Pacific salmon are making a comeback in North Shore waterways and that’s cause for celebration.
Coho Festival 2025 will honour this return with a free, community-powered event that raises awareness and funds to help protect these iconic fish — and the ecosystems and cultures they support — for generations to come.
The significance of salmon
For millennia, salmon thrived in the countless creeks flowing through what we now call the North Shore. They’ve long played a vital role in the coastal environment and in the cultural practices of the Squamish Nation, who have cared for and relied on salmon since time immemorial.
But colonization, urbanization, pollution and habitat loss drastically impacted their numbers, leading to the near disappearance of salmon from these urban waterways. Fortunately, thanks to decades of habitat recovery and stewardship efforts, those same creeks welcomed the return of spawning salmon just last year.
Now alive with developing Coho fry, the North Shore is proof that environmental conservation works—if we all do our part.
Coho Festival: A festival with purpose
Enter the Coho Festival: a fun, informative and deeply community-rooted celebration that’s been educating locals on our interdependent relationship with salmon since its founding in 1980. Each year, Coho Festival brings thousands of locals and visitors to Swáiw̓ (Ambleside Park), combining food, music and environmental education into one powerful event.
This year’s festival continues that legacy with a robust lineup of activities for all ages. The beloved Coho Salmon BBQ returns, serving up wild, local and sustainably harvested salmon with B.C. corn and greens, while the neighbouring Coho Food Garden will offer refreshments including local craft beer, as live music kicks off in front of the park’s sweeping ocean views.
Families will find plenty to do in the Coho Kids Park, while the Stewardship Zone will feature more than 20 exhibitors showcasing the ongoing work of local organizations restoring and protecting streams, forests and marine habitats.
Members of the Squamish Nation perform a traditional drum circle during the Coho Festival. Photo via Coho Society of The North Shore
Fundamental to our future
The exhibitors demonstrate that salmon are more than just a local species; they’re a fundamental part of our region’s ecological and cultural identity. Their epic journey from ocean to stream and back again supports everything from orcas to bears to the forests themselves, delivering crucial nutrients that enrich entire ecosystems. Our spectacular coniferous forests would not have existed if they had not been fertilized over the eons by decaying salmon in the forests, rivers, streams and creeks.
This year’s Coho Festival will welcome back the Squamish Nation Canoe Family, who will perform a traditional “Blessing of the Salmon” on the Main Stage, a ceremony that beautifully honours the ancient relationship between Indigenous Peoples and the “salmon people” who sustain so much of the coast’s biodiversity.
A close-up shot of young salmon being carefully measured in a water container, as part of a conservation effort to track and protect the species' growth and health. Photo via Coho Society of The North Shore
The Coho Festival isn’t just a party; it’s a reminder that we all have a stake in protecting our waterways and supporting the organizations that keep these vital lifecycles intact. Over the years, the Coho Society of the North Shore has raised more than $750,000 to support local salmon conservation efforts, thanks in large part to festival attendees.
Whether you're there for the food, the fun or the fish themselves, this event is your chance to reconnect with the land, the water and the shared responsibility of stewardship.
Salmon are a fundamental part of life on the West Coast and their return to North Shore creeks signals a new chapter — one we must honour and protect for the future, together. To learn more and plan your visit cohosalmonsociety.com/coho-festival.
