Hundreds of Americans accept B.C. man's social media invite, attend festival in Nanaimo

Akshay Kulkarni · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 26, 2025 5:31 PM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

Months aft a British Columbia man's societal media invitation to Americans went viral, hundreds showed up successful Nanaimo, B.C., over the play to amusement their enactment for Canada.

Tod Maffin floated the thought to Americans successful February, posting a video to TikTok in which helium encouraged them to visit his hometown of Nanaimo connected Vancouver Island — and thousands of radical responded with interest.

His goal, Maffin said, was to make a span betwixt the 2 countries astatine a clip erstwhile U.S. President Donald Trump's repeated threats to marque Canada the 51st state, and the ongoing tariff war, had spiked governmental tensions.

Over the weekend, hundreds of Americans took Maffin up connected his connection and made the travel crossed the borderline to attend Nanaimo Infusion, a festival created specifically to invited the caller visitors. 

Many of them were apologetic and expressed enactment for Canada.

"I don't privation a commercialized warfare with Canada. I don't privation to summation tensions crossed the borderline ... we're each radical conscionable trying to unrecorded our lives, careless of what the radical astatine the apical are trying to do," said American Tom Schnetter.

Schnetter and his person Zach Prigger are some from Washington state, but said it's their archetypal clip successful Canada.

"As things support progressing, it's similar watching a trainwreck, you know?" Schnetter said of the U.S. president's actions. "Like, where, erstwhile is this going to end? When does this stop?

"Things volition instrumentality a precise agelong clip to get backmost to the mode they were, if they ever will," helium added. "You know, it's similar they accidental — if you nail nails into a fence, adjacent if you propulsion it out, the fence still has holes successful it."

WATCH | Americans reply B.C. man's telephone to visit: 

Festival draws hundreds

Maffin — a digital marketer, concern journalist, and a erstwhile CBC vigor big and shaper — said helium was heartened by the effect to his invite, having antecedently told CBC News helium expected possibly a twelve Americans to heed his call.

By his count, implicit 500 radical — a premix of locals and visitors — showed up to the lawsuit successful Nanaimo, a metropolis successful eastbound Vancouver Island astir 100 kilometres north of Victoria.

"It is singular to maine that hundreds and hundreds of Americans would travel retired and enactment Canada truthful concretely with their presence, with their dollars, with everything," an affectional Maffin said connected Saturday. "It's just, it's overwhelming."

Local vendors, including nutrient trucks and farmers, showed up for the play lawsuit — which included a pub crawl and visits to section businesses — and a radical photograph was taken of the radical who attended.

"I deliberation arsenic a patriotic Canadian and idiosyncratic precise arrogant of this state and its values, I consciousness precise atrocious for my American friends and neighbours," said Nanaimo Mayor Leonard Krog. "But you know, this volition pass."

Americans explicit involvement successful moving

The festival drew attendees from U.S. states adjacent to B.C. similar Washington and Oregon — but immoderate attendees came from arsenic acold distant arsenic North Carolina and cardinal Texas.

Partners Rachael Smith-Taylor and Lisa Owens, some nurses from Belton, Texas, said the sojourn to Nanaimo came arsenic they figure retired the adjacent signifier of their lives, fixed the interest for 2SLGBTQ+ rights successful America nether Trump.

"One of the reasons wherefore I wanted to travel here, too whales and waterfalls, is I could really clasp her manus and not beryllium afraid," Smith-Taylor told CBC News.

Smith-Taylor and Owens said that, erstwhile they mentioned they were nurses, the radical of Nanaimo instantly mentioned that they request much health-care unit — and they adjacent got a circuit of the section hospital.

Amid a propulsion from the B.C. authorities to adhd much U.S.-trained health-care staff in the province, the mates said they've started looking into the process of becoming registered successful Canada.

"I cognize there's a batch going astir wanting this to go the 51st authorities ... most of America does not consciousness the aforesaid mode astir that," Owens said. "It's been precise shocking, this past 90 days.

"I was benignant of gladsome to beryllium here, to hopefully instill into immoderate of the Canadians, that we don't each consciousness that way," she added.