In just one day at the Jasper Dark Sky Festival, you could find yourself hiking mountains, meeting an astronaut, experiencing a Symphony Under the Stars, and marvelling at all the Milky Way, planets and—with some luck—northern lights visible from inside the world’s largest accessible Dark-Sky Preserve.
“You can come to Jasper and it’s quite dark even just a few steps outside the townsite,” says Niki Wilson, a science journalist and the host of the festival. “Many visitors stay quite close to infrastructure and that kind of thing, but if you go 500 meters away from a trailhead you’re, in most places, going to have probably a pretty intimate experience with nature and darkness.”
Stars & Science
The 2023 Jasper Dark Sky Festival kicked off earlier this month and runs until October 29, 2023. This year, the festivities will take place over three weekends instead of the usual two, with the first-ever Space Ball taking place on closing weekend at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge.
Since 2011, the same year that the western Alberta city was designated a Dark-Sky Preserve by the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, this annual festival has drawn countless astronomers, dark sky buffs and aurora chasers to the beautiful Canadian Rockies. In previous years, the festival has featured notable speakers like Bill Nye, Chris Hadfield and George Takei, and 2023’s line-up includes astronaut Marc Garneau and broadcaster Jay Ingram.
The festival features a wide variety of events, designed to appeal to everyone from experts to enthusiasts to tourists who happen to be in town. There are free, hands-on workshops and talks, ticketed events featuring prominent scientists and experts, and even outdoor performances by the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra on the Jasper Park Lodge lawn—a truly rousing, one-of-a-kind experience.
“We never want people to feel like they have to be a science nerd to come enjoy it here,” says Wilson. “There’s a lot of content available for people, free things, and family stuff.”
Nature Studies
If you make it to Jasper for stargazing, whether it’s during the festival or beyond, do leave time to explore the city and 11,000-square-kilometre Jasper National Park, part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Start your day with sidecar ride with Jasper Motorcycle Tours. It’s a unique way to see popular sights like Maligne Canyon and Medicine Lake with a knowledgeable guide at the wheel. Then, spend the afternoon visiting independent eateries, and learning about local history, with the folks at Jasper Food Tours—you’ll visit the oldest brewery in Jasper, enjoy the best falafel in town, and have the chance to try some sortilège whisky. Finally, for an after-dark adventure, head out for a small-group stargazing session with Jasper Star Trails, where you might just see the rings of Saturn and the aurora borealis in one night.
Of course, stay at the iconic Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge, and you might well be tempted to spend a full day simply enjoying, and exploring, the secluded, 700-acre resort instead. The heated outdoor pool and hot tub offer sublime views of the mountains, scenic hiking trails wind through and around the property, and, in the summer months, you can canoe, kayak and paddle boat on the crystal-clear waters of Lac Beauvert. Oh, and did we mention that the Jasper Planetarium is right on site? —Truc Nguyen
Photos courtesy of Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge
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