'If By Sea' annual fundraiser was a great success!
On September 22nd, Surfrider Foundation Vancouver Island Chapter kicked-off the first Wild Water International Film Festival with our annual fundraiser. This year, we paired the film festival with a photography exhibition called "If By Sea". The photos were on display for a week before the show and then auctioned off the night of the event. Six renowned photographers (both local and international) donated their images for the show. We also had an online Facebook photo contest to select one local amateur artist to have their photo displayed at the show. To go with the theme of the night, the photos captured our special places in the water, both above and below the waves. Artbox did an amazing job of turning these photos into a selection of large canvas, Dibond and fine art prints that became our silent auction throughout the night. Thank you to Sachi Cunningham, Eiko Jones, Ian McAllister, Jeremy Koreski, Jen Steele, Chris Hannant and Michelle Pichert for your amazing photos!Canoe Brewpub hosted the night, serving a great selection of appetizers and selling their craft beer. What we value most about Canoe is that they are making real steps to reduce their use of single-use plastics and recently became a Surfrider Approved business through the Vancouver Island Green Business Certification program. This means that there were no plastic straws in our drinks, no plastic bags, no plastic water bottles and no plastic to-go containers.The weather was perfect for the night as the crowd was treated to 3 short films on the outside patio that initiated the Wild Water International Film Festival: Takk - An Iclandic Surf Film, The More Things Change and Saturday 6:27am.By the end of the night, all photos were sold, raffle prizes were distributed and bellies were full and happy. Our Chapter was able to raise over $2500, which will all go to support our local programs and campaigns.Thank you to the Canoe Brewpub, Victoria Film Festival, Shoreline Surf & SUP Cafe and Gerald Hartwig for partnering and supporting the event!Also, a big thank you to all the volunteers as well as the following businesses for their raffle prize contributions: