Trick shooting and storytelling are among the day’s events as a Foothills national historic site celebrates its existence this weekend.
The Bar U Ranch National Historic Site is joining the Canada-wide Parks Day on July 16 to showcase what makes the park unique.
The ranch, established in 1882, was among a small group of large corporate ranches that operated during the early pioneer days in western Canada.
“It’s something that all of our parks right across the country – this includes provincial parks as well – showcase what’s special about our parks and historic sites right across the country and the contribution they make to Alberta,” said Mike McLean, Bar U Ranch special projects officer. “It’s really nice to be able to link in with all of the things that are happening in the country and be able to showcase things that are happening at the Bar U.”
McLean said the activities give visitors insight as to what took place in the early days of ranching.
“People can see what makes the Bar U a very important part of the national parks and a national historic site,” he said. “It shows a little bit of what happened in some of the early days of ranching so we thought this would be a good fit.”
From 11 a.m. to noon, Calgary’s Guns of the Golden West will re-enact different shooting styles such as shooting from the hip and quick draws.
Starting at noon, the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada will have telescopes on site to teach visitors how to safely view solar activity and will offer a presentation in the Bar U Ranch Visitor Centre Theatre at 12:30 p.m.
Educating visitors will be Alberta historian Rob Lennard, known as The History Wrangler, with 45-minute presentations on various historical facts about ranching, the Bar U and the region at 1 p.m. and 2:45 p.m.
Lennard, who is also a singer-songwriter and author, will offer a combination of education and entertainment, including debuting a new song he wrote about the Cowboy Trail.
As a youngster, he performed in the Calgary Stampede Grandstand show with the Young Canadians in front of Queen Elizabeth and since then has performed at numerous special events including the 1988 Winter Olympics, the Calgary Stampede and celebrations across the province including the centennial anniversary of the Turner Valley Gas Plant’s Dingman No. 1 discovery well.
“My songs are filled with history,” said Lennard. “Something I find is a lot of Albertans don’t know much about our history, our past.”
Lennard is a historian at the Bow Valley Ranch in Fish Creek Park and was the former director of the Alberta Heritage School Fair program.
The Bar U Ranch National Historic Site is located 13 km south of Longview and is open until Sept. 30 daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
