Scott Hayes | [email protected]
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Get ready for the spaceman's landing when the Dark Sky Festival takes place from Oct. 13 to 22.
The occasion will mark the first time that Marc Garneau, Canada's first astronaut nearly 40 years ago, will grace the stage in Jasper.
"That one's huge," said Tyler Riopel, director of destination development with Tourism Jasper.聽
Garneau, now 74, was 35 when he boarded the Space Shuttle Challenger as a payload specialist in October 1984.
He went up two more times 鈥� in 1996 and 2000 鈥� to log a total of more than 677 hours in space.
After that last trip up-up-up, he moved similarly up in the ranks of the Canadian Space Agency, becoming its president in 2001.
Garneau will be a shining star at the 13th annual fest, for sure. Riopel explained that the organizers have aligned with the Jasper Rotary Club to host Garneau for an 鈥渋ntimate evening鈥� event over a three-course meal on Oct. 12 as the local service club's fall fundraiser.
Garneau is a Rotarian too, after all, beyond his career highlights in space travel, military service, engineering background and life as a federal politician.
It will be the former astronaut's first time at the fest.聽
This is the first Dark Sky Fest announcement of the year, but Riopel promises that there are more confirmations to come.
For now, people can also look forward to award-winning spaceflight history writer Emily Carney and NASA scientist Dr. Kartik Sheth to share their own stories and insights.聽
"Emily Carney's actually really well known in our circles," Riopel said.
Carney is the founder of a Facebook group called the , an online group almost as old as the festival itself.
It describes itself as "a worldwide community that celebrates the past, present, and future of space exploration", which sounds like a perfect audience for the Dark Sky Festival.聽
"They're a North American-wide group that travels around, and they're really interested in all things that have to do with space and dark skies. Every year since the beginning of the Dark Sky Festival, we've had some pretty devout return visitors that are Space Hipsters. This year Emily will be coming from Florida to come up and meet with them so we're expecting quite a large group of them."
Joining her on a trip from Florida will be Dr. Kartik Sheth, a program scientist in the astrophysics division within NASA's Science Mission Directorate whose portfolio includes the James Webb Space Telescope.
Riopel said that organizers are excited to have a speaker coming from NASA for the first time in the festival's history.
"It just points to the international reputation that the Jasper Dark Sky Festival is starting to build."
This is just the first announcement for the festival, though more details will be announced as other events and special guests get confirmed.
Attendees can still expect the drone light show, rocketry demonstrations (courtesy of the Telus World of Science), photography workshops, planetarium experiences at Jasper Park Lodge, the Science for Breakfast Series, Cosmic Concerts and more.聽
"One of our most popular newer programs in the last couple of years is the pahkisimon program that is over on the shores of Lake Annette,鈥� Riopel said.
鈥淲e're really proud of that one and the alignment that we continue to grow around ensuring that we've got a range of programming that meets all beliefs and understandings of the dark sky."
While there are many events that are free, tickets are already on sale for those events that require them. People can visit to learn more.
Riopel suggested that the intimate events such as the one with Marc Garneau will have a higher demand attached to them, and as such, the tickets will be more in demand.
