Sunday March 31, 2024 | SOOKE, BC [Updated 11:30 pm]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
On the sunny Saturday of this Easter long weekend about 1,400 people attended the Sooke Seedy Saturday.
Held at Sooke Community Hall, the five-hour event on March 30 was organized by Sooke Region Food CHI Society.
The event featured 42 vendors or exhibits, refreshments, and a prize draw. Admission was free, donations welcome.
“It was a very successful event with happy vendors and customers,” said Sooke Food CHI president Ellen Lewers. People who attend are keen about gardening, food and agriculture. Many of the vendors and exhibitors are local small businesses in the Sooke and west shore region.
Other Sooke Food CHI organizers on hand for the day included Teresa Sahlstrom, Candace Linde, Anita Wasiuta, and Carolyn Bateman.
Touring along through the rows of displays, people could find out more about plants, gardening, soil, and more. Folks of all ages — from kids to seniors, including high school students and young adults — spent a lot of time visiting along at many or all of the tables.
Plants, seeds, natural products, soil, and many other products were available for sale. And of course there was the popular annual seed swap table.
A popular giveaway of tree seedlings was hosted by the Sooke Builders Association; after a few hours all 270 seedlings had been given away in small plastic bags for safe transportation home: Douglas fir, western red cedar, western hemlock, noble fir, and Pacific silver fir. “Do your part, plant a tree” and “We Eat CO2” were the slogans at the booth.
Information booths included Transition Sooke, the Compost Education Centre, and Urban Food Resilience Initiatives Society.
The Sooke Children’s Garden Club had an activity station for kids. Kids of all ages were interested in the soil examination under a microscope as featured at The Soil Guy display table.
Teya Danel who was the Secretary of Sooke Food CHI for the past year had recently passed away relatively suddenly. There was an “In Memory” photo-display for Teya at Saturday’s event. Her husband Bill Needoba attended Sooke Seedy Saturday for the day.
The prize draw kits consisted of seven batches of vendor items, including some trees and shrubs.
===== RELATED:
- Urban Food Resilience info booth on Easter Weekend (March 29, 2024)
- April 6: Soil quality workshop for local backyard gardeners (March 25, 2024)
- Little trees in big number at Sooke Seedy Saturday (March 22, 2024)
- Urban Food Resilience group pitches new approaches for Langford (February 27, 2024)
- Soil quality workshop for local backyard gardeners (December 30, 2023)
- Big turnout for 2023 Sooke Apple Festival (September 24, 2023)
- What people are saying about food sustainability (March 29, 2023)
- Sooke community shows up for food sustainability (March 28, 2023)
- Support for BC farmers’ markets to grow, operate in emergencies (January 9, 2022)
- 10th Annual Sooke Seedy Saturday draws a crowd (February 23, 2019)
===== ABOUT ISLAND SOCIAL TRENDS:
Island Social Trends is a regional news publication with daily news posts at IslandSocialTrends.ca and a biweekly print/PDF edition distributed in the west shore and to paying Premium Subscribers by email.
Island Social Trends Editor Mary P Brooke previously was editor and publisher of MapleLine Magazine (2008-2010), Sooke Voice News (2011-2013), and West Shore Voice News (2014-2020). Those publications are permanently archived at the Sooke Region Museum.
After having covered the COVID pandemic daily during 2020-2021, Ms Brooke now reports with the BC Legislative Press Gallery. She was nominated in 2023 for a Jack Webster Foundation journalism award that recognizes a woman who contributes to her community through journalism.
Starting in 2024, Ms Brooke now also leads with the Urban Food Resilience Initiatives Society.