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Preserving Foodways on Fogo Island

May 1, 2026
Stories

Food can tell the story of a place. Fogo Island’s foodways demonstrate how the island’s ancestors survived here, how they have adapted, and how they continue to shift traditional ways in the face of a changing environment.  

At Shorefast, our Foodways program reinforces the role of a healthy food system in a healthy economy. This year, we expanded the program through a series of workshops on Fogo Island that went beyond cooking lessons. They carried forward the knowledge essential to preserving our foodways, while encouraging a shared stewardship of our community’s health and nutrition at a personal, economic, and social level. 

Cooking on the Curriculum 

On Fogo Island, recipes are often passed down from generation to generation. Building practical food and cooking literacy for youth reinforces these local food traditions, while also introducing potential professional pathways in the culinary industry.  

This early winter, Shorefast’s Foodways team partnered with Fogo Island Central Academy to develop and deliver a six-class curriculum for Home Economic and Healthy Living classes. The curriculum was designed and led by Fogo Island Inn’s culinary team, notably Executive Sous Chef Sophie Hall. It focused on healthy eating, incorporating new ingredients into popular dishes, and making a meal on a budget. The emphasis on eating healthy while on a budget is especially helpful for older students who will soon be going to university.  

Throughout the six weeks, “students were very engaged,” said Gabbie Ledesma, Shorefast’s Manager, Project and Initiative Development, “They really liked the hands-on cooking lessons. They also had a lot of questions about budgeting, not realizing how much food costs. Teachers were also enthusiastic.” 

Each class built on the previous one, from learning kitchen basics one week to budgeting and meal planning to creating a recipe. The series culminated with a cooking session where students put their new-found kitchen skills to the test by making a dish of their choosing. They worked in groups to prepare, cook, and troubleshoot their way through their recipes, which included chicken parmesan, pretzels, garlic butter chicken with asparagus, and even sushi. Their hard work was rewarded by sharing and savouring the dishes they had prepared. 

In the Kitchen with the Community 

Through three of our community businesses — Fogo Island Inn, Growlers, and The Storehouse — our culinary teams have honed their expertise, merging contemporary techniques to traditional cooking methods and ingredients. With the launch of our Foodways classes, we wanted to share these skills and knowledge with community members to affirm foodways as a vital cultural expression and promote social connection through food during the long winter months.  

Starting in January, these Foodways workshops were led by Fogo Island Inn’s culinary team and split into three-class series taking place at different locations crucial to the team: The Storehouse restaurant, the Inn’s kitchen warehouse, and the Inn’s pastry kitchen.  

The first of these workshops was titled Foundational Kitchen Skills and explored essential cooking techniques, while promoting health and nutrition. The series, taught by Sophie Hall at The Storehouse, focused on upgrading existing skills to build confidence in the kitchen.  

The Inn’s Sous Chef, Ben Wood, led the second series on Food Preservation at the warehouse in Joe Batt’s Arm. Participants learned basic preservation techniques, from starting a vinegar to pickling. These skills are especially helpful on Fogo Island, where preservation helps extend the use of fresh produce grown throughout the previous summer. Ingredients are often stored in root cellars over winter to then be cooked or pickled.  

The final workshop was Home Bakes, during which the Inn’s Pastry Chef, Liz Stevenson, shared how to bake muffins, scones, and soda breads. Liz demonstrated delicious ways to incorporate healthy elements and grain alternatives to everyday baking.  

Totalling nine individual classes, these workshops proved successful with community members, connecting different generations, as well as newer residents with people born and raised on Fogo Island.  

Angie Shea, a teacher at Fogo Island Central Academy, signed up for all three of the workshop series. As a lifelong learner, she wanted to “take the opportunity to learn new cooking skills and techniques. Besides, the chance to learn from the chefs of Fogo Island Inn was something I couldn’t pass up.” When asked to name a highlight of the classes, she said that “the most interesting thing was learning about all the science involved in preserving and baking!” She adds: “The Foodways program is important in the community and school, because it teaches us that good planning can reduce food waste and allow families to eat healthy, even with busy schedules.” 

The Work Ahead 

After a successful start to this new chapter for our Foodways programming, the team is hoping to continue and expand on our workshop offering, at both the school and in the community. We’re working on a series of summer workshops, in partnership with local organizations, and preparing for new classes throughout the fall and winter. Fogo Island Inn’s culinary team are also preparing their next collaboration with the students at Fogo Island Central Academy. 

Check our current calendar for upcoming Foodways events or workshops and follow us on Facebook and Instagram. 

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Carrying On Tradition at the Punt Premises

August 22, 2025
Stories

PJ Decker and the Art of Boatbuilding 

Through our Heritage Preservation initiatives, Shorefast is devoted to conserving the traditions that tie people to place. Beyond restoring historic homes and churches, these initiatives carry forward our heritage by sharing the knowledge that once inhabited these buildings.  

Located in the community of Joe Batt’s Arm, the Punt Premises sets a perfect example. There, the legacy of the inshore fishery lives through a collection of historical and cultural assets shared by experienced Community Hosts and our Punt Master PJ Decker.  

Courtesy of Tom Cochrane

Preserving boatbuilding on Fogo Island

At the heart of the Punt Premises drifts the mighty punt, the former workhorse of the fishery. Building these small wooden boats was once essential to surviving on Fogo Island. Today, with most wooden boats gone from our waters, so are the skills and expertise required for boatbuilding, a craft that helped build our community. Only a handful of wooden boatbuilders remain on Fogo Island and Change Islands.  

To ensure this knowledge is preserved on Fogo Island, PJ recently completed a week-long boatbuilding workshop at the Wooden Boat Museum of Newfoundland and Labrador in Winterton. Led by the museum’s master builder, Jerome Canning, the course focused on the construction of a Winterton Rodney, a wooden punt typical of the area.  

Gushing about the experience, PJ explained: “It’s not about survival or making a living anymore. It’s about the beauty of the tradition.”  

Courtesy of Tom Cochrane

All hands on deck

During the five-day workshop, PJ learned many traditional techniques through hands-on lessons with Jerome. These included connecting the stem (the most forward part of a boat) to the keel (the structural “spine” of a boat), recording the shape for the timbers (the “ribs” of the boat), ensuring the keel was straight from stem to stern, cutting and bevelling timbers to secure in the boat, and many more building methods.  

One of the most important elements of boatbuilding learned by PJ was the three-piece mould, which was crucial for designing and building the punts. The mould helped determine the size and shape of the hull. As Jerome told PJ, these “three sticks” were all our ancestor needed to make a living in Newfoundland:  

“He leaves the boat from Liverpool or somewhere, with a big knife, a nickel from his mother, and a bit of this, and a bit of that, never to see England again, but what he’s got in his hands are those three sticks – boats for his family.”  

These tools and techniques come together to build punts Jerome referred to as “suant,” a traditional term in Newfoundland that means symmetrical, harmonious, balanced, and beautiful. PJ adds that the punts of Fogo Island and Change Islands were always suant; he hopes what he learned will help keep them that way.  

“Fogo Island punts are different than any other punts in Newfoundland. If we lose tradition, then there will never be Fogo Island punts again,” he explains.  

Jerome Canning and PJ Decker in Winterton; Courtesy of PJ Decker

Building a legacy

Back at the Punt Premises, PJ is wielding the lessons learned in Winterton to enrich the heritage of the building, home to historic boatbuilding tools and models, such as the famous three-piece mould. With this acquired knowledge, our Punt Master can share the boatbuilding techniques of our ancestors with visitors and residents and keep this tradition at the heart of the stories we tell of this place. The course will also help PJ repair Shorefast’s own fleet of punts and ensure Fogo Island’s mighty wooden boats stay afloat for the next generations.  

Learn more about the Punt Premises and PJ’s work as Punt Master.  

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Rocks have Stories to Tell – A Conversation with Geologist-in-Residence Peter Croal

Stories
September 26, 2023

Throughout the year, Shorefast welcomes a variety of practitioners ranging from geologists to artists to chefs to Fogo Island as a part of our Residencies Program. An intended outcome is the exchange of ideas and perspectives that can lay the groundwork for reflection, pause, and new ways of seeing the world in front of us.  

Fogo Island shoreline. Photo by Alex Fradkin

A fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, Peter Croal has been working in the field of environmental assessment and international development for over 35 years; his career has taken him to over 40 countries and he sits on the boards of several not-for-profit development organizations. This summer was Peter’s fourth year as a Geologist-in-residence with Shorefast.

The following is a condensed version of a conversation with Peter Croal.

What can we learn from studying the rock beneath us? How does it deepen our sense of connection to the world?    

When I take people on hikes around Fogo Island and Change Islands, I always start by saying, we come from the rocks and planetary processes.  We wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for the minerals and elements that make up rocks and enter our food chain.  

Life started three and a half billion years ago and the landforms we see today are all the result of plate tectonics, glacier movements and other earth systems. Moraines, lakes and rivers, ocean currents, fjords, sand deposits – these things form the basis of many of our cities and harbours and many of our industries. How the landscape is shaped and formed determines how our human civilization came to be; that’s all related to the rock cycle and planetary processes.  And it is not a static system. The earth is constantly changing and re-inventing itself.  

If we understand that we are part of a larger system called life – if we understand how it works – perhaps we can show more respect to those systems and protect and nourish them. The Grand Banks, which is home to historically one of the greatest fisheries, well, that was created by glacial and oceanic  process.   

What is the role of a residency program that brings geologists to Fogo Island right now?   

Well, it is education but also inspiration and stimulation. What the visiting geologists try to do is not just talk about rocks (eg – this is granite; this is sandstone). Rather: what is our relationship to these rocks? What does it mean when you see a volcanic rock? We see them as clues to an evolving and exciting  story.    

We take the story that the landscape is telling us and translate it for other people to enjoy. If you don’t study geology, you are basically walking on top of a book that you can’t read. We want you to read that story. We want you to see the connections to everyday life through the rocks and landforms that are under our feet. 

What role can geology play in community economic development? 

Fogo Island is one of the few places where you can walk across a magma chamber and at the same time see volcanic and sedimentary rocks in such proximity. Because the rocks are so well exposed, you can experience geological features that are hard to find in other places of the world. That brings people to a place. With Shorefast’s growing community science program, there are more opportunities to position Fogo Island as a hotbed for scientific research and expand career paths and opportunity in this place.   

On a more informal level, a lot of people come to meet the geologists-in-residence during hosted office hours who don’t know anything about geology but say “I just love rocks.” This is a place that sparks fascination and has a story to tell. 

How do you integrate other disciplines into your hikes and talks? And what value do you see in that?  

Just by nature of being outside and engaging with the world you touch all kinds of different disciplines. Two of the collaborative events that I co-hosted with art-based practitioners (one of whom was Alexa Kumiko Hatanaka, an artist and contributor to Fogo Island Arts’ “Meltwater” exhibition) were focused on marine health, rising water levels, and climate change. Ocean health is changing because of climate change and industrialization. Oceans are becoming more acidic and certain currents are starting to change. All of this affects the fishery, which is of course relevant to Fogo Island and Change Islands.   

When two people with different backgrounds lead an event there’s an opportunity to speak about your discipline in a new way. Climate change is real, and shorelines are going to change. Having Alexa and me working together brings an arts-based audience and a science-based audience together and it forces us to think about things differently, exchange new ideas  and ultimately understand what is at stake from a new perspective.  

How do you get people to care about their natural environment and see themselves as a part of it?   

You have to tell a story. Facts, science, and fear don’t necessarily work that well. You have to find where people are at and build a story around their understanding of how the world works. And you need to explore what interests people through their own experiences. Instead of throwing science at people, start with: here you are standing on a rock. What does it mean to you as a person and what is your relationship to this planet?  What is the story that this rock or landform is telling you that can affect your life? 

In a 5-minute conversation I try to get across that you are here because of a 3.5-billion-year experiment. Ninety-five percent of all life that has existed on the planet has come and is now extinct. You are seeing the remaining 5% that has made it through. To survive you must be adaptable and resilient. And right now, we are not very adaptable or resilient as a species. We still want to party as if there is an infinite supply of oxygen, soil, and fresh water. And there isn’t. Earth’s life supporting systems are sending us messages every day through increased fires, floods, storms, biodiversity loss and disease.  

Shorefast’s sustainability efforts, the amazing rocks of Fogo and Change Islands, and the Fogo Island Inn are natural drawing points for people. Many of the people who come to the Inn and to Fogo Island are interested in having these conversations especially after the experience of being exposed to an economic  development model that is trying to live more harmoniously with people and place. I meet a lot of people who are taking what’s happening here in the arts, environment, and the economy back home to their communities. Shorefast and Fogo Island are catalysts and crucibles for generating and exchanging dynamic ideas around sustainability. The hope is that those ideas continue to spread elsewhere.  

Rocky shoreline. Photo by Paddy Barry.
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Crafting for Connection

Stories
September 21, 2023

Shorefast programming provides people with a place to connect with their neighbours and learn more about the culture and nature of Fogo Island. 

Joyce Coffin (fourth from right) with the beginner rug-hooking group.

When Joyce Coffin led her first rug hooking workshop at the Punt Premises in the Summer of 2022, she wasn’t sure how many people would actually show up. “Shorefast first approached me to host the event after seeing some of the pieces I was selling at local stores around the island.” At the time, Joyce was one of only a few rug hooking practitioners on Fogo Island, with very few actively teaching.  

At the first class, over 20 people filled up the main room eager to learn— their ages ranging from 20 to 80. “We had to split the group into two batches, and I returned after dinner that same day to teach the rest of them,” Joyce recalls. Since then, the group has continued to meet weekly, gradually advancing their skills. While newcomers continue to join the group, the standing date has settled into a comforting routine: “We come together, work alongside each other, and chat.”  

Opened to the public in 2019 after a major restoration that was generously funded by past Fogo Island Inn guests, Don & Sheila Bayne, as well as grants from Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, and Newfoundland & Labrador’s Tourism, Culture, Arts and Recreation department, the Punt Premises exists to preserve and promote our island’s fishing heritage. Over the past few years, it has evolved into a much needed hub for social convening and Shorefast programming—especially critical after the prolonged isolation of the pandemic.

“Having a place to connect and learn alongside your neighbour is an important part of community economic development,” Amy Rowsell, Shorefast’s Director of Community Engagement and Programming, notes. “It builds social capital and a sense of optimism for the future.”  

For Joyce, the Punt Premises has become a second home. “There’s a lot of stuff going on that wasn’t before. It’s a busy spot.”

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Art & Climate Change 

Stories
September 1, 2023

Fogo Island Arts’ partnership with the National Gallery of Canada, the World Weather Network, and contemporary artist Liam Gillick, is shaping a global conversation around art, climate, and the importance of place. 

People gathered at the Weather Station during Arts Weekend on Fogo Island. Photo by Joshua Jensen.

When Fogo Island Arts first approached artist Liam Gillick to create a ‘weather station’ on Fogo Island in response to the global climate crisis, it was immediately clear to Gillick that this would be a tremendous opportunity to ground important global conversations within the context of a local community.  

“Art and science have always been linked historically,” Gillick explains. “Through this artwork I want to create a site for new thinking and a space designated to climate consciousness rooted in the basic requirements to gather and share data, while also being a place for education, reflection, discussion, and just getting together.” 

Launched in October 2022, along Waterman Brook’s trail near the community of Fogo, “A Variability Quantifier, 2022,” (more commonly known as the Fogo Island Red Weather Station), is a fully functioning weather station tracking weather data and a place for community gathering. Through the World Weather Network platform, it joins a constellation of art-inspired weather stations around the globe that are shaping conversations about the climate crisis through the perspective of artists, with many calling attention to the more dire situation in remote, ecologically sensitive areas of the world. 

The Fogo Island Red Weather Station construction team. Photograph by Joshua Jensen

“Artists help us see things and Fogo Island Arts has always been interested in approaching issues of economic, cultural, historical, and environmental concern through a different lens,” says Iris Stunzi, Fogo Island Arts’ Program Manager.  

“Fogo Islanders’ have a front row seat to changes in ‘Iceberg Alley,’ Gillick adds. “There is a lot of collective awareness and wisdom on this island. The artwork is about recognizing the daily consciousness of an island life; it is for and about the people of Fogo Island.”  

As a nod to the traditional and primary industry on Fogo Island, the weather station was designed with Fogo Island’s historic fishing stages in mind, a reminder of our powerful connections to the sea. For visitors to Fogo Island, witnessing the strong relationship between geography and people can often be a catalyst for involvement. This was the case with Steven and Lynda Latner, Inn guests who were inspired by their time on the island and wanted to lend support to our work. Their donation is helping to animate the Weather Station through programming.

Long reliant on triangulated weather updates from Twillingate, Fogo Islanders now have access to accurate, realtime weather data through an easily accessible website linked to the Weather Station that also acts as a repository for global weather-tracking.

Track the Weather: Fogo Island Weather Station

An acquisition of the National Gallery of Canada, The Fogo Island Red Weather Station is part of its National Outreach Initiative in which artworks from the collection are sited and maintained at localities across the country. 

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Understanding our Geographic Context: The Importance of the Labrador Current 

Stories
July 12, 2023

As an organization grounded in a place-based approach to economic development, we always start with what is in front of us.   

View of Greene’s Point. Photo by Paddy Barry.

On Fogo Island our geographic context is strongly informed by the Labrador Current.  

Positioned in the pathway of this current, our island has developed a culture and way of life (from the foods we eat to the livelihoods we’ve sustained to the traditions we love) that is deeply rooted in our relationship to the waters around us.

As with any relationship there are both challenges and benefits. The strong winds and colder temperatures that move across our landscape result in a shorter outdoor growing season; this can be contrasted with the abundance of marine life that the current supports – the primary reason people have settled here for centuries.   

The Influence of the Current  

Whether you live in the direct pathway of the Labrador Current or not, its influence is significant to our global health.  

Considered a distinct ecosystem, the Labrador Current helps keep the world’s oceans alive. Cold winter temperatures in the Labrador Sea are responsible for pushing oxygen-rich surface waters to depths far below the ocean’s top layer where they are dispersed by deep boundary currents. These oxygenated waters work in similar ways to our bloodstream – feeding oxygen-rich waters to the Arctic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans – giving context to the Labrador Current’s moniker as “a lung of the ocean.”  

Crucially, this oxygen stream supports marine life around the world, that in turn supports human life. On Fogo Island, it enables our traditional and primary livelihood: the fishery.   

Collecting Data for Academic Research  

As more revelations are made about the importance of this cold current and its influence on other oceans globally, our waters have become a significant area of research. Scientists are especially keen to understand how climate change is altering the current both through an increase in temperature and wind change. At the local level – community members and fishers are keen to know what warming waters will mean for the fishery as more species begin to migrate.  

One pillar of our Environmental Stewardship work on Fogo Island has us partnering with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the Marine Institute at Memorial University to support academic research geared around tracking changes in our local waters. A key initiative to support this goal is Community Science – a collaborative community-based approach to building up scientific knowledge by employing trained community members who can bring their background lived experience (cultural, industrial, environmental) to each project. In rural and remote locations, where it is not always easy to bring in scientists for study, community members are bridging the gap.   

Recent projects on Fogo Island in partnership with community members and academic partners include ice tracking and species monitoring; both of which contribute to our understanding of changes in our local waters year-over-year.  

View of Brimstone Head. Photo by Alex Fradkin.

“We thought we were one of the four corners of the world; turns out we are at the centre.” 

Each year, during the onset of summer, Fogo Islanders bear witness to a changing climate through an experience of “Iceberg Alley.” The parade of icebergs that make their way down from glaciers situated along the coast of Greenland – via the Labrador Current – are a seasonal event; in recent years, however, it is clear to residents that there are significant fluctuations afoot. These fluctuations include increased glacial melt and a prolonged or sometimes negligible iceberg season.

This year for example, the season stretched from February (very early) to July (starting to get late). An increase in glacial flow has an impact on everything from the duration of our fishing season to rising water levels along our coast.  

While Fogo Island’s location at the edge of the North Atlantic Ocean has often earned it a reputation as remote, faraway – and a tongue in cheek title as ‘one of the four corners of the world’ – it is increasingly clear that coastal communities like Fogo Island are at the centre of the climate crisis, rather than off to the side.  

It will be coastal communities like Fogo Island that continue to experience an outsized impact and be extremely vulnerable to the changes in climate that we are all observing globally. To raise awareness both locally and internationally, Shorefast launched an artwork by artist Liam Gillick in October 2022, known colloquially as The Fogo Island Red Weather Station. The station is both a scientific tool to collect data and an artwork that seeks to communicate the value of life and knowledge in this place.

Growing our Environmental Stewardship Work 

The climate crisis can’t be confronted or resolved by any one community; it will take all of us working at different scales to begin to develop a unified way forward.  

On Fogo Island we have been building the case for an Environmental Stewardship program that is multi-pronged in approach, reaches across disciplines, supports the culture of people whose lives and livelihoods are linked to the sea, and can be scaled to create connection and collaboration across many sectors, with a focus on replicability across Newfoundland and Atlantic Canada.  

The Labrador Current is part of our life on Fogo Island; it’s significant to yours as well. 

Read more about our Environmental Stewardship work. 

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Community Science on Fogo Island

Stories
June 2, 2023

Engaging community members in ocean research means they bring their historical, cultural, industrial, and lived experience to each project.

Walter Penton (second from left) applying new research skills on Fogo Island

Like most Fogo Islanders, Walter Penton has a deep appreciation and understanding of our surrounding waters. “At the edge of the northeast coast of the Atlantic Ocean it often feels like our waters are limitless,” Penton says, “but there’s a lot more going on below the surface – considering our geographic location, our tides, our cold currents.” 


A recently retired transportation worker, Penton is now utilizing his experience and curiosity about the natural environment on Fogo Island to participate in critical monitoring projects on our island that are helping bridge gaps in research. Commonly referred to as Community Science, it’s a growing area of focus for Shorefast that is supported through our partnerships with The Department of Fisheries and Oceans and The Marine Institute at Memorial University. 


“Community members with lived experiences in nature can assist in data collection and provide researchers with the information they need. It’s a powerful way to scale up efforts in conservation and coastal adaptation,” Amanda Lim, Shorefast’s Program Manger, Environmental Initiatives, says. 


Owing to our geographic location within the Labrador Current (often referred to as a “lung of the ocean”) Fogo Island’s waters are one of the few places where oxygen from the air is transferred to the deepest parts of the ocean with the help of this extremely cold current. This process is critical to keeping marine life alive and influences other oceans around the globe. As such, Fogo Island is a significant bellwether for the changes we are seeing in our climate. 

Fogo Island and Change Islands community members partaking in a training initiative in Terra Nova National Park


Last spring, Penton joined a group of Fogo Island and Change Islands community members in Terra Nova, the easternmost national park in Canada, where Shorefast and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans were offering a training initiative that would support further research projects on Fogo Island. Back home, Penton and others were able to share what they learned and initiate a new monitoring project around juvenile species in eel grass habitats—an important indicator of our ocean’s current health. 


“The training this past year was great,” Penton says. “It opened my eyes to our interactions with marine life, and I am eager to learn more.” Initiatives like these have the potential to establish Fogo Island as a key player in marine research, opening the door for supplementary income and career opportunities that weren’t previously available. 


“From what I have seen so far, the future for Fogo Island is very bright. With the insight of Shorefast and its partners, we can be a role model for the province.” 

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Chatting with Community Host Rosemarie Burke

Stories
May 25, 2023

Hospitality is central to everything we do at Shorefast. We believe that every business that serves humans should be built around hospitality: the practice of relationship building and relationship making.

Guest Experience Director, Sandra Cull & Community Host, Rosemarie Burke (left to right) at the Inn. Photo credit: Valerie Howes.

Fogo Island Inn was built to showcase the culture and nature of Fogo Island and add another leg to the economy by complementing the primary and traditional fishing industry. Since opening its doors in 2013, the Inn has become a world leader in the practice of regenerative, community-based travel, and is inspiring other industry leaders to adopt practices that benefit both people and place.  


Initiated through Fogo Island Inn, the Community Host program pairs visitors to the island with community members who are incredibly knowledgeable about the island’s history, culture, and geography. Through informal island orientations, community members bring Fogo Island to life though their own lived experience and offer visitors a nuanced perspective of daily life.


Recently, we chatted with Rosemarie Burke, a Community Host who hails from the community of Tilting on Fogo Island, about her experience as a host and her reflections on Fogo Island Inn’s first decade of community business. The conversation has been edited to reflect highlights of our conversation.  


Becoming a Community Host 


When Rosemarie first heard that the Inn was being built, she was 56. “I’ve got to be a part of that,” she recalls thinking. After three years as the Head of Housekeeping she moved into the Community Host Coordinator role, one that she loved, but ultimately led her to see that a role as a Community Host would suit her best.  


“The thing I didn’t realize about the community host role until I started was that I’ve been doing community hosting my whole life,” Rosemarie adds. “I’m an avid outdoors person, always walking and hiking, and whenever I see someone coming toward me that I don’t know, I introduce myself and ask them where they are from; I’ll point out certain landmarks, such as the best spot to look out on the Atlantic ocean, or where to find Eider ducks nesting, and a conversation is started.” 


“I always want to welcome people; to let them know that they’d be offered help if they needed it; to invite them back for a cup of tea.” 

Managing Director of Fogo Island Inn, Amanda Decker-Penton & Rosemarie during the construction of Fogo Island Inn. Photo credit: Paddy Barry.


Creating the opportunity for exchange & connection  


“Now, before I go to work in the morning, I’m wondering and excited about who I am going to meet today and where they will be from. Will they welcome me as I welcome them?” 


When people first learned about the creation of the Inn there was some worry, Rosemarie explains. “We have had very little change since the first settlers arrived. We didn’t know what this was going to mean. When the Inn opened Zita wrote a personal invite to everyone on the island to ask them to stay at the Inn for a night and experience what was being offered to guests. It made a difference.”  


“This Inn has brought new life to this place,” Rosemarie adds. “The community feels represented through this program. Guests come here knowing some things about the island but after a trip with a community host, they feel at home. They feel that they understand where they are.”  


That sense of understanding goes both ways. For Rosemarie, working with visitors has revealed her own island to her in a new way.  


“Now I have a greater appreciation for some of the things I ignored before I met guests. I just see the beauty of it all. Guests come into the Inn and see the Atlantic Ocean and say “wow.” That’s their first word. And you know, now I do too. I think to myself, How lucky am I to be living in a place like this. Now, I take more moments to stop and recognize the beauty around me.” 


In 2022 – Fogo Island Inn’s Community Hosts spent a combined 9,232 hours providing in-person, community-based island orientations and experiences for visitors to our island. Read more about our community-centric approach to economic development in our latest Impact Report.


Small-scale exchanges can have a big impact 


“The Inn is changing the perception people have of small and rural communities,” Rosemarie says. “Not many people knew about Fogo Island before the Inn. Now there are more artists coming here. They are seeing the beauty and painting the beauty. Everything we look at daily – the architecture, the fishing stages, the flakes – artists are painting them, and people are coming to see them.”  


While Fogo Island has always had a strong local artisan culture, increasing the opportunity for the cross-pollination of ideas, art, and experiences between people with different backgrounds is a vital way to strengthen our social fabric at a local level and at a national level. It brings renewed attention to the value of places big and small across our country and reminds us of our common humanity.  


“People who live in cities are coming now to enjoy the quiet and freedom of Fogo Island. We have a close proximity to nature. You can feel the ocean. I am sure that lots of little communities across Canada have the same beauty as Fogo Island. Small communities have so much to offer.”  

Hiking Fogo Island’s shoreline. Photo Credit: Amy Rowsell.


A cultural asset: Newfoundlander’s sense of hospitality 


“We live on an island. We know just about everybody here. And when people come to the island you are going to welcome them. Historically, this was a tough place to eke out a living – coming together is important.” 


“Fogo Islanders love a stranger. And when a stranger gets to know us, they love us too.” 

In 2015, Fogo Island Inn was awarded the Community Engagement award by PURE, a leading experiential travel show. In this 2-minute clip Zita Cobb, Shorefast’s Founder & CEO, reminds us why community connection is so important to our understanding of travel.  

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Zita’s Story

Stories

Zita Cobb was born on Fogo Island in 1958, part of the eighth generation in her family to call the island home. Forced to leave after the collapse of the inshore cod fishery, she and her family ended up in Ontario, Canada where she studied business in Ottawa. Following a subsequent successful career in high-tech, Zita returned to Fogo Island and established Shorefast in 2004 with two of her siblings, Alan and Anthony Cobb.

The story of her early life inspired the National Film Board of Canada’s immersive, interactive film in 2021 called Far Away from Far Away.

You can experience it here or Far Away From Far Away (nfb.ca)

Listen to Far Away from Far Away here

Far Away From Far Away marks the next phase in the National Film Board of Canada’s continuing relationship with the people of Fogo Island.

More than 50 years ago, a film crew led by Colin Low headed to the island to shoot a series of short videos
and films as part of a larger project known as Challenge for Change.

Learn More Here

Don’t miss these stories about Zita and Fogo Island

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Cauliflower Thinking

Stories

Fogo island is a small floret with big stories. Here, we share these stories to present varying views on life, work, and art on this island of the North Atlantic. But first, why a cauliflower?

Why a cauliflower? Shorefast Founder Zita Cobb first encountered a cauliflower after moving away from Fogo Island and it was just about the most exotic food she’d ever seen. Its structure fascinated her and it eventually became a symbol for Shorefast’s community economies theory.

The noble cauliflower is a fractal and its differently-sized florets make up a repeating pattern of beautiful clusters: some big, some small. The stem of the cauliflower directs nutrients to the individual florets. 

At Shorefast, we think about the planet and its individual places as a cauliflower. Communities are the florets, with small places like Fogo Island comprising the little florets, and big places like New York City comprising the larger ones. The stem of the cauliflower is representative of our economic systems, which, when they work as they should, hold us all together and channel nourishment to the florets to keep them thriving. When that stem becomes too self-serving, or prioritizes bigger florets over the little ones, the florets begin to suffer. 

Small places have been disappearing – in other words, small florets have been withering. When we practice business in a way that serves community and place, we ensure that the stem services the whole of the cauliflower. 

The stories told here remind us to think and act holistically and to consider the diverse lifestyles, viewpoints and experiences as making up the whole of our human experience.

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