Mist opportunity: Festival celebrates foggy November days in Hope, B.C.

November can be a time of year when fog rolls across British Columbia, along with cooler temperatures. 

Riley Forman thinks that rather than being seen as gloomy, foggy weather should be celebrated.

Forman is one of the people behind Fog Fest, a month-long event in Hope, B.C., that invites people to embrace the fog. 

"For years and years I've always felt that fog needs to be sold differently," Forman, CEO of Connect Media, told CBC's The Early Edition. 

"It's stunning. For photographers and artists it's especially valuable for them and no one's ever talked about it. British Columbia is foggy from November to March. So we should enjoy it. We should find a way to embrace it."

Forman says Hope, about 150 kilometres east of Vancouver, and the surrounding area where clouds hang on to the mountainsides are the perfect setting for a fog fest. 

"Hope's geography and the way the weather systems work, there's this beautiful layer of fog up the valleys and canyons ... that looks stunning," he said.

As part of the festival, the Hope, Cascades & Canyons Tourism website offers a number of recommended viewing spots, including Kawkawa Lake and Centennial Park Lookout.

Forman, who was born and raised in the Fraser Canyon, says the festival is not only offering misty scenery, it's also hoping to capture a feeling: coziness.

The festival will highlight restaurants serving comfort food like French onion soup and lodgings with snug surroundings, and maybe a little live music for damp fall days. 

"If you're going anywhere in November in the Pacific Northwest, you're looking for something cozy like a cabin. We have those offerings."

Forman says the festival has heard from painters, photographers and online influencers looking to take in the misty surroundings.

"They're always looking for that kind of new visual kind of perspective and that's what Fog Fest is."