Friday, August 16, 2019

130 years and counting for Port Edward's North Pacific Cannery Historical Site

Lookin' pretty good at 130!
Next Week North Pacific Cannery Historical Site will be celebrating
the 130th anniversary of what is now one of the region's top tourist attractions

Next weekend will herald the 130th anniversary celebrations for the North Pacific Cannery, once one of the key elements to the North Coast fishery and now one of the premier tourist destinations for visitors to the Prince Rupert and Port Edward area.

Next Sunday, August 25th, is the day that has been set aside to share the memories and look to the future with five newly renovated and reopened buildings available for review, part of an ever evolving process or bringing back many of the key elements of the former active cannery.

As the milestone moment for North Pacific nears, General Manager Ann Leach, reminisced a bit about the nature of the historical site and its importance to the region.

“It hasn’t been an easy accomplishment to maintain such a large site for so many years. If not for the support of the community that surrounds it, this cannery would have burned or deteriorated like its neighbours many years ago"

The first pilings for what would be longest serving cannery in the province were driven in 130 years ago, making for a small village onto itself that brought many of the world's cultures to the North Coast to work with the First Nations at the facility.


Since being designated as a National Historic Site over ten years ago, North Pacific has seen a number of upgrades and improvements take place to preserve its historic nature, attracting large volumes of visitors through its summer operation schedule while also gaining recognition from Heritage BC.

The ongoing work at North Pacific means that five buildings previously closed to the public are now open for your review as part of the tour of the sprawling complex along the shore of Inverness Passage.



As part of next weekends celebration North Pacific staff have invited residents and visitor alike to attend the celebrations from 11AM to 3PM, with locally-renowned burgers available for purchase from Patty’s Burger Wagon.

To go with your burgers, North Pacific is offering a free slice of anniversary cake,

Visitors can also purchase a ticket for admission to one of three Cannery Life Tours that are offered throughout the day.

You can contact North Pacific for more information at 250-628-3538

More background on the historical site can be found from the following resources:

North Pacific Cannery Historical Site website

Facebook page

Twitter Feed

Instagram Feed


More notes of interest on the tourism sector in Prince Rupert and Port Edward can be found from our archive pages here.


To view the most recent blog posting of the day, click here.

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