Summer 2011
Summer weekends at Parks Canada’s Kejimkujik National Park and National Historic Site are full of amazing opportunities to connect with nature, explore the outdoors and take in some live entertainment! In celebration of Parks Canada’s 100th anniversary, check out some fun ways to spend your weekends this summer.
Friends of Keji Programs and Activities
The Friends of Keji Cooperating Association are proud to present the programs listed on the left and below. If you are interested in helping out with any of our programs, please let us know. The 2011 Summer Interpretive Program will soon be ready....check back later.
Looking for a seacoast experience, Kejimkujik Seaside offers beautiful white sand beaches, turquoise water and a unique opportunity to catch a glimpse of the endangered piping plover. There are guided walks at 10am daily, volunteer activities and the chance to explore. Visitors can contribute to conservation of a species at risk by helping park staff monitor the pairs of plover that are raising their families on the beach. For more information or to register to help with the piping plover, contact Doug or Jenna (902) 298-1644.
2011 Special Event Days!!
On the centennial year of
Parks Canada, come and celebrate Victoria Day Weekend at
Keji! Jeremy’s Bay Campground will be open with full camping
and hiking facilities available to visitors. After a long
and cold winter, come and reunite around the campfire with
your friends and family. Visit all the special places that
you hold near and dear to your heart, places that Parks
Canada protects and presents to you for your enjoyment.
Designated an official Dark Sky Preserve in 2010, Keji is a
place where you can gaze up into some of the darkest skies
in North America. Visit our new Sky Circle viewing platform
in Jeremy’s Bay Campground! Backcountry camping will also be
open for the season so you can hike, bike, or paddle to a
secluded campsite accompanied only by the spring chorus of
birds and frogs. Bring your GPS and try to find some of the
official geocaches that are hidden throughout Keji. Please
note that an alcohol ban is in effect in Keji during this
weekend.
http://www.atlanticgeocaching.com/
Early June:
Release of 100
head-started Blanding’s Turtles in Keji! (details to come)
In the Parks Canada
centennial celebration year, Kejimkujik is recognized as the
only National Park in Canada that is also a National
Historic Site in its entirety. Join in the celebration and
recognition of Mi’kmaq culture in Kejimkujik. This is not to
be missed!
From 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., you can enjoy the
sounds of The Eastern Eagle Singers who have been singing
together since 1993 and have travelled to Pow Wows
throughout Canada and the United States. Over the past few
years, this crew of Mi'kmaq pow wow singers from Canada's
East Coast has become one of today's premier singing groups.
You can also experience Mi’kmaw traditional dances preformed
by Trevor Gould and Jennifer Maloney. Not only will you be
the first to see our brand new Mi’kmaw guiding camp, but you
can also take part in basket making and craft
demonstrations. This celebration will take place at
Merrymakedge. The Friends of Keji will be barbequing hot
dogs and burgers to enjoy (veggie options available).
Celebrate Canada Day and the Parks Canada Centennial at Keji
with free admission and free cake! Help blow out the 100
candles to mark 100 years of Parks Canada, the first
national parks service in the world! As well, you can
contribute to our Centennial Guest Book by helping us write
down 100 things we love about Keji.
Canada Day is the
official launch date of the cultural and natural
interpretation programs at Keji. Join an interpreter for a
guided hike, a canoe paddle, a visit to the petroglyphs, a
campfire program and so much more. Canada Day is also the
official launch date of the Parks Canada Xplorers, replacing
the Naturalist Club as a new way to explore Keji, complete
levels, and get rewarded for your hard work! The Friends of
Keji photo contest will also be launched on Canada Day with
news about a new video contest category! In the evening,
join Parks Canada interpreters for some special programming
that is sure to cap off Canada Day - Keji style!
Canada
Day ceremonies kick off at the Visitor Centre at 11:00 a.m.
with the singing of “Oh Canada” and free cake and
refreshments!
Celebrate Parks
Canada, the world's first national parks service, with FREE
ADMISSION to Keji and special programs! Campers can take
part in the 2nd Annual Campground BBQ competition! Cook up
your favourite Keji dish and enter it in the competition to
win great prizes! PC Xplorers will get double stamps for
attending interpretive programs on Parks Day!
In the
evening, Juno-winning Old Man Luedecke will be playing a
FREE concert at the outdoor theatre! Old Man Luedecke, is
one of Canada’s best loved and most intriguing roots
singer-songwriters who also knows how to cook up a great
feast of beans and wieners over a Keji campfire! The BBQ
competition and concert are sponsored by the Friends of
Keji.
http://www.oldmanluedecke.ca/
Celebrate Keji’s 42nd Birthday with free cake and
refreshments at the Visitor Centre at 11:00 a.m. Sign up for
the Keji Birthday game and participate in the game that
afternoon. The theme of the game is 100 Years of Parks
Canada! Prizes for game participants will be awarded at the
evening campfire program on Saturday night! This event is
sponsored by the Friends of Keji.
On the Centennial year of Parks
Canada, come to Keji on Tent Dwellers weekend to celebrate
wilderness canoeing and camping, a Canadian tradition that
is over 100 years old. The Tent Dwellers(1908) is a novel,
written by Albert Bigelow Paine, that chronicles a wonderful
canoe and trout fishing trip through the interior of
southwestern Nova Scotia in the early 1900s. We celebrate
this book and this tradition because the same wilderness
areas that existed over 100 years ago, surprisingly still
exists today in the protected areas Kejimkujik, the Tobeatic
Wilderness Area, and the Shelburne Heritage River.
Partnering with Canoe and Kayak Nova Scotia, themed events
are planned all weekend long, including canoe and kayak
demonstrations, a modern day guides’ competition, a guide’s
campfire, and special programs by cultural and natural
interpreters!
Our signature centennial event will be a
canoe/kayak flotilla of 100 canoes and kayaks departing from
Jake’s Landing and paddling to Kedge Beach for tea and
biscuits!
To kick off the weekend, David Myles will be
playing a free concert at the outdoor theatre on the eve of
Friday, August 12th. The award-winning Myles has earned his
reputation as a versatile, genre-bending artist with a knack
for effortlessly straddling jazz, blues, folk and pop
styles. David’s music is a perfect sounds best when you are
in the middle of the Keji woods under a dark and starry sky.
http://davidmyles.com/
http://www.tentdwellers.ca/
On
the tail end of Tent Dwellers Weekend, stick around another
night and help us celebrate National Acadian Day. Keji will
celebrate this day with traditional Acadian music and
special interpretive programming.
For 100 years, Parks Canada has been dedicated to protecting
and presenting natural and cultural treasures for Canadians
to enjoy. One of these treasures at Keji is the dark sky
where you can look up and see hundreds of stars. Because
Keji protects some of the darkest skies in North America, in
2010, it was officially designated a Dark Sky Preserve.
The Dark Sky weekend is a great time to come to Keji to
learn more about astronomy and nocturnal ecology. Keji
interpreters will be joined by members of the Royal
Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC) to present public dark
sky viewing events and programs. Learn more about the stars,
planets, constellations, and galaxies in the night sky! Find
out how to improve your dark sky photography! Learn about
nocturnal wildlife! Take a look through Keji’s new telescope
at the brand new Sky Circle viewing platform!
On Saturday
night, special musical guests will play a free outdoor
concert under the starry skies of Keji! This weekend is made
possible by members of RASC and the Friends of Keji.
Book your campsite early for Keji’s most popular weekend of
the year. Stop at New Grafton Variety just outside Keji on
highway 8 and purchase your pumpkins for the Annual Pumpkin
Carving Contest in Jeremy’s Bay Campground. Walk around the
campground on Saturday night to view hundreds of glowing
pumpkins. Join a Park Interpreter and the Friends of Keji
volunteers for haunted events.
For the centennial, we are
going to donate 100 pumpkins for visitors to carve for a
Parks Canada centennial celebration photo. We will strive to
get 100 visitors to participate in the Annual Cold Turkey
Swim! The weekend all culminates at the Outdoor Amphitheatre
and the Annual Thanksgiving Weekend Awards Gala where
winners of the pumpkin carving contest and the Friends of
Keji Photo Contest are announced. There is no other place to
be but at Keji on Thanksgiving Weekend.
Summer Program info will be available soon.
Click here to have a look at the 2011 Keji Summer Interpretation Activities Schedule. You will also find the same information posted on Park bulletin boards.
2011 Programme d'activité français