Image Credit: BC Wildlife Park

By Victor Kaisar

BCGEU Strike

BCGEU strike leads to cancellation of inaugural Octobear Fest fundraiser at BC Wildlife Park

Oct 23, 2025 | 5:17 PM

KAMLOOPS — The BC Wildlife Park has been forced to cancel this Saturday’s (Oct. 25) Octobear Fest fundraiser because of the ongoing BC Government Employees Union (BCGEU) strike, which is into its eighth week.

BC Wildfire Park General Manager Glenn Grant says they’ve not been able to get the special event liquor permit needed to host the event, which would have helped raised revenue and boost park attendance figures during the off-season.

“For anything we host, as we did in the past with concerts or private events, we need a special event liquor permit,” Grant said. “Even if we had the permit in place earlier, we wouldn’t be able to get product because you have to purchase the product from a BC government liquor store.”

More than 25,000 BCGEU members are currently part of the strike across 550 worksites in B.C. — including liquor distribution centres — though the union and the province have begun non-binding talks with veteran mediator Vince Ready to try and resolve the dispute.

Grant says the BC Wildlife Park was projecting to make around $7,000 to $8,000 in ticket sales from this event, plus a portion of the proceeds from the sale of alcohol. He said work is currently underway to process all remaining refunds.

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“It’s beyond our control and we understand the situation,” he added. “We’re not upset, we’re just disappointed and I know we have a lot of guests that are disappointed that they’re getting refunds now that we had to cancel.”

“We wanted to host a new event rather than always looking for Wildlights and our summer months to bring in revenue. We were looking to plan an event in October and one more for the spring to supplement the park so that we’re more of a four-season attraction.”

While a number of attendees would have been from Kamloops, Grant said the Octobear Fest fundraiser was specifically trying to bring in people from outlying communities like Vernon, Salmon Arm, Merritt, Barriere and Cache Creek.

“We had partnerships with hotels so people could stay the night. We had partnerships with the cab companies to offer discounts so people can get home safely,” Grant said. “We also had food trucks lined up so people had something to eat and we also had live entertainment planned.”

“It’s tough to get on the phone to say to those people, ‘Sorry, but we have to cancel the event.'”

Grant told CFJC Today that while Octobear Fest could have proceeded without the liquor permit, park management decided against it as the event would not have been as envisioned.

“I think a lot of people purchased tickets with the intent of coming to enjoy beer samples and if we can’t host the event the way it was intended, then it’s best not to do it,” Grant said, noting plans to host the event next October are already underway.

“We’ll move forward and we’ll plan the event again as I think it’ll be great for Kamloops.”