[URBAN NOTE] "Salmon festival in Scarborough spawns a crowd"

[rfmcdonald]

The Toronto Star's Peter Edwards reports on a recent Scarborough salmon festival.

The threat of wet weather wasn’t enough to put a damper on the Highland Creek Salmon Festival on Sunday.

Some 2,000 people showed up for the annual event in Toronto’s largest green space. It has taken off in popularity since its beginning in 2009, when it drew about 30 people for guided tours along the shores of Highland Creek in Scarborough’s Morningside Park.

“We were worried about the weather,” said Cameron Richardson, a project manager with the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority. “It turned into a really beautiful day.”

The lucky ones on the tours deep into the Highland Creek Valley could see salmon splashing in the shallow waters on their way upstream to spawn.

There were chinook salmon, introduced into Great Lakes in 1960s, as well as steelhead and coho. Richardson said he expects to also see Atlantic salmon coming back, as water quality improves.