City Gardening

The harvesting machine at Johnston's Marsh in Bala

From October 16 to 18, the tiny town of Bala celebrated its 25th anniversary of the annual Cranberry Festival. Why cranberries in Bala? Well, it seems that this area of Muskoka is filled with acidic marshes and wetlands that are so ideal for cranberry-growing. Like most first-time visitors, I trekked out to Johnston’s (Est. 1952) for a tour of the fields and the low-down of the unique way these berries are harvested. When the cranberries (Vaccinium macrocarpon) are ripe, the fields are flooded, the bushes raked with a harvesting machine, called a Getzinger Retracto-Tooth Picker, to release the fruit, and the ones that float to the top of the water are scopped up and harvested, cleaned, bagged and shipped. The flooded beds also serve another purpose: in winter, the icy beds protect the shrubs from winter kill and in early spring, they guard against frost damage. During the growing season, the marshes are drained and the shrubs grow just like any other shrub.

But the marshes are only part of the festivities. The entire town is transformed into a marketplace of crafts, clothing and of course, cranberry delicacies. If you go next year, don’t miss the cranberry sausages on a bun at the grocery store, the hot cranberry cocktail at the ice cream store and the cranberry crepes at St. Alban’s Anglican Church (don’t pass up the chance to ring the historic bell). 

Have you been to the Cranberry Festival? Leave a comment and let us know your favourite things to do!