The 10th and final BC Shellfish Grower’s Association (BCSGA) Shellfish Gala Dinner

On June 17, 2016 the BCSGA held the 10th annual (and final) Shellfish Gala dinner,

celebrating our amazing seafood and the hardworking growers who produce it.

This blog entry is simply my chance to reminisce about the many great years I’ve

been involved – so please, indulge me, it’s been one of my favourite projects to be

a part of over the years.

The BCSGA Shellfish Gala Dinner and Comox Valley Shellfish Festival were

conceived of in 2006 by the BC Shellfish Grower’s executive director, Roberta

Stevenson. I have had the distinct pleasure of serving on the board as a member

since the beginning. Over the decade, we’ve had some incredible board members

and staff come and go, each one contributing something to the dinner and festival

making it better and more streamlined each year.

During that time we’ve seen many changes. The BCSGA started the Comox Valley

Shellfish Festival that year, and we held the gala dinner at the Filberg Park on

Saturday, June 17, 2006 along with the first Comox Valley Shellfish Festival on

Sunday, June 18, 2006 at Comox Marina Park.

I will never forget that first year, filled with our first-time mistakes and a growing list

of ‘things to remember for next year!”. One of our big learning moments came

during the 5th course of the very first gala dinner, which happened to be a course I

was preparing.

I was preparing Pentlatch Seafood’s Manila clams, and by the time my course

came up, it was pitch black outside – we hadn’t counted on lights! No one could

see a thing and I had 100 lbs of clams cooking over a series of burners with 224

guests to serve. This was before EVERYONE had an iPhone with a flashlight, so

we improvised – Tom Broadley and Richard Hardy pulled their vehicles around and

parked them pointing their headlights straight into the cook’s tent so everyone

could see what was going on. Teamwork – that was always the theme of working

with the growers and the board – pull together to get it done, no matter what.

That was the first year we held the Comox Valley Shellfish Festival at Marina Park, a

grassroots event, with the shellfish growers coming out and cooking, shucking and

serving over 1000 people that year. We grew that festival each year, with numbers

reaching as high as 2500 people.

The Comox Valley Shellfish Festival morphed into the BC Shellfish Festival and the

Shellfish Grower’s Association continued to host the festival until year seven, when

we decided to let the festival go and focus solely on the Shellfish Gala dinner at

Filberg Park.

In 2014, the Comox Valley Economic Development Society took over the festival

and they have continued to grow and adapt it into the Comox By the Sea

Celebration.

The Shellfish Gala Dinner remained a BC Shellfish Grower’s Association project,

until our 10th and final dinner last week.

I’ll miss those BCSGA board meetings, complete with wine, snacks and big laughs.

A huge shout out for the many years of fun – Roberta Stevenson, Tom Broadley,

Richard Hardy, Amanda Woloshyn, Laura Kempling, Matt McDonald., Matty Dread,

Aaron Rail and everyone we’ve worked with over the years. And thank you to the

mighty BC shellfish growers – you band of misfits. Your tenacity and drive is

inspiring.

KJ