Parksville’s Beach Club Resort Makes a Splash with Its World Oceans Day Party

Two hours into the first World Oceans Day Celebration in Parksville and I was amazed at what I observed:

• Minimal lineups for food and drink
• Jovial attendees mingling with new acquaintances or getting caught up with a friend
• No one stressed about finding a seat or a table
• Zero mess because the hospitality staff were on top of clean up
• And, most of all, sunshine and the laughter it inspired.

The party that honoured the importance of the waters was an on-shore delight. Executed by the Beach Club Resort, the festival was held on June 8 and based on the success and overwhelmingly positive feedback there’s no doubt that it will return in 2026.

While there are a number of quality food festivals in British Columbia, Parksville’s event stands out because of the location and the natural link to World Oceans Day, an internationally recognized occasion that originated in 1992 with Canada’s International Centre for Ocean Development and the Ocean Institute of Canada.  In recent years, it has broken out into a more widely celebrated commemoration.

The Beach Club Resort saw an opportunity to host a potentially mainstay event honouring the oceans. Managed by Bellstar, a Canadian-owned hospitality company focused on Alberta and British Columbia properties, the Beach Club knew it needed a headlining culinary star to make the event a success. It recruited Ned Bell, one of Canada’s leading chefs and a champion for healthy aquaculture and ocean sustainability. He teamed with Nick Mackay-Finn, the recently hired executive chef at the resort, for a sustainable, locally focused menu that was as fantastic as the weather.

“For a first-year event I thought it was an almost 10 out of 10,” said Bell, who has participated in numerous seafood festivals throughout Canada. “There were some minor operational opportunities to improve and those things can be done for the next time. The highlight of that part of Vancouver Island is that it is the heartbeat of the seafood community on the island. Of course there are many little pockets that are crucially important but the Parksville area has naturally protected waters and because of that it is where so much of the shellfish comes from. Overfishing and climate change are the two largest threats facing the world’s oceans currently. Any opportunity to bring attention to those issues is an important one to take. At the end of the day that’s what events like this one can do, raise awareness among a broader population.”

The culinary highlights were Bell’s Albacore tuna, lightly grilled and in a zesty sauce, and Mackay-Finn’s seafood boil in a lobster butter broth that on its own would have satisfied festival-goers. Plus there were crab legs, spot prawns, ceviche, and more. The tuna is notable not only for its tastiness but for how it offers an alternative to the highly sought after and overfished bluefin tuna, a species increasingly under threat.

“We use wild B.C. Albacore tuna, which interestingly is a more delicious tuna than bluefin. It has more fat so it is oilier. It’s a bit more gentle but is still super flavourful. Because it is a delicate fish you have to treat it delicately; whether that’s tartare or sashimi or some other raw preparation. I like the tataki style, torching or pan-searing the outside but only so delicately to give it a bit of colour and to wake up the fats so the tuna gets more savoury,” Bell said of his recipe. “We tossed it in dried seaweed to give it some extra umami; added lots of sea salt, lots of love, and that seaweed gives it a briny saltiness. Any type of vinaigrette works with a fish like that. For us it was honey, miso, and lemon in the vinaigrette.”

The festival also featured Parksville food suppliers, including Canada’s first Truffle Farm. Virginia and Pete Brietzke operate the 20-acre property that grows White Alba and Perigord Black truffles, and produces a range of products from them, including salt, honey, and oil. Anyone who loves truffles will be wowed to discover that the Truffle Farm has replicated the depth of flavour, earthiness, and savoury aroma of the high-priced Italian originals. Virginia Brietzke’s parents brought the fungus back from Piedmont during a trip to Italy more than two decades ago. The company currently ships their products to that nation and others.

Little Qualicum Cheeseworks, now under the ownership of a young couple who have relocated from Winnipeg, is another star in Parksville. Albert Enns says he wants to have the best cheese in Canada and while there are some distinguished contenders from Quebec for that title, Little Qualicum has the process, equipment, and ingenuity needed to reach such a pinnacle. The cheesemaking property is also a tourist attraction and educational facility, helping kids learn about farming, food production, and environmental concerns. The goats, rabbits, and cows — including pens with days-old calves — are also a draw.

More education can be found 20 minutes north near the waters of Deep Bay, where Vancouver Island University has established a marine research centre that is contributing scientific learning about ocean health and helping industry advance sustainability practices. Breeding hybrid oysters that can be more resilient to the effects of climate change is one of the goals of the facility and it has received help from the industry, which collects data that researchers such as Marnie Branfireun, an environmental scientist at the Deep Bay Marine Field Station, can analyze and then action.

The coastline of Vancouver Island contributes more than $10 million of oysters to the provincial economy and 50% of the nation’s oyster harvest each year. To maintain and grow that market oyster farmers are going to need input from researchers.

“The meaning of our lives is connecting people to the ocean. It’s how they learn about conservation,” Branfireun said. “How is anyone going to protect it if we don’t know what’s in there and what’s happening beneath the waters? Our fundamental hope is to foster a compassion for the life that’s there. Even though we’re scientists and our work is focused on the research, it’s the emotion we’re trying to trigger. Without having that connection it’s hard to get people to care about the oceans to the degree necessary to bring about the change needed.”

Bell concurs, noting that educators and thought leaders can spark broader interest, which is a reason he was keen to be part of the Beach Club Resort festival.

“Where there are small coastal communities that are promoting sustainable aquacultures, I’m always interested to be part of that. The industry is small and the more awareness we can raise and more initiatives we take to make it healthier will be a benefit in the future,” Bell said.

Perhaps the best way to gain a deeper appreciation for the oceans is to get out on the water yourself. Western Star Charters offers fishing tours from Parksville’s French Creek Harbour. The four-hour trip features captain Darrell Jobb explaining about how catch-and-release programs have helped to increase populations of salmon in recent years. On our tour, we caught four Coho salmon, which were in season at the start of June, and released about a dozen fish that were not legal to catch, because they were either too small, illegal to keep (such as dogfish), or were out of season, such as Chinook or spring salmon.

Guests at the Beach Club Resort can not only book the charter tour through the hotel, they can arrange to have their catch brought back to the property’s kitchen, where Mackay-Finn and his team can prepare it. Another sensational dining experience on the edge of the shoreline with the ocean on the tip of your tongue and at the top of mind.

MORE ABOUT VISITING PARKSVILLE

Getting There: While BC Ferries sailings are by far the most popular mode of transportation used to reach Vancouver Island from the British Columbia mainland, airlines also offer service. Among them is Canada’s only fully Indigenous-owned carrier, Iskwew Air, which was launched by Teara Fraser, a Métis woman who has been a pilot for more than 30 years. Fraser’s airline uses Navajo Chieftain planes that travel from the South Terminal of Vancouver International Airport to a tiny airport in Qualicum Beach, about 10 minutes from the Beach Club Resort. The flight takes only 25 minutes. It’s a convenient alternative to the ferries, which take 90 minutes to sail, plus about one hour wait time before boarding. Sailings to Nanaimo then require a 40-minute drive (or taxi ride for foot passengers) to Parksville.

Where to Stay: The Beach Club Resort features well-appointed and large apartments with full kitchens. Several suites have views of the Salish Sea. A boardwalk is at the rear of the property and the beach is on the other side of those wooden planks. Room nights in the summer typically start at $400 each; check the property’s booking engine for availability on your preferred travel dates.

Notable: There’s a debate whether the name of the annual occasion is World Oceans Day or World Ocean Day. Marine scientists and oceanography experts will point out that the waters don’t have boundaries. If you turn the globe upside down and view the world from the perspective of Antarctica, all the waters converge. The names given to the oceans are politically motivated human constructs. However, the debate can get in the way of the end goal of raising awareness and concern for the health of the planet’s rivers, lakes, and oceans. So, it is referred to its most popular and more easily explained name, World Oceans Day.

 

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