Q&A With Kira Rogers

A five minute interview with Kira Rogers, Director of my favourite event on the BC calendar, the annual Tofino Food and Wine Festival. If you’ve never been before it’s like a dreamy, moveable feast out of doors in Tolkien’s Rivendell. Something to behold, to be sure, and pure magic to be a part of.

How did the Tofino Food and Wine Festival come about?

The festival was an idea between two foodies, Eli and myself, to celebrate the marriage of food and wine in the enchanting setting of the Tofino Botanical Gardens. After catering and managing several weddings with Cafe Pamplona and the Tofino Botanicals, and with the support of both staff of the cafe and the gardens, the first festival was a great success and has since evolved into a destination weekend and festival for Tofino.

How has it evolved over the years?

As with anything successful, the festival successful evolution has also brought forth its own challenges. It is important for us to promote the healthy marriage and balance of food with wine. The challenge has become that with staffing issues for small businesses, it is sometimes challenging to get island purveyors to come to Tofino with their products. So now we try to promote both sustainable food sources as well as education in our industry, with emphasis on the passion that growers, producers and chefs have. Since the first year, which started out with the main event and the gardens, a SlowFood workshop and one winemaker’s dinner, we are now looking at an entire weekend of food and wine events to attend. We try to maintain quality with the festival, and we encourage the use of BC products, and we feature BC wines only.

What sets it apart from other wine and food festivals?

I think what sets this apart from other similar festivals are two things – the setting of the main event is a beautiful garden with 12 acres of rainforest, so the festival is a go – rain or shine (we have had some very rainy times in the past), as well as the strong community support, with chefs providing amazing canapes. It has also become a destination weekend for families to meet in Tofino, with plenty of fun things to do together.

What restaurants, breweries, and wineries are participating this year?

Restaurants providing canapes are Wildside Grill, Long Beach Lodge Resort, RainCoast Cafe, Middle Beach Lodge, Black Rock Resort, Schooner Restaurant, Trilogy Garden Cafe, Hilary’s Fine Cheese (Cowichan Bay), Commonloaf Bake Shop, Sweet T’s Cake and Pastry, Chocolate Tofino, Shelter Restaurant, Sea Shanty Restaurant, Calm Waters Dining Room, and The Oysterman – Cortes Island, Outlandish Shellfish Guild – Quadra Island (North Douglas will also join us this year with canapes).

Beer and Cider from Phillips Brewery, Vancouver Island Brewery, Sea Cider

Wineries include Tugwell Creek Meadery, CedarCreek Estate Winery, Noble Ridge, Hester Creek, Elephant Island, Saturna Island,Alderlea Vineyards, Lang, Salt Spring Vineyards, Laughing Stock, Joie, Morning Bay, Stags Hollow, Quails Gate, Gray Monk, Kettle Valley, Pentage, Blue Grouse, Mission Hill, Prospect Winery, and more….

How many people are you expecting this year?

About 500, including participants, volunteers and guests.

Can you describe the venue?

The venue for the main event is the eclectic and enchanting Tofino Botanical Gardens, 12 acres of rainforest. Food and wine stations are set up throughout the garden, as well as waterfront. Highlights of the festival included The Gazebo of Oysterly Love with Oysterman Brent Petkau and winemakers from Joie. Live music with Gabriola Island band Dinah D and the Contraband Trio, with special guest Ira Pelletier, as well as DJ Kevin West. Silent Auction Fundraiser for the Community Children’s Centre. 2nd Annual Traditional Grape Stomping, sponsored by Middle Beach Lodge and Prospect Winery.

Is it still a “no kids” event?

Still a no kids event.

What’s the one thing it’s missing that you eventually hope it includes?

There are two things I would like to see eventually – 1) Annual Farmers Market for locals – this would be where island farmers attend as participants to the main event with a farmer’s market component to it, where our locals can buy direct from the farmers, which is so difficult for us as the Pacific Rim does not have farm land. 2) Job Fair with support from VI colleges and their hospitality/culinary programs – this is to offer a solution to our staffing/labour issues, a common issue across BC and especially in tourist towns.

What should Vancouverites know about it that would make them want to drive the 3 hours it takes to get there?

A weekend in Tofino with friends and family where you can hang out, listen to music, eat and sip wines in a garden, stomp grapes and wine a trip to the Okanagan Fall Wine Festival, and of course walk the beach.

What if it rains?

Be prepared with umbrellas and gumboots!

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The 6th Annual Tofino Food and Wine Festival takes place from June 6th to 8th. Click this link for the full list of events and ticket information.