Grazing in the plentiful Comox Valley, Calgary Herald, August 2012

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TRAVEL
SATURDAY, AUGUST 25, 2012
SECTION J
TRAVEL
NOTES
Walk on the
wild side
E8KLI<› The Fairmont
Chateau Lake Louise has
booked author, naturalist, TV
host and bear expert Casey
Anderson (his best friend is
an 800-pound grizzly named
Brutus) for a weekend package on Sept. 21-23.
The package (rates start
at $1,199 for double occupancy) includes two nights
accommodation, a copy of
Anderson’s book, The Story
of Brutus, a welcome reception, reserved seating at
his presentation, a Saturday night dinner, gondola
passes and canoe rental.
Call 1-866-540-4413 or
visit: www.fairmont.com/
lake-louise/special-offers/
hotel-offers/special-events/
into-the-wild-with-caseyanderson/
Lea McCormick
Gaetane Palardy, owner of Island Gourmet Trails (in apron and hat), organizes food tours for visitors in the Comox Valley, which
translated from the Komock First Nation means “land of plenty,” a fitting name for its bounty of food producers.
Grazing in the plentiful
National Geographic Channel
Grizzly expert Casey Anderson visits Lake Louise.
Hills are alive
with yodellers
?@B@E>› In one part of Austria, the hills are again alive
with a particular sound of
music — yodelling.
The Alpine country has
inaugurated a new hiker’s
path where participants are
invited to let loose with an
occasional melodic mountain yell.
Organizers say it’s pushbutton easy: at rest stops
along the way, hikers press
a knob and hear a recorded
yodel in two-part harmony.
They can also listen to each
part separately and decide
which one to try.
Local yodeller and hotel
owner Christian Eder came
up with the idea. He told
state broadcaster ORF that
it is an attempt “to get
people to loosen up a bit
with a simple yodel.”
Six Flags halts
drive-thru
8DLJ<D<EKG8IB› Six
Flags Great Adventure will
stop letting park guests use
their own vehicles for drivethru tours of its animal
sanctuary, the company
said this week, 38 years
after first giving visitors
close-up views of giraffes,
elephants, rhinos and lions
from their family cars.
The amusement park
company did not give a reason for the change, which
takes effect next year. The
Wild Safari portion of the
park also will end its 2012
season a month early, on
Sept. 30, except for previously scheduled VIP tours,
park officials said.
Park officials said details
about how the animal sanctuary will operate in the
future will be made public
Aug. 30.
Six Flags has had more
than 10 million visitors.
Comox Valley
Farmers, chefs, vintners feed off each other to please food lovers
just one of dozens of
creative and food-loving
folks who have their feet
firmly planted on this
ucked into a nondescript strip mall bountiful land known
in Courtenay, B.C., as the gateway to northern Vancouver Island.
Locals Restaurant looks
They collaborate and
unremarkable from the
help each other, just
outside. But step inside,
look at the wall — where like their farmer friends
who come to dine at St.
a photo gallery of local
Pierre’s restaurant and
food producers hangs
ask for a table under
— and review the menu,
their own photoand it’s clear
ALSO SEE graph.
Locals couldn’t
In a space of
be a more apt
N It’s easy to
around 1,700
name.
eat up
square kilomeChef Ronald 48 hours in
St. Pierre, and
Tofino
J3 tres, there are 450
farms, not to menhis dynamic
tion wine and whiskey
business partner and
makers, cheesemongers,
wife Tricia, are the
bakers and aqua-culturcouple behind the resists. It’s not surprising,
taurant that showcases
the bounty of the Comox given that the name
Comox means “land of
Valley’s inventive and
plenty,” in the language
prolific farm rich food
of the Komock First Naand drink scene. As I’m
tions people.
about to learn, it’s more
“We really need to emthan just farm to table,
brace what we do have
it’s also farm to market,
and that is agri-tourism,”
farm to bottle and farm
says Tricia, as I sample
to flask.
a first course from the
The St. Pierres are
LISA MONFORTON
FOR THE CALGARY HERALD
T
Lisa Monforton/For the Calgary Herald
Former Vancouver businessman Marc Vance made
his boyhood dream of becoming a rancher come
true when he created Island Bison.
Our care
Your carefree
Lisa Monforton/For the Calgary Herald
Patrick Evans is a dairy farmer turned whisky-maker and proprietor of Shelter
Point Distillery in the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island.
Locals menu — a halfdozen sublimely sweet
deepsea gem oysters
from nearby Cortez Bay,
served with a raspberry
minuet.
The St. Pierres have
embraced the local food
scene since moving here
in 1986.
So has Gaetane
Palardy, a trained chef,
cooking instructor and
tireless proponent of
the island’s bounty.
Palardy, owner of Island
Gourmet Trails (islandgourmettrails.com), was
my guide as we drove
around the valley to
meet the area’s most
ardent farmers, beekeepers and spirits-makers.
Here’s just a sampling
of one of Palardy’s Island
Gourmet Trail tours,
which can be booked by
visitors to the valley:
Coastal Black
Winery/Big
D’s Honey
Life doesn’t get much
sweeter than operating a
successful fruit winery,
meadery and honey operation. Abel O’Brennan
and Dan Ludwig are just
two members of a fourgeneration family living
on an 800-acre former
dairy farm, encircled
with cedar trees, in the
shadow of Mount Washington. A lot of hard
labour has gone into
transforming this land
into Coastal Black, a selfsustaining fruit winery
which has 80 acres of
blackberries — the largest cultivated blackberry
farm in Canada — and 20
acres each of blueberries
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Ludwig’s foray into
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within a 30-minute drive
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pollinate the fruit. Picking time — from July to
September — generally
yields 700,000 pounds
of fruit for the family’s
award-winning libations,
such as their blackberry
sparkling wine and
blueberry mead, winners in March at the
Savor Northwest Wine
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Visitors to Coastal
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J2
TRAVEL
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Breaking news at calgaryherald.com
Mayberry inspired
by Mount Airy
Fans flock to
Andy Griffith’s
N.C. hometown
I
Island Joy Rides
Island Joy Rides offers visitors an array of cycling tours of farms and wineries in the Comox Valley.
COMOX: Bounty of the valley
FROM J1
“There has been a stigma attached to fruit wines,” says
O’Brennan. That notion is quickly
fading as more people sample
what is quickly becoming popular
among those starting to think outside of the grape. That also goes
for meads, says O’Brennan.
Coastal Black Estate Winery
(coastalblack.ca) tasting room is
open daily, noon to 5 p.m., while
tours need to be booked in advance. The family recently constructed a semi-outdoor “barn”
style structure to host weddings
and other special occasions.
If you happen to be in the Comox Valley, Coastal Black is hosting the North Island’s Gourmet
Picnic, Sept. 23, which highlights
some of the island’s best chefs,
vintners and producers, wineries
and breweries. Go to www.gourmetpicnic.ca for tickets.
Shelter Point
Farm Distillery
Stepping through the doors
of the grand timber-style cedar
building, it’s hard to mistake the
aroma lingering in the air as that
of something special in the making — single malt whisky. The setting is as gorgeous as the building
flanked by the banks of the Oyster
River on one side and, on the
other, fields of barley that stretch
down to the shores of the Strait
of Georgia. This is one of the few
remaining oceanfront farms in the
country. What’s happening inside
the newly built operation is pretty
unexpected in these parts. Two
enormous copper stills — shipped
from Scotland — gleam in the
sunlight, while Patrick Evans
takes us on a tour of his new livelihood, Shelter Point Distillery.
Evans, the father of four girls,
was a dairy farmer when he got
his inspiration for a distillery.
“I thought I’d try something tidier and cleaner and I don’t want
to come home smelling like a cow.
“The great thing about getting
into a new industry is you can do
anything you want.” Like making
an Irish-style single malt. Though
Evans has a great respect for
scotch, Canadians like a smoother
profile than that — not too smoky
or peaty. He’s also keen to have his
product appeal to more women.
The unique flavours, Evans says,
will come from the soil on which
his barley grows.
“We’re trying to take advantage
of what grows on the farm.”
While the first official batch of
Shelter Point whisky will debut in
about three years, Evans sells the
Alberta whisky product under his
own label. Evans also grows raspberries on 70 acres to help fund
the distillery, and plans to introduce raspberry vodka one day.
The beautiful building is open
for weddings and other special
events, and features custometched glass depicting the history
of whisky, and an open air terrace
with an ocean vista. You can also
tour the distillery to learn about
whisky-making, by appointment
only (shelterpointdistillery.com).
Island Bison
Some people buy a sexy sports
car or go on an extended holiday,
but when Marc Vance turned 40,
he bought a bison farm.
“My wife jokes this was my midlife crisis,” he says.
But it was more than that. Although he owns a successful business in Vancouver, he wanted a
lifestyle change for his wife and
four children. He wanted (the
kids) “to learn the value of hard
work.”
In April 2011, he graduated from
being a backyard farmer to buying
the 160-acre farm with a mix of
32 woods and plains bison. Since
then, he’s nearly tripled the herd,
all free-range and grass-fed. He’s
also learned some things about
how to interact with bison, after
nearly being charged at on more
than one occasion.
“The more we leave them alone,
the better they do.”
If You Go
N Getting there: WestJet has three daily flights from Calgary to
Comox, year round.
Lay of the land: The Comox Valley is comprised of the city of Courtenay, the town of Comox and the village of Cumberland, as well as
smaller centres, and also includes Denman and Cortez islands.
Getting around
N You’ll likely need to rent a car when you arrive at Comox Airport,
if you plan to tour around or divide your time between Tofino (about
a four-hour drive away) and the Comox region. There are several car
rental counters at YQQ.
N Gaetane Palardy of Island Gourmet Trails (islandgourmetrails.
com) is happy to organize food tours, which include visits to local
markets, wineries, cheesemakers and farms around the Comox
Valley. She does everything from customized tours for travellers to
girlfriend getaways or corporate retreats. Tours can run from half-day
to whole day. islandgourmettrails.com
N Where to stay: There are a range of accommodation options in
the valley. The Holiday Inn Express Courtenay, Comox Valley is a
pleasant, reasonably priced and centrally located place to use as a
base. As well, there are dozens of B & Bs, including oceanfront and
farm-based properties. There’s also the luxurious oceanfront Kingfisher Resort & Spa (kingfisherspa.com). Check out discovercomoxvalley.com for more accommodation ideas.
Where to eat
N Locals restaurant: A fresh and creative menu which wholly supports the local agri-tourism scene. In the town of Courtenay at 364
8th St. (localscomoxvalley.com)
N Avenue Bistro: If you love all things seafood, Avenue bistro is the
place to go, but meat lovers will also find plenty of love here. The
menu focuses on fresh seafood and local offerings which include
“oysters of the moment,” (Comox region is the oyster-growing capital
of Canada) and local scallops from Qualicum on local bacon and apple
butter. Located at 2064 Comox Ave. in Comox (avenuebistro.ca).
More information:
N Stop by the new and beautiful Vancouver Island Visitors Centre,
which opened in April, to get a lay of the land. There are Interactive
displays showcasing everything from the region’s aboriginal roots, to
the flora and fauna of the area, plus ideas for trip planning. Trip planning advice is available, too.
My guide Gaetane Palardy says
Vance has become known locally
as the “bison whisperer.” For him,
it was fate. “When I was a boy, I
used to have vivid dreams of being a rancher,” he says, walking us
into the field where a half-dozen
bison calves are nursing.
Vance and his family, with
the help of his in-laws, nurture
the bison business with sales at
the local markets, restaurants, a
couple of grocery stores and farm
gate sales out of a storefront next
to their home. It’s truly a family
affair, where even the kids have
their side business of making pet
food and chews from the bison
parts.
“We don’t waste any part of the
bison,” says Vance, adding the
hides are sold to local aboriginals
to make drums. The bison sausage
I sample is a tasty mix of savoury
and sweet. The sweet part comes
from the local honey farmer Big
D’s, underscoring how the locals
support each other (islandbison.
com).
Nature’s Way Farm
& Blue Moon Winery
If there could ever be the perfect trifecta of passions, Marla
Limousin and George Ehrler
are living it. Their six-acre
farm-meets-fruit-winery-meetscooking-school adheres to their
philosophy of “small is beautiful.”
Marla runs the organic farm,
with her three weeding helper
“fairies.” She grows five varieties
of blueberries plus apples, Asian
pears and cherries, with a little
garlic and fingerling potatoes on
the side. George busies himself
with the making of the handcrafted small-batch winery. He
produces fruit wines with sassy
titles, such as Lunacy, an awardwinning black and blueberry port
style wine. It all comes together
in their cooking demonstrations with local chefs and special
events, such art unveilings and
summer solstice dinners, all under the welcoming canopy along a
Comox country road (bluemoonwinery.ca/naturesway_home.
html).
MARTHA WAGGONER
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MOUNT AIRY, N.C.
n the town of Mayberry from
The Andy Griffith Show, a
small-town sheriff and his
trusty deputy always outwitted
big-city crooks, and problems
never got much bigger than a
trigger-happy kid with a slingshot.
But while Mayberry was fiction,
it was inspired by a real place:
Mount Airy, N.C., the late Andy
Griffith’s hometown. And more
than a half-century after the series
first aired, fans are still coming to
Mount Airy, looking for a glimpse
of small-town life and the simpler
times portrayed on the show.
Here visitors can eat at the
Snappy Lunch, which Griffith’s
character, Sheriff Andy Taylor,
once recommended as a nice
place to take a date. They can satisfy a sweet tooth at Opie’s Candy
Store, named for the sheriff’s son,
or book a Squad Car Tour of the
city at Wally’s Service Station.
Businesses with Mayberry in the
name are too numerous to count,
but they include the Mayberry
Motor Inn and Mayberry Trading
Post. There’s also an Andy Griffith
Museum and a bed and breakfast
created from the actor’s childhood home.
Recent visitors to the museum
included Kimberly Lambert of
DeRidder, La., and her family. “If
I make a statement that doesn’t
quite fit in with the thinking of
2012 and the liberalism of things,
I’ll usually say that they may
sound a little bit Mayberry to
someone else, but that’s what we
believe,” said Lambert. “It’s a way
of life. I’ve always perceived the
Mayberry show as a way of life.”
People come to Mount Airy
“to walk where he walked,” said
Tanya Jones, executive director
of the Surry Arts Council. “This
is Andy Griffith’s hometown. You
go to Salzburg in Europe because
Mozart was born there. This
town influenced his creation of
the fictional town. I don’t think in
any way that Mayberry is Mount
Airy. But I definitely, absolutely,
unequivocally think Mount Airy
influenced his creation.”
Tourism in Mount Airy is up
since Griffith died, with about
10,400 people visiting the Andy
Griffith Museum in July, almost
double the 5,300 who visited in
July 2011. More than 2,500 showed
up at the museum in the three
days after Griffith’s death July 3,
and so many came for autographs
from actress Betty Lynn — who
played Thelma Lou, the deputy’s
girlfriend — that fans had to be
turned away after the first 500.
“People cry when they meet
me,” said Lynn, 85. “It’s the nostalgia … I don’t know. But it’s very
touching.” She still watches The
Andy Griffith Show on a local
channel at 5:30 p.m. each weekday,
sometimes skipping the dinner
that’s served at the same time
in her residential community.
The show still makes her laugh,
she said, recounting the episode
where the sheriff and his steady
girl Helen Crump get stuck in a
cave.
Griffith’s recent passing may
also attract more visitors to the
52nd annual Mayberry Days,
scheduled for Sept. 27-30. The
event typically attracts 25,000
to 30,000 people. This year, the
Surry Arts Council, which sponsors the event, plans tributes to
both Griffith and George Lindsey,
the actor who played Goober and
who died in May.
Tourism, with an estimated economic impact of more than $100
million US, is the second-most
important industry in Mount
Airy’s home of Surry County,
behind agriculture. Its growth
has helped to staunch the loss
of 10,000 jobs in the past decade
with the demise of textiles and
furniture.
“Andy saved the town,” says
Emmett Forrest, Griffith’s friend
since childhood and proprietor of
the museum.
Forrest points out shopping
centres with big box stores on
each side of Mount Airy, a scenario that “usually dries up Main
Street. But because of Andy and
our tourism, we’ve got a Main
Street with no empty stores.”
But sustaining tourism and the
mythology Griffith built around
his hometown sometimes means
keeping the real world at bay, just
as the show did. The show aired
during a tumultuous era — 1960
to 1968 — but its scripts studiously avoided references to current events.
You won’t learn about Griffith’s
politics at the museum named for
him (though he supported U.S.
President Obama’s health-care
plan), and political and advocacy
groups are prohibited from taking part in Mayberry Days, where
guests are asked to avoid politics
in their speeches.
“On that weekend, we’re celebrating the anniversary of The
Andy Griffith Show and Andy
Griffith’s legacy and life,” said
Jones. “And we’re celebrating the
whole atmosphere of Mayberry,
the simpler time.”
And that’s what visitors want.
Forrest brushes aside any suggestion that the times were any
different than what The Andy
Griffith Show portrayed. When
asked about the racial divide of
the ’60s, he replies that he and
Griffith grew up on the poor side
of town, and two black families
lived across the street from his
family.
Visitors “want to relive the
times of the show,” he said.
“It was such a great time. It was
such an innocent time. It was an
innocent time compared to today.”
If You Go ...
N MOUNT AIRY, N.C.: visitmayberry.com. Mayberry Days, Sept.
27-30: surryarts.org/mayberrydays/mdshows.html.
N ANDY GRIFFITH MUSEUM: 218
Rockford St., Mount Airy, N.C.;
andygriffithmuseum.com/ or 336786-1604. Open daily. MondayFriday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; Saturdays, 11
a.m.-4 p.m.; Sundays, 1:30 p.m.4:30 p.m. Admission, $3.
Island Joy Rides
If you’d rather experience all of
Comox Valley’s bounty by bike,
Island Joy Rides (islandjoyrides.
com) offers cycling tours of the
farms and wineries in the Comox
region. Kim Barry and Laurel
Cronk are the women behind Island Joy Rides. “We think the best
way to experience the Comox
Valley is from the seat of a bike.
You smell, taste, hear and feel so
much more,” says Barry, co-owner
of Island Joy Rides. Weekend to
five-day trips — ranging from 20
to 60 kilometres — are available
with accommodation included at
luxurious digs like the Kingfisher
Resort & Spa. Tours go from May
to late-September. Check their
website to see the wide range of
tours they offer all over Vancouver Island, such as the Tour de
Spa and West Coast Foodie and
day trips.
GO WALKABOUT
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CALCH086611_1_1
Hobart Jones/Surry Arts Council/The Associated Press
About 10,400 people visited the Andy Griffith Museum in Mount
Airy, N.C., in July, almost double the number who visited in July 2011.
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