Preparations are underway to make a visit to Jasper during the inaugural Dark Sky Festival a complete experience in astronomical wonder.

In addition to the variety of educational and star-gazing activities planned for Oct. 21-23, little touches around town will help round out the dark-sky theme.

Children at the town’s daycare, for example, have been hard at work on star-related art projects and their finished works will be put on display at the entrance of the Chaba Theatre on Oct. 22 for the astronomy presentation component of the festival.

A variety of local restaurants, meanwhile, have not only agreed to dim their lights during the festival but have also teamed up with Brazeau County’s 100-kilometre Kitchen Party (an eat-local-food initiative) to incorporate a new garnish into their menus – a zucchini relish dubbed “Dark Sky Preserves.” The restaurants include: Papa George’s Restaurant, La Fiesta, Mountain Park Lodge’s Silverwater Grill and Lounge and Evil Dave’s Grill.

“During the festival our intention is to use that zucchini relish as an ingredient in one of our feature specials for the weekend,” said Mike Day of Evil Dave’s. “We’re still working out what that might be. We’ve already been eating it on burgers.”

“And then as well,” he added, “the restaurants are going to participate by basically taking the lights down as low as they can in a safe manner so we can have that feel of less ambient light and more of a dark feeling.”

Anastasia Martin-Stilwell, with Tourism Jasper, said the festival is expected to bring a boost to the tourism industry, which typically starts to taper off at this time of year.

“I think it’s a great opportunity to tap into what a fantastic national designation that Jasper National Park has (as the world’s largest dark sky preserve),” she said. “It’s a great way to weave in dark-sky themed dining at restaurants and have themed packages at hotels and just get the community really on board during a shoulder-season timeframe.”

Day, who attended the formal dark sky launch event at Maligne Lake on Oct. 1, said he was struck by how excited members of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada were to be in Jasper and see both Parks Canada and the municipality commit to preserving its status as a dark site.

“I think I’ve been taking the night sky for granted, having lived here for so long and always getting to see stars,” Day said. “I just think it’s one of those things that we’re lucky to have and just didn’t realize it.”

Martin-Stilwell said if all goes well, the plan is to turn the Jasper Dark Sky Festival into an annual event at this time of year.

“It’s going to be exciting; there’s definitely a lot of buzz,” she said. “I’m looking forward to see what comes out of it.”

More information about the festival is available at www.jasperdarkskyfest.com and a schedule of events can be found on the back page of this edition of the Fitzhugh.