Dark Sky Festival
   August 19 to 22, 2021

Festival Registration Fees

Fees are "all-inclusive" and include
 - all activities, 2 meals, 1 breakfast, presentations and workshops, camping fees at Pine Lake DSF site, (see schedule - above link).

   Adults:   $ 130.00 / person
​   Youth:        45.00 / youth (under 16 yrs old)
​
Festival at a glance  (subject to change)
Thursday (Aug 19)
   - Evening social  (meet-n-greet, refreshments, snacks)
   - Virtual keynote presentation  (Seth Shostak)
   - Observation session  (Dr. Roberta Bondar Northern Observatory)
Friday (Aug 20)
   - Afternoon youth activities and programs
   - Stellar Seminars  (presentation, workshops)
   - Welcome dinner
   - Virtual keynote presentation  (Andrew Chaikin)
   - Pine Lake early-bird session
Saturday (Aug 21)
   - Blessing ceremony  (fire feeding, drumming)
   - Afternoon youth activities and programs
   - Stellar seminars  (presentations, demonstration)
   - STEM project demonstrations
   - Festival dinner
   - Evening social activities  (keynote speaker, nature excursion)
   - Observation session  (telescopes, constellation tours, etc.)
Sunday (Aug 22)
   - Festival breakfast  (charcuterie plate, cereals, fruits)
   - Festival wrap up

2021 Ursa Major Sponsors

What registration includes
Registration is an "all-inclusive" fee.

On updated schedules that may be posted, there could be additional tours or activities that are offered by other community partners of the festival. These will be clearly identified and the applicable fees for those activities will be noted.

For clarity, the DSF Registration fees includes
   - festival social activities, presentations, night viewing opportunities
   - Circus Science, rocket activities, cosmic crafts, STEM projects
   - seminars and workshops, presentations
   - Friday welcome dinner, Saturday festival dinner, Sunday breakfast
   - 2 nights camping at Pine Lake (Friday, Saturday)
​   - access to viewing equipment (telescopes, binoculars)
​
DSF Quick Links
Information Links (third party sites)
  -  Wood Buffalo National Park
  -  Queen Elizabeth Campground (Fort Smith)
  -  Town of Fort Smith - Visitor Information
Virtual Guest Speakers (Thursday & Friday evenings)
Thursday Evening:  8:00 pm / Festival Early Bird Social
Picture
Seth Shostak
​Seth is Senior Astronomer and Institute Fellow at the SETI Institute, in Mountain View, California.  He has an undergraduate degree in physics from Princeton University, and a doctorate in astronomy from the California Institute of Technology.  For much of his career, Seth conducted radio astronomy research on galaxies, and has published approximately sixty papers in professional journals.
​
>>  Read Seth's full biography
Friday Evening:  7:00 pm / Post-dinner Presentation
Picture
Andrew Chaikin
Space historian Andrew Chaikin is best known as the author of "A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts", which tells the stories of the Apollo missions through the eyes of the astronauts. The book was the main basis for Tom Hanks’ 12-part Emmy-winning miniseries for HBO, “From the Earth to the Moon.”

>>  Read Andrew's full biography

Contact Us

Thebacha & Wood Buffalo Astronomical Society
PO Box 1354
Fort Smith, NT   X0E 0P0
Telephone:  1-867-872-0243
Email:  info@tawbas.ca
​Wood Buffalo National Park
PO Box 790
Fort Smith, NT  X0E 0P0
Telephone:   1-867-872-7960
Email:  wbnp.info@pc.gc.ca
Town of Fort Smith
PO Box 147
Fort Smith, NT  X0E 0P0  
Telephone:   1-867-872-8400
Email:  townoffortsmith@fortsmith.ca
​Updated:  16 July 2021