With summer slipping away, the opportunities for stargazing are increasing by the day—and just in time, too. Dark Sky Month—October—and the third annual Jasper Dark Sky Festival—Oct. 25–27—are just around the corner.
To celebrate the impending darkness and shimmering night skies, Tourism Jasper is looking to the community to get involved in the festivities, by either participating in the festival, the Star Correspondent competition or by creating dark sky themed events during the month of October.
“Businesses can do anything they want,” said Sarah Culley, corporate communications specialist. “They don’t have to reinvent the wheel, it can be something as simple as renaming an existing experience.
“We’re just looking for dark sky related experiences that people can have here in town.”
For example, for the first annual festival back in 2011, restaurants featured “dark sky preserves” on their menus. Culley also suggested dining in the dark experiences as a possible option for restauranteurs.
Individuals can also get involved in the month-long event by submitting a video entry in the competition to become the festival’s social media guru or “star correspondent”, as Tourism Jasper has dubbed it. The competition launched last week and closes Oct. 7.
“The winner gets a trip to Jasper to cover the event,” said Culley. It will be a five-day, all-expenses paid trip, including five nights at Jasper Park Lodge.
While here, the star correspondent will “take over the social media channels and tweet live from the festival.”
To participate, amateur astronomers and social media buffs are encouraged to upload videos explaining why they would be the best festival correspondent. The top five entrants who accumulate the most online votes will then be considered by a panel of judges, who will decide the winner.
Last year it was Heidy Barton, a university student who made the trip to Jasper from Ontario.
During this year’s event, there will be much to report on for the star correspondent, as former Daily Planet host Jay Ingram and many other “big name” astronomy buffs bring their love of the sky to Jasper.
“Honestly, all of the speakers this year are of top notch calibre,” said Culley, noting that joining Ingram on the roster are author Jacob Berkowitz, prolific comet discoverer David Levy and First Nations storyteller Wilfred Buck, to just name a few.
And of course Jasper’s resident sky guy, Peter McMahon will be back again this year, hanging out for the entire month of October.
There will also be a number of exciting events, including the usual bottle rocket launch at the elementary school and Pyramid Island Star Gazing Party, as well as an additional party at Lake Annette.
“This year there will be two star parties because the star gazing party has been really popular,” said Culley. “Last year we were pretty much at capacity with the shuttles and on the island.”
To find out more about the festival or to submit an entry for the Star Correspondent competition, visit www.jasperdarkskyfest.com. To get your event on the website or find help organizing a dark sky event, contact Sarah Culley at [email protected].
