Coho Salmon Festival in West Van, Ambleside Beach

Ambleside, West Vancouver, BC
Sunday, September 13th, 2009

www.westvancouver.com/coho/index.php/festival

Started in 1980 as a local initiative in West Van, the Annual Coho Festival has grown over the years to be the major environmental happening on the North Shore.

This popular North Shore family affair attracts large crowds of local residents and visitors from across the Lower Mainland and elsewhere. Join in and help restore North Shore salmon streams for present and future generations.

• Coho Family Walk down the Capilano River
• Entertainment
  local and visiting performers
• Coho Run
  Kitsilano/Stanley Park to Ambleside
• Youth Programs
  games and contests
• Blessing of the Salmon Ceremony
  by members of the Squamish Nation
• Beach & Field Activities
  action events and demonstrations
• Famous Salmon Barbecue with Celebrity Chefs
• Environmental Displays
  fish culture challenges
• Beer Garden
  refreshments and classic rock band
• Visual Arts Exhibition
  displays by North Shore artists and photographers

Welcome to the Coho Society of the North Shore
When you stand at the side of a river or a creek with your children or grandchildren, wouldn't it be wonderful if the waters were teaming with salmon? So many, that the scene in front of you was a churning, thriving mass of life? It wasn't very long ago that North Shore streams were teaming with salmon. So many, in fact, that community elders say you could walk across, from one side to the other, and not touch the water.

Today, we don't even notice that they are gone. Slowly, over the years, rapid urban development, pollution and lack of care, in general have depleted the stocks.We've become used to what we don't see.

The Coho Society believes we will see such abundance again. We nurture this belief by raising money and awareness so that we can fund stream and habitat enhancement programs, teach our children in schools, as well as our neighbours in the community about the importance of protecting and preserving our waterways and fisheries.

We are stirring the waters of change and the possibility that one day, in the not too distant future, we will all see what our elders saw from the edge of a riverbank. And our children and grandchildren will benefit.