Ashley Wray

Special To The Progress

Grab your bike, your appetite and your thinking cap. A new bike tour is coming to town that puts a spin on fast food and education.

It’s the first-ever Chilliwack Slow Food Cycle Tour.

“The idea behind this event is just clean, fair food,” said Joldie Hayes from Tourism Chilliwack. “It will talk to people about sustainable farming, and hopefully take them back to the grass roots to really connect them with the farmer.”

The 25 kilometre, self-guided tour will give cyclists the opportunity to visit some local farms, ask questions, taste some local foods, and at some stops even see how they are made.

“It’s definitely got an educational component,” said Hayes. “And the slow food part of it is that you get to sample a lot of the products that the farmers grow or sell right here. Part of being slow is the cycling and just enjoying the journey and taking the whole experience of the day in.”

Although the event in Chilliwack is one afternoon, Tourism Chilliwack has piggy-backed it onto the cycle tour in Agassiz happening the day before. By turning it into a weekend event they’re hoping to draw more people out to experience what the Valley has to offer.

The Chilliwack route is laid out so cyclists can hit every kind of farm the city has to offer. And at each stop, there will either be a demonstration, sample or a tour.

At Anita's Organic Grain and Flour Mill Ltd., riders can catch some milling demonstrations and try some samples. Over at Chilliwack River Valley Natural Honey, beekeepers will be smoking out a bee box for onlookers. At Greendale Pottery, home of Greendale Black Angus, cyclists can take a break to enjoy some beef samples to the relaxing sounds of classical and jazz music. Or they can experience some edible landscaping at Greendale Herb and Vine.

There will even be a Sto:lo traditional welcome and salmon lunch at the Great Blue Heron Nature Reserve.

Those are just a few of the stops on the route that prove Chilliwack’s strong agricultural roots. And those roots are what make the city a great host for a tour like this, said Hayes.

“People here have a real keen interest in where their food comes from and finding out more about healthy living and healthy eating,” she said. “I really think the experience that people will have by participating in an event like this will be memorable because of the hands on approach the farmers take. It’s a great way to learn about our surroundings while having fun.”

Chilliwack Tourism is hoping for a large turn out so the cycle tour can become an annual event. They’re encouraging people to register online to help the planning process.

If you would like to register for the Chilliwack tour on August 23 or the Agassiz tour on August 22 – or even register for a bike – you can get more information at www.slowfoodvancouver.com and follow the links to the events page and click on Chilliwack Cycle Tour.