Longing for home

I am missing Maple in the County. I love everything about Maple in the County. I love maple syrup. I love maple cheddar. I love maple sugar tarts and taffy on a stick. I love maple bacon with pancakes smothered in maple syrup. Is there maple wine or maple beer? Bring it on. I love the old tractors, Mabel dancing on Main Street. I am missing it all. But, a sweet young woman in Ucluelet told us all about the 26th Annual Pacific Rim Whale Festival. A festival that we were assured, would make us forget our impending maple fever. A festival full of whales, boats, artists, great food and events, events, events. I was tempted to ask if they served charbroiled Orca with maple cheddar on a maple scone. LOML would see the humour, but I don’t think the eco-touristavores of the wild Pacific would.

As it happened, sweet-young-woman didn’t have any information on hand about the event. No brochures, no access to a website. She obviously hadn’t attended the education evening and information sharing, pre-festival event. So, we were on our own.

Even the folks at “the lodge” didn’t have much to say about the event. They weren’t sponsors and could only say the event happened every year during spring break. Migration be damned. It was a spring break festival. We finally found a bit of press about the festival in a small, local newsletter. Unlike Maple in the County, PRWF wasn’t exactly fraught with blow-hole-spouting fun, unless your idea of fun has a huge price tag. Whale watching was and is free if you wanted to stand on a beach or trail, but you and I know the whales tend to avoid getting too close to shore. Whale watching from the deck of a boat was mentioned in the newsletter as part of the fun but, at $89 per person plus taxes and insurance, and no guarantees of a sighting, we decided to take our chances from the trail. The whales probably didn’t attend the information sessions, anyway. A hot springs boat tour was available for $120 per person plus extra for taxes and insurance, and I suppose if we happened to spot a whale on the way, we’d have had to ante up for that, too. There was free storytelling at a gallery boasting $10,000 prints by a local artist and a free, one-hour beach walk that had to be cancelled due to a crazy wind and snowstorm.

We finally decided to see a concert featuring a musical group who’d staged an impromptu 45-minute show on the ferry crossing. But, you guessed it, sold out at $40 a head. Arrrgh. Some festival, even the surfing was beyond expensive. At least I wasn’t going to head home in an air ambulance. The festival wasn’t a complete bust. The 2012 Pacific Rim Arts Society Show and Sale was free and all I have to say about the PRASSS is, “Let’s have a big round of applause for the Prince Edward County Arts Council and juried shows.” Pass the maple syrup, please.

theresa@wellingtontimes.ca