A Thanksgiving tradition that draws tens of thousands of Lower Mainland residents to Fort Langley every fall has been cancelled due to COVID.

Fort Langley鈥檚 25th annual Cranberry Festival 鈥� always held on the Saturday of the Thanksgiving Day weekend in October 鈥� will not happen as a direct result of the pandemic, said Meghan Neufeld, the former festival coordinator and Fort Langley Business Improvement Area board member.

鈥淭his year鈥檚 Fort Langley Cranberry Festival was to take place on Saturday, Oct. 10 and would have been the festival鈥檚 25th annual celebration,鈥� she explained.

鈥淯nfortunately, the desire to host the festival, even in an alternate-capacity, did not outweigh the need for public safety and regulatory compliance,鈥� Neufeld said, acknowledging that the streets of Fort Langley are usually packed, shoulder to shoulder with festival goers for the one-day event.

Due to the restrictions on gathering sizes limiting both the number of people and number of vehicles, the BIA directors made what she described as 鈥渢he difficult decision to not proceed with the festival this year.鈥�

The Fort Langley Cranberry Festival has been running since 1996 and has grown into a highly anticipated event of significant size 鈥� with more than 60,000 people visiting the village each year for the scheduled festivities.

鈥淲hile it is disappointing that the event cannot happen this year, the Fort Langley BIA has high hopes that the village will celebrate the festival鈥檚 25th anniversary in 2021,鈥� Neufeld said, encouraging the public to still visit Fort Langley and 鈥渆xplore all it has to offer.鈥�

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