The first time Tri-Cities children were invited to release 5,000 chum fry into Noons Creek, the Soviet Union was still in its last throws of existence.
Twenty-seven years later, the recent Fingerling Festival saw 30,000 chum slipped from white buckets into the babbling waters of downtown Port Moody, once again marking an annual community ritual — or as executive of member of the Noons Creek Hatchery described it amidst the melee Saturday, "The hatchery's a gong show."
Three-year-old Conrad Yu has come to release salmon into Noons Creek every year since he was born. Photo by Stefan Labbé.
When Bennie looks around these days, he sees a lot of familiar faces.
"People who grew up coming to the hatchery now bring their own kids here," he said. "It’s an education."
But connections to Noons Creek Hatchery now stretch beyond the Tri-Cities: Bennie says the organization brings in kids on educational trips as far away as an Indigenous daycare on the Downtown Eastside.
The Fingerling Festival is largely run by volunteers. Here, a young girl nets chum fry to hand out to expectant families. Photo by Stefan Labbé.
Individual families have turned the festival into their own little pilgrimage, too.
Stephen Yu, who lives on the west side of Vancouver, has made a point of coming out every year since his three-year-old son, Conrad, was born.
"It’s about teaching conservation," said the young father. “It’s meaningful."
A young girl picks up her pail of chum fry from a volunteer at Noons Creek Hatchery on Saturday. Photo by Stefan Labbé.
The annual Fingerling Festival also includes music, food and the chance to paint a van. Photo by Stefan Labbé.
Lui Osborne, 5, decorates the wheel of a van with a clutch of other children. Photo by Stefan Labbé.
