There will be no Stargazing Festival in Clearwater this year, according to Sherri Madden, services coordinator for Wells Gray Country (Area A).
“It’s too bad,” she said. “We were looking forward to it. The services committee will do some strategic planning on how to move forward on it in the future.”
This year’s festival, which would have been the sixth annual, was scheduled to be held this coming Thursday, Aug. 11, at the Clearwater stockcar oval.
Several factors led to the decision to cancel, said Madden, but one of the most important was that the stockcar club is no longer maintaining the facility.
Canfor, the property owner, had already given permission for the event, she said.
Thompson Rivers University astronomer Colin Taylor was to lead the event. Instead, he will assist the services committee in its strategic planning.
One of the things that is needed is a new venue, said Madden.
The ideal location would be near to town, open to the night sky, and with limited light pollution, good access and lots of parking. A large field on the road to Wells Gray Park might work, she said.
The stargazing festival is an opportunity for interested folks and families to learn a bit more about what they see on a starry night and probably see something they have never seen before, didn’t know where to look or even knew was there at all: galaxies, globular clusters, nebulae, planets, planetary moons, details of our own moon and more.
