Tofino Food and Wine Festival 2020 Cancelled

TOFINO, BC - It is with great sadness that we must announce the official cancellation of the 2020 Tofino Food and Wine Festival at Tofino Botanical Gardens. This would have been our eighteenth annual signature event at the Botanical Gardens. These events have all been happy, convivial afternoons of celebrating our great BC wineries, craft brewers, distillers and the culinary excellence of BC’s restaurant industry. If any single event defined Tofino’s emergence as a culinary destination, it was this one.

The main reason we have decided to cancel this event, is a terribly ruptured relationship with the provincial Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch. For the past 16 years, our experience in working with the British Columbia LCRB has been positive; constructive, helpful and supportive. We have felt like a client or partner. In 2019, our 17th year producing this well loved event, our experience was the opposite; obstructive, hostile, intimidating and rude. We felt like an opponent. 

As we navigated through new processes and requirements, and needed assistance, we were met with little to no support or clarification related to LCRB’s new requirements. With perseverance and constant compliance, we were successful in getting our Special Event Permit, however, it was not approved until two weeks prior to the event, resulting in a great deal of anxiety, stress and pressure for the producers and directors. 

Despite our compliance, due diligence and success of the 2019 event, we have little confidence that we would be approved for a Special Event Permit for 2020, and we are not willing to risk the chance of disappointment, unwanted and unwarranted stress for our team members, our guests and our partners.  

For those who will ask about Tofino Food and Wine Festival 2021, our response to this is ‘Never say never.’

To the many patrons, artists, musicians, winemakers, chefs, suppliers, organizers, sponsors and volunteers who have been our partners these many years, we extend our deepest and heartfelt thanks and regrets.