Revelstoke Wildflower Festival celebrates alpine beauty

Revelstoke Wildflower Festival 2024 is readying to highlight the alpine wildflowers that have helped put Revelstoke on the map. Events ranging from colouring competitions, guided hikes to Mount Revelstoke’s summit, info sessions to help grow local wildflowers and identify invasive species are just some of the offerings held Thursday, July 25 to Sunday, July 28.

“Wildflowers are a big part of the heritage of the town,” Kirsten Silfvenius, Tourism Revelstoke’s events contractor and organizer of the Revelstoke Wildflower Festival 2024 told Revelstoke Mountaineer. “Mount Revelstoke National Park was established in part to protect the alpine meadows and the wildflowers.”

Free shuttles will provide visitors with season or day park passes easy access to Mount Revelstoke and Meadows in the Sky Parkway. The shuttle will pick up passengers in front of the Parks Canada downtown office where passes can also be purchased before boarding. It’s a way to help those who don’t typically have access to the park a chance to explore.

“For residents who don’t have cars it can be really hard to get up there,” Silfvenius said. The shuttle gives guests an opportunity to park in town and visit the park if they’re travelling through.

Along with guided subalpine walks, summit watercolour stations and summit hikes there’s lots to do at Mt. Revelstoke National Park for the festivities. Those hoping to stay in town also have lots of options for the Revelstoke Wildflower Festival 2024. Whether you’re hoping to join the all-ages wildflower colouring contest, the edible invasive plant ID walk or tour the wildflower window walk through Revelstoke’s downtown. 

Attendees will also get the chance to help the Columbia Shuswap Invasive Species Society (CSISS) with a speed weeding of the Illecillewaet Greenbelt trail. Contestants in groups of four will race to see who can pull the most invasive species from a designated plot in under five minutes with prizes available for the winning teams.

“It’s an opportunity to join with your office or your work team, and give back to the community by improving the Greenbelt.”

This year Silfvenius is excited for a tech activity that could help map out the status of local and invasive wildlife. Participants are welcome to the Bioblitz plant ID walk along the Greenbelt. Using either the iNaturalist or Seek app, participants will snap photos of the vegetation they see to help ID them and also add to an international database of what plants are found where and how frequently. Organizations like the Illecillewaet Greenbelt Society use the data to monitor the health of an area and plan how to combat invasive species in the future.

“I’ve just been impressed over the past year, how much I pulled out the Seek app to look up plants and wildflowers,” she said.

A festival this size and with this many activities isn’t something accomplished alone, Silfvenius said, noting the work of Mount Revelstoke National Park, CSISS, Revelstoke Visual Arts Centre, Revelstoke Visitor Centre, Invasive Species Council of British Columbia, Revelstoke Local Food Initiative, Illecillewaet Greenbelt Society, Zuc’min Guiding, Revelstoke Farm & Craft Market and Arts Revelstoke all coming together to make the festival possible.
You can find more information about Revelstoke Wildflower Festival 2024 and a complete list of events on the Tourism Revelstoke website. More events to be announced in the coming days.