Fall on Fogo Island

Berries are only the beginning. September through November is an abundant time of year, as our kitchen team, led by Executive Chef Timothy Charles, draws on the ingredients that can be foraged, farmed, and hunted.

Berries of all kinds ripen on the hills and bogs around Fogo Island, and our guests will see dishes and desserts that incorporate partridgeberries, blueberries, and marshberries, to name a few. Our kitchen team members forage ingredients like porcini and oyster mushrooms, hops, and juniper.

It’s around this time that farmers and growers based on Fogo Island, like Norm Foley and Alf Coffin, and our suppliers based on mainland Newfoundland begin to harvest their crops, and we have no shortage of cabbage, carrots, squash, corn, or turnips. From September to December, many Newfoundlanders take part in moose hunting season. These nutrient-dense and lean meats make their way onto the plate in late Fall and sometimes early Spring.

While fall is a time for the natural world to wind down, with both flora and fauna preparing for winter’s rest, this time of year still offers plenty of opportunity to experience this place. Our Outdoor Adventure team understands the rhythms of the wildlife here and can enhance your encounters with the local mammals and birds.

While winter generally offers the best conditions for catching a glimpse of our caribou herd, as they graze in larger numbers closer to the roadsides and communities, fall’s quieter trails still hold the possibility of a lone sighting.

Cooler temperatures offer ideal conditions for venturing away from the coast, heading inland on a bushcraft excursion, where you’ll learn what can be foraged along the way, as well as bushcraft skills and crafts. Ask our team about adding a traditional boil-up lunch to this activity, or any hike. And on an island with over 20 different types of edible berries, planning a berry picking experience is a must. Once you’ve gathered your harvest, join a Community Host for jam and jelly making, where they’ll welcome you into their kitchen and teach you the culinary tradition of preservation.

As nights grow longer, the sky itself becomes one of fall’s main attractions.

The primary peak for seeing the Northern Lights over Fogo Island is around September or October. The best viewing is usually between 10 PM and 2 AM, when twilight has ended so the sky is at its darkest and you are close to the geomagnetic midnight (when the aurora activity is at its peak.) The fall equinox can also boost the likelihood of seeing this natural phenomenon, as there are generally more geomagnetic storms.

The sky is not the only thing putting on a show. Fall weather also brings higher winds along with dramatic seas. Late October and November gusts and ocean swells can offer the perfect circumstances for storm watching – cozy up under a handmade quilt, a comforting beverage in hand, as you watch the waves crash and foam against the shore.

The fall months are punctuated with community festivals and gatherings that highlight and celebrate our culture, heritage, and traditions.

Around mid-September, Tilting – the primarily Irish-Catholic community on Fogo Island – hosts a multi-day festival called Féile Tilting, celebrating their Irish heritage and culture. During the first few years of its inception, the festival focused largely on educational workshops. Since then, the informal celebrations have become the heart of the event with a shed crawl, dances, and public readings, recitations, and storytelling.

Over Canadian Thanksgiving, our community hosts a two-day festival dedicated to the humble partridgeberry: The Partridgeberry Harvest Festival. During this grassroots festival, makers from Fogo Island and Newfoundland more broadly set up booths with traditional and contemporary crafts and baked goods, and local groups set up spaces for cultural activities and kids’ events.

Fogo Island Arts, Shorefast’s founding program, hosts a biannual event Shore Time, where artists, curators, critics, architects, and designers meet at the edge of the North Atlantic to explore human-centred making and the specificity of place. Over three days, presenters and speakers consider the basic questions that have served us well: What do we know? What do we have? What do we miss? and What do we love? From there, discussions surround how we live, think, and make in these changing times.

Consider joining us for the next iteration of Shore Time, which will take place from October 12 to 16, 2028.

After all your exploring and community immersion, the Inn’s amenities are here to help you unwind. End your invigorating days with a soak in one of our rooftop hot tubs or reach a profound state of relaxation during a wood-fire sauna experience. Plan a movie night in our Cinema to watch one of the daily scheduled screenings or ask us about a private showing.

Of course, your room offers all the simple comforts you could need: warm quilts and knitted throws to keep you cozy, in-floor heating, and a selection of books to keep you entertained.