Media Releases
Wednesday, June 28, 2017
Cornucopia, presented by BlueShore Financial - get your tickets!
Whistler, B.C. – Mark your calendars, tickets go on sale July 1st for Whistler’s favourite culinary event Cornucopia, presented by BlueShore Financial.
Located in the resort town of Whistler, B.C., this 11-day showcase fulfills its mission to put Whistler on the culinary map. It is the must-experience food and drink mountain event, annually attracting more than 15,000 attendees and hundreds of key industry members and media.
Building on the momentum of last year’s very successful 20th anniversary edition, Cornucopia 2017 will continue to be a celebration of the senses.
Taking place from November 9 – 19, the festival will offer food and drink tastings, intimate wine dinners, educational and entertaining luncheons, craft beer celebrations, spirited parties and over 35 seminars. The festival's name implies abundance, and the variety of programming is a great example of this, there really is something for everyone. Below is a sneak peek of confirmed Chef’s Table Luncheon visiting chefs:
• Botanist, Vancouver BC – Opened April 2017 at the Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel, Botanist features a cocktail bar and lab, lush indoor garden, vibrant dining room and Champagne Lounge. Executive Chef Hector Laguna’s menu features local produce, sustainably sourced seafood and organic agricultural methods from backyard suppliers in the Pacific Northwest Region. Chef Laguna’s culinary career spans him across North America’s top foodie destinations including San Francisco, Miami, Toronto and Vancouver – most recently as Senior Sous Chef at Hawksworth Restaurant prior to joining the Botanist opening team.
• Boulevard Kitchen & Oyster Bar, Vancouver BC - Seafood-focused fine dining in the heart of downtown Vancouver helmed by Chef Alex Chen previously of the famed Polo Lounge in the Beverly Hills Hotel. Grounded in classical technique and training, Chen artfully infuses his cooking with a casual West Coast flair and creative hints of his international influences. Awards include: 10th Annual Gold Medal Plates BC Regional Champion – Alex Chen; Gold Award – Vancouver International Wine Festival; and more.
• The Salted Vine, Squamish BC – Opened September 2016, The Salted Vine Kitchen & Bar brings an upscale, Pacific Northwest dining experience to Squamish. A collaboration between industry veterans and long-time colleagues at Whistler's award-winning Araxi Restaurant + Oyster Bar, Executive Chef Jeff Park and Director/Sommelier Pat Allan, The Salted Vine has been awarded Best New Restaurant at the 2017 Where to Dine Awards; Metro Vancouver’s 10 Best New Restaurants of 2016 by Vancouver Sun; and Best New Restaurants 2016 by The Globe and Mail.
• Summit Restaurant at Villa Eyrie Resort, Malahat BC – Summit Restaurant features Italian-inspired, farm-to-table coastal cuisine led by multi-award winning Executive Chef Terry Pichor, formerly of Relaix & Chateau property Sonora Resort. Pichor is classically trained in French cuisine and is a two-time Gold Medal Plates recipient. Through his travels, Pichor has mastered his palate and techniques to merge the best farm-fresh ingredients into his culinary works of art.
Last but certainly not least, Cornucopia signature tastings – Crush Grand Tasting, Cellar Door, House Party: Best of BC, Poured, With a Twist Silent Disco and Night Market: Taste the World are set to return and round out the festival schedule.
Tickets for this year’s festival will go on sale as of July 1, 2017. Visit www.whistlercornucopia.com for event schedule, news and ticket information.
Charity partners
Cornucopia is committed to giving back in the community. Through various fundraising events that take place over the course of the 11-day festival, an average of $35,000 per year is raised and donated to the partner charity –Cornucopia has raised over $500,000 over the years for community initiatives.
Festival organizers are pleased to name Whistler Public Library and The Whistler Writing Society as the joint 2017 charity recipients.
The Whistler Public Library Association was formed in December 1985 by a dedicated group of community minded citizens. From humble beginnings in the basement of Municipal Hall in 1986 to doubling its space in 1994 in Village North, the library made its final move in 2008. The new Whistler Public Library opened the doors of its spectacular new permanent home on January 26, 2008.
The Whistler Public Library is one of the busiest in the province and serves as a community hub for locals, seasonals, and visitors. Various programs are offered to the community such as weekly story times for preschoolers, summer reading clubs, free legal seminars, monthly movie night, slide shows and author readings.
The Whistler Writing Society was founded in 2001 and became a non-profit organization in 2005. The group includes over 150 members. From its inception the group has promoted the literary arts, provided a forum for local writers to develop their craft within the community, and sponsored literary events for readers and writers alike, including the annual Whistler Writers Festival, the Writer in Residence program and the Authors in the Schools program.
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Cornucopia, presented by BlueShore Financial is Whistler’s Celebration of Food + Drink. The dazzling eleven-day display of gourmet food and drink attracts over 15,000 visitors to the resort and caters to everyone from amateur enthusiasts to aficionados. Respected industry professionals, judges and presenters headline each event, seminar and tasting, offering the best possible opportunity to garner as much information and insight as possible. Held on the cusp of the opening of each ski season in beautiful Whistler, British Columbia, Cornucopia was designed to showcase and support local restaurants, restaurateurs and the food and wine industry. With wide-spread appeal through the immense variety of events available, the festival is truly a food and drink festival with a Whistler attitude.
Whistler is Canada's premier year-round leisure and meeting destination located in the Coast Mountains 120 kilometres (75 miles) north of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Consistently rated the top ski resort in North America, Whistler was the Host Mountain Resort of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. The resort offers an extensive range of accommodations totaling 10,000 bedrooms among 24 hotels as well as townhomes, condos, B&Bs and chalets. Whistler also boasts more than 100 restaurants and bars, 200 retail shops, 25 spas and countless activity options from world-renowned skiing and snowboarding, mountain biking and golf, to hiking, rock climbing, and watersports. The Resort Municipality of Whistler is home to a diverse community of more than 10,000 permanent residents.
Tourism Whistler is the member-based marketing and sales organization representing Whistler, operating the Whistler Conference Centre, Whistler Golf Club, Whistler Visitor Centre, as well as 1.800.944.7853 and whistler.com - Whistler's official source for visitor bookings and information. As the convention and visitors bureau for the Resort Municipality of Whistler, Tourism Whistler represents more than 7,000 members who own, manage and operate properties or businesses on resort lands including hotels, restaurants, activity operators and retail shops.
Media can visit whistler.com/media for Whistler facts, media releases, story starters, local personality profiles and access to images and B-roll.
Media Contacts
Mary Zinck
Media Program - Cornucopia
Manager, Travel Media - Tourism Whistler
T: 604.938.2702
E: mzinck@tourismwhistler.com
Bree Eagles
Coordinator, Travel Media
T: 604.938.2718
E: beagles@tourismwhistler.com
W: www.whistlercornucopia.com
T: www.twitter.com/CornucopiaWine
F: www.facebook.com/WhistlerCornucopia
I: @cornucopiawhistler