SALMON ARM –– Enjoy a taste of the region’s local foods and flavours when the fifth annual Shuswap Trails Auction and Dance takes place at the Salmon Arm Savings and Credit Union Community Centre Feb. 3.
Trail appetizers and finger foods will be created by Al and Sandy Boucher of Blue Canoe in Salmon Arm, who grow much of the produce they use in their culinary creations in their own garden, and source the rest from local growers.
“The focus is on fresh, local, and flavourful,” said Shuswap Trail Alliance coordinator, Phil McIntyre-Paul. “We’re creating trails and greenways to get people outside and connected with the place we live, so let’s create community events that do the same thing.”
The celebration will feature veggie trays featuring fresh organic produce from Mara’s Wildflight Farms, prepared by volunteers from another local culinary hot spot, the Shuswap Pie Shop staff.
The food will be paired with hops from local microbrewery, The Barley Station, and locally crafted wines from the Larch Hills Winery.
The event will also feature music with the dancing energy of Sicamous’ own Scarecrow, edged on by EZ Rock DJ of the local airwaves, Patrick Ryley, and will establish the annual base funding needed to support community greenway trail projects throughout the Shuswap in 2012.
“It’s a perfect reflection of exactly what makes calling the Shuswap home such a privilege and worth looking after with every ounce of our will: great people, incredible local flavours, and knee buckling beauty all around us. Natural trails help us connect with it all,” said McIntyre-Paul.
Tickets for the much anticipated event are on sale at Skookum Cycle and Ski, Lakeside Insurance, Ridetech, Trailheads, and Salmon Arm Financial in Salmon Arm; AJ’s and the Worx in Sicamous; and MacLeod Agencies and Canhealth and Dental in Enderby.
Every ticket sold translates into a metre of greenway trail on the ground somewhere in the Shuswap.
To find out more about Shuswap Trails throughout the region, visit www.shuswaptrailalliance.com.
