Main Speakers
and Participants
Here are some of this year's participants!
Anyone on island wanting to share a skill, a particular knowledge of the ocean or the forests, anyone who has an innovative idea and thinks that it would fit the Festival's scope of "Wild Harvest" is invited to participate in the event.
Dafne Romero from North Pacific Kelp Wild Foods
Dafne is the owner of North Pacific Kelp Wild Foods and will be here to talk about her passion for food gathering and her wild foods business.
She will make a more formal presentation of her seaweed harvesting knowledge at the event with Dolly Garza.
Sgaas Sgwaansing - Shyla Cross
Local artist Sgaas Sgwaansing - Shyla Cross will lead a small workshop about traditional cedar weaving. We cannot wait to see this exceptional workshop!
Laura Sample from Laura's True North
Laura is professional local photographer who loves to shoot wildlife. She participated in all our events and will be back this year to talk about her passion. We are looking forward to her slideshows!
Amber Faktor from Sunfish Studio
Amber is a local potter in Sandspit at Sunfish Studio. She is an organizer of this event and will be offering a pottery workshop this year.
Bryce will be one of our keynote speakers this year, and will do a presentation on the msuhrooms of Haida Gwaii. Born 3 Dec 1933, Bryce is an expert Mycologist that has published over 300 scientific papers and described about 250 new taxa of fungi. He holds a University of Liverpool B.Sc., Ph.D. and D.Sc. He was professor at University of Waterloo 1965-1994 and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He authored several books, including: The Whole Fungus (2 vols), The Outer Spores - Mushrooms of Haida Gwaii and The Fifth Kingdom.
Dolly Garza is an expert on the topic of Seaweed and kelp! She will co-present a cooking demo with Dafne Romero this year. Dolly is a professor emerita of the University of Alaska Fairbanks; she earned her Ph.D. in marine policy from the University of Delaware. She grew up collecting and using seaweeds with her family in Ketchikan and Craig, and enjoys harvesting and creating new seaweed dishes. She continues teaching sustainable harvesting of seaweeds on Haida Gwaii.
Jenny Cross
Renown traditional harvester and educator Jenny Cross will be joining is for this year's event to talk about traditional wild harvesting and processing. This will be the second time Jenny participates in the event, and we are very happy to see her again.
Laura Pattison
Laura grew up on Haida Gwaii and has always been a keen wild harvester, without paying too much attention to it :) It comes naturally for her... She will do a presentation on wild dyes this year and show us what she has learned and discovered on this topic over the past few years.
This local company is specialized in the harvesting and processing of wild edibles. They will have a table at the event and will be selling some of their products to the public.
Cathy Baran from the Salt Cart
Cathy has been involved with the Festival since its creation. She is the owner of "The Salt Cart", a small business in Sandspit. She sells home made sea salt, and a variety of dried wild edibles, including chanterelles and wild teas. She will also be leading a workshop on Salt Making at the event. We are all happy to see her come back this year!
PAST PARTICIPANTS AND SPEAKERS
We would like to thank again our participants from previous years who have helped by leading walks, participating in activities or talked about their work or passion:
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Dolly Garza, who talked about Seaweed and Kelp
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Sphenia Jones and Erika Stocker, who presented traditional Haida foraging and cooking
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Jenny Cross who talked about Haida food offerings and connection with the ocean
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Susan Musgrave who talked about her wonderful book "A Taste of Haida Gwaii"
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Gwaii Haanas
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Chef Giulio Piccioli who did a food processing workshop and demo
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Kelsey Kricheldorf, Jessica Roy, Stephanie Korolyk, Gina Beaudry, Laura Bishop and Kay who led visitors on guided forest and shore walks
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Haida Gwaii Local Food Pantry and Farm to School program
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Hannah Bregula for CHN Marine
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Phil Oates on wild edibles
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The Haida Gwaii Institute
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Ashley Furland for her Wild Wisdom brand of products
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Ruth Wheadon, who talked about deer hunting and her work at Baru Farm
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Laura Bishop, who did a hide tanning workshop
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Sylvia Doll and her handmade knives
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Dan Binema who did presentations on fermentation techniques
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Kyla Mitchell and Natalie Affolter from Islandwise Essentials
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Stu Crawford, who came to the event 4 years in a row and is our favorite biologist and lychenologist
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Doug Black who led low tide walks in Sandspit
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The BCSPCA
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And to the many more who donated their time and shared their knowledge of the wilderness...