Crustacean crazy: 5 things to know about Vancouver's Spot Prawn Festival
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1. Spot prawns are bigger than ever
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'When it started, in 2006, spot prawns, and the festival, weren't very popular at all,' said Johnny Bridge, president of festival co-presenter Chefs' Table Society (CTS) of B.C. The tide turned in 2009, he says, when the event began selling out. 'Now everybody knows what spot prawns are, so much so that the Vancouver populace almost over-purchases, which has made them more expensive.'
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2. Spot prawn season only lasts four to six weeks
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'The local bottom-feeding bug of the ocean,' as Bridge puts it, is the largest shrimp species in B.C. waters and can grow up to more than 20 cm. They are found primarily along the Pacific Coast, from Alaska to Southern California, as well as in the Sea of Japan and Korea Strait. During the third year of their four-year life cycle, they transition from males to females, which makes them protandrous hermaphrodites. Octopuses love them. Stocks are carefully managed and fishing season limited to prevent overfishing.
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3. The festival features some of the city's top chefs
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Ticketed experiences include Spot Prawn Bisque by Chefs' Table Society and Organic Ocean ($10 per serving + taxes) and a brunch experience (19+ years, $79 per person + taxes, two seatings, 11:30 a.m. — 1 p.m. or 1:30—3 p.m.). Brunch chefs include Adam Middleton of ARC Restaurant & Bar, Antonio Martin of Haven Kitchen + Bar, Johnny Jang of Lift Bar Grill View, and Robert Lee of Glowbal. Festival attendees can also buy fresh B.C. spot prawns directly from local fishers. Other B.C. chefs, including Ned Bell of Poplar Grove Winery, Jonah Joffe of Bar Bravo, Welbert Choi of eatfish.ca, and Sean Murray of Pan Pacific Hotel, offer demos with tips and techniques for cooking with B.C. Spot Prawns.
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4. It's not just about food but about sustainability
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Co-presenters CTS and the Pacific Prawn Fishermen's Association (PPFA) hold the festival not just to celebrate a source of tasty protein but also the work of the association. 'The fishery has been around since 1914, but since the formation of the PPFA it's been much more organized,' said Katie Lindsay, marketing director for PPFA. 'We've been able to structure the fishery to build new markets and ensure sustainability behind our stock assessments.' The fishery has also become more competitive in terms of the market, the price and demand, and also fishing areas. 'There's a lot more closed areas for sustainability, for rockfish conservation areas, and also coral reef protection. So that limits the amount of fishing areas.' Still, the industry is healthy, Lindsay says. 'There are challenges, like the ongoing threat to marine protected areas, climate change, and increased predation from sea otters. But in terms of actual fishing and sustainability, it's in a great place.'
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Vancouver Sun
23-05-2025
- Vancouver Sun
Crustacean crazy: 5 things to know about Vancouver's Spot Prawn Festival
When: May 25, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Where: Fishermen's Wharf in False Creek, Vancouver Info: 'When it started, in 2006, spot prawns, and the festival, weren't very popular at all,' said Johnny Bridge, president of festival co-presenter Chefs' Table Society (CTS) of B.C. The tide turned in 2009, he says, when the event began selling out. 'Now everybody knows what spot prawns are, so much so that the Vancouver populace almost over-purchases, which has made them more expensive.' Discover the best of B.C.'s recipes, restaurants and wine. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of West Coast Table will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. 'The local bottom-feeding bug of the ocean,' as Bridge puts it, is the largest shrimp species in B.C. waters and can grow up to more than 20 cm. They are found primarily along the Pacific Coast, from Alaska to Southern California, as well as in the Sea of Japan and Korea Strait. During the third year of their four-year life cycle, they transition from males to females, which makes them protandrous hermaphrodites. Octopuses love them. Stocks are carefully managed and fishing season limited to prevent overfishing. Ticketed experiences include Spot Prawn Bisque by Chefs' Table Society and Organic Ocean ($10 per serving + taxes) and a brunch experience (19+ years, $79 per person + taxes, two seatings, 11:30 a.m. — 1 p.m. or 1:30—3 p.m.). Brunch chefs include Adam Middleton of ARC Restaurant & Bar, Antonio Martin of Haven Kitchen + Bar, Johnny Jang of Lift Bar Grill View, and Robert Lee of Glowbal. Festival attendees can also buy fresh B.C. spot prawns directly from local fishers. Other B.C. chefs, including Ned Bell of Poplar Grove Winery, Jonah Joffe of Bar Bravo, Welbert Choi of , and Sean Murray of Pan Pacific Hotel, offer demos with tips and techniques for cooking with B.C. Spot Prawns. Co-presenters CTS and the Pacific Prawn Fishermen's Association (PPFA) hold the festival not just to celebrate a source of tasty protein but also the work of the association. 'The fishery has been around since 1914, but since the formation of the PPFA it's been much more organized,' said Katie Lindsay, marketing director for PPFA. 'We've been able to structure the fishery to build new markets and ensure sustainability behind our stock assessments.' The fishery has also become more competitive in terms of the market, the price and demand, and also fishing areas. 'There's a lot more closed areas for sustainability, for rockfish conservation areas, and also coral reef protection. So that limits the amount of fishing areas.' Still, the industry is healthy, Lindsay says. 'There are challenges, like the ongoing threat to marine protected areas, climate change, and increased predation from sea otters. But in terms of actual fishing and sustainability, it's in a great place.' 'It's something that a lot of restaurants in Vancouver will feature,' notes Bridge. 'All the chefs that I know will make sure that they have their orders in by the beginning of May. The city seems to love it. Chefs like to cook it. It's a sustainable protein, which is rare these days.' Along with the festival in False Creek, Steveston hosts its annual spot prawn and seafood celebration with events until June 15, including Spot Prawn Day on June 7. is bringing back Park 'n Prawn, its drive-up live B.C. spot prawn pickup program. Restaurants going crustacean crazy include Fanny Bay Oyster Bar and Shellfish Market, B House, Loam Bistor, Riley's, Glowbal, Black and Blue, Italian Kitchen, Coast, and C|Prime. And for that slice of the Lower Mainland demographic that loves both seafood and wrestling, Boom! Pro Wrestling presents Spot Prawn Season May 31 on the 3rd floor of Royal Canadian Legion Branch 179 at 2205 Commercial Dr.
Calgary Herald
23-05-2025
- Calgary Herald
Crustacean crazy: 5 things to know about Vancouver's Spot Prawn Festival
Article content Article content Article content 1. Spot prawns are bigger than ever Article content 'When it started, in 2006, spot prawns, and the festival, weren't very popular at all,' said Johnny Bridge, president of festival co-presenter Chefs' Table Society (CTS) of B.C. The tide turned in 2009, he says, when the event began selling out. 'Now everybody knows what spot prawns are, so much so that the Vancouver populace almost over-purchases, which has made them more expensive.' Article content Article content 2. Spot prawn season only lasts four to six weeks Article content Article content 'The local bottom-feeding bug of the ocean,' as Bridge puts it, is the largest shrimp species in B.C. waters and can grow up to more than 20 cm. They are found primarily along the Pacific Coast, from Alaska to Southern California, as well as in the Sea of Japan and Korea Strait. During the third year of their four-year life cycle, they transition from males to females, which makes them protandrous hermaphrodites. Octopuses love them. Stocks are carefully managed and fishing season limited to prevent overfishing. Article content 3. The festival features some of the city's top chefs Article content Ticketed experiences include Spot Prawn Bisque by Chefs' Table Society and Organic Ocean ($10 per serving + taxes) and a brunch experience (19+ years, $79 per person + taxes, two seatings, 11:30 a.m. — 1 p.m. or 1:30—3 p.m.). Brunch chefs include Adam Middleton of ARC Restaurant & Bar, Antonio Martin of Haven Kitchen + Bar, Johnny Jang of Lift Bar Grill View, and Robert Lee of Glowbal. Festival attendees can also buy fresh B.C. spot prawns directly from local fishers. Other B.C. chefs, including Ned Bell of Poplar Grove Winery, Jonah Joffe of Bar Bravo, Welbert Choi of and Sean Murray of Pan Pacific Hotel, offer demos with tips and techniques for cooking with B.C. Spot Prawns. Article content Article content 4. It's not just about food but about sustainability Article content Article content Co-presenters CTS and the Pacific Prawn Fishermen's Association (PPFA) hold the festival not just to celebrate a source of tasty protein but also the work of the association. 'The fishery has been around since 1914, but since the formation of the PPFA it's been much more organized,' said Katie Lindsay, marketing director for PPFA. 'We've been able to structure the fishery to build new markets and ensure sustainability behind our stock assessments.' The fishery has also become more competitive in terms of the market, the price and demand, and also fishing areas. 'There's a lot more closed areas for sustainability, for rockfish conservation areas, and also coral reef protection. So that limits the amount of fishing areas.' Still, the industry is healthy, Lindsay says. 'There are challenges, like the ongoing threat to marine protected areas, climate change, and increased predation from sea otters. But in terms of actual fishing and sustainability, it's in a great place.'
CBC
12-05-2025
- CBC
St. Thomas board game designer hopes players will 'Finesse' their bridge skills with new game
A St. Thomas woman with a passion for the card game bridge is seeing years of work come to life with a newly designed version of her favourite game. Carole Coplea says she's spent years perfecting FINESSE, which she describes as a visual board game that's easier to learn than the classic trick-taking card game. While the concept is similar to bridge, Coplea believes she's got something unique. "After I had spent a few years developing this thing and once people started playing the game itself, I realized it's not a bridge game," Coplea explained. "It's a serious game on its own." According to her rule-booklet, the game revolves around four players each putting down a card, with the highest one winning. The objective of the game is to predict how many times your team will win. The board features five ramps which help to visualize the gameplay, as well as game tokens placed on coloured squares. She's even created a new deck of cards. "The only thing we have to translate are the rules, because there's nothing to translate with the game itself. Anybody can play it," Copela said. With approximately 300 game sets in production, Copela said her plan is to set up a stall at the Horton Farmers' Market in St. Thomas. Feedback mattered Creating the game was not an easy task, Coplea said. After working out the rules of the game, the next step was to sketch out the board and take it to a local print shop. She then tested the game on family members before recruiting a larger group of testers through social media. She said she implemented a lot of the feedback she received, including additional symbols to make it accessible to people with colour-blindness, which she said she now considers a very important aspect of the game. "The tests helped me with some of the refinements," she said. "That is what the game is now." A growing market for board games Kayla Gibbens is the owner of Uber Cool Stuff in downtown London, which specializes in board games. She said many card games have been successfully transformed into board games, like FINESSE. "A lot of games are kind of based off of other ones," she explained, using the game Cribbage as an example. "There's Crib Wars, where there's more of a battling element to it. One game feeds off another one in a gameplay aspect— it's really interesting to see those growths." Creating a new board game and trying to get it distributed has gotten a little easier with social media, Gibbens said, but she pointed out that having a strong community of game enthusiasts is important. She note that it blew up during the pandemic when people were looking for activities during the lockdowns. "It always helps to have those communities around so you can get the feedback about how a game plays. You can get the word out and get a feel for the audience as well." "I think there's still a growing market," Gibbens said. Younger players Coplea enjoys the strategy and tactics of any board game, but says bridge is her favourite due to its challenging gameplay. She hopes FINESSE will offer players that same type of challenge, and potentially lead them to want to learn to play the original card game. "It's a lot easier to learn when you're young," she said. "I'm hoping that my game will help people learn the fundamentals of bridge before they actually need to learn how to play bridge.
