Could something as small as a flower unite a community? A cause?
In 1957 Geoff Vantreight Jr. was one of four people to use daffodils to help raise money for the Canadian Cancer Society, creating the society’s symbol of hope.
More than 50 years later, there are Daffodil Days around the world which raise millions for cancer research in Canada, the U.S., New Zealand, Australia and Europe.
And isn’t it funny that here, where thousands of the little buds bloom each year, we’ve never celebrated the fact?
Our warm climate, which makes all of our relatives living east of us jealous each year (who hasn’t made the March phone call — ‘oh, had to mow the lawn this weekend’ — to relatives in Ontario still shivering in sub-zero weather?) gives us the earliest spring in the country,
This year, Vantreight Farms, with the help of the Saanich Peninsula Chamber of Commerce is celebrating our early spring with the first Saanich Peninsula daffodil festival.
Daffy Daze will run from March 13 to 20, heralding the growing season for Peninsula farms and gardeners. The event will help promote local agriculture and celebrate the fact that we are the Daffodil Capital of Canada.
Locals are asked to get involved and we at the News Review thought we might get in on a little bit of the action.
So, sharpen your pencils and write a short poem about the daffodil, or send us a photo you’ve taken of the daffodils in bloom.
We’ll print the top three poems and photos in the Peninsula News Review during Daffy Daze.
Email your entries to editor@peninsulanewsreview.com or mail to #6 – 9843 Second St., Sidney, B.C. V8L 3C7 by 5 p.m. March 9.
To find our more about the daffodil festival go to www.daffodil.com, or call Vantreight Farms at 250-652-7777.
