia & Darrel, and Fred Siliani to name a few.
With many kilometres of paths that wind their way through the 24-acre gardens – there’s even a labyrinth to help you get centred – there’s no other Valley event that provides you with the opportunity to shop and take some time to enjoy what Mother Nature has created.
Festival show times are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday. Regular admission rates apply.
The gardens are a 15-minute drive north of Courtenay off the Old Island Highway, 19A.
FMI: contact Woodland gardens at 250-338-6901 or visit www.woodlandgardens.ca
