Long-time Fort 91原创 resident Gordon Smith was enjoying an outdoor breakfast of pancakes and sausage on Saturday morning, Oct. 8 at a table under a sun shade as the 27th Cranberry Festival got underway.

Smith, 85, was glad to see the festival back without the hindrance of pandemic-required restrictions.

鈥淚鈥檝e been going ever since it started, however long that is 鈥� Smith told the 91原创 Advance Times.

鈥淚 come every year.鈥�

There was a lineup for the breakfast, put on by the in the park just off Glover Road and Mary Avenue, which was closed to accommodate dozens of vendors and food trucks.

For the breakfast, there were special sausages made with cranberries.

In 2020, the festival was cancelled because of the pandemic, but organizers delivered berries to people who registered.

A scaled-down in-person version was held in 2021.

READ ALSO: VIDEO: Scaled-down Fort 91原创 Cranberry Festival rated a success by organizers

For 2022, the festival was back to its pre-pandemic format.

Live bands were playing at the heritage Fort 91原创 Community Hall where Margaret Rogers and other volunteers overseeing the sale of thousands of pounds of Cranberries from Ocean Spray, packing them into two-and-a-half pound bags for sale at $5 each, 鈥渦ntil we run out.鈥�

Money from the berry sale helps fund the festival.

This year, the event included a scarecrow contest at the Fort 91原创 Historic site and canoe races on the river.

The annual celebration began in 1995, started by a local group of farmers.

Cranberries are one of the only native fruits commercially grown in B.C.

Filled with antioxidants, Vitamin C, and fibre, they were used by First Nations along the Fraser River for food, dye and medicine, and they were an important trading item with the Hudson鈥檚 Bay Company.

An estimated 12 per cent of the North American cranberry crop comes from B.C.

READ ALSO: Decades old tradition to celebrate everything cranberry returns this Thanksgiving weekend

More images from the Saturday festival can be viewed online at the .