Guests at Buffalo Pound couldn’t have had better weather during the second "Park After Dark" event held on Aug. 26 throughout the park.
With an array of activities taking place from 2 p.m. through to 11 p.m., a curious, fun-filled atmosphere held long into the night and the park was decorated around a nocturnal, glow-in-the-dark theme.
The event was hosted by Sask Parks, and this was the second time it was held at Buffalo Pound. The co-ordinator of visitor experiences for Sask Parks, Kimberly Hartwig, said the goal was to help promote the park and to get people out to experience everything our province has to offer.
“Park After Dark is going to be a fun-filled afternoon and evening at Buffalo Pound Provincial Park,” Hartwig said prior to the event taking place. “We will have activities to keep people of all ages entertained all the way into the evening.”
The event proved to be a success and campsites in the park were nearly filled to capacity.
Participants started by visiting the new Visitor’s Centre in the park, and an adjacent information tent informed everyone where the next events were to take place. Around the park there were some self-use glow-games, including a glowing ring toss and spike ball.
The event opened with participants creating their own glow buff at the Visitor’s Centre. “So that’s a custom-decorated head band or neck tube that you will have, and you’ll be able to glow for the whole night,” Hartwig explained.
Later in the afternoon, children learned about some of the interesting animals in the area and the focus was on borrowing owls thanks to the Saskatchewan Burrowing Owl Interpretive Centre.
Swimming was available at the new pool from 2 to 11 p.m. and once dusk kicked in, glowing rubber ducks and beach balls were tossed into the pool to liven things up. Once it got darker, the pool had flood lights installed to light the pool up so swimmers could safely enjoy the novel experience with the assistance of lifeguards on shift until closing.
As the sun began to set, a brief lull for supper drew to a close and campers started to show up again for the second half of the night’s activities. At 7 p.m. participants made their own glowing constellation lanterns, and along with spooky-themed baking from the Travelling Bakery, guests were taught about the critters who came alive in the park at night on a guided glow hike that began at 8 p.m.
Park interpreters Justine Zarowny and Melissa Ellis instructed anyone new to disc golf about the basics of the sport and starting at 8 p.m., groups were invited to join a self-guided game of glow disc golf at Maple Vale’s nine-hole par-three course.
The new discs glowed in the dark, and each of the nine holes had LED lights affixed for better visibility in the dark.
Amber and Rion White at Squirrelly Putt & Play mini golf adorned the course with solar LED lights and installed a glow-in-the-dark flagpole in each of the course’s nine holes. Once twilight set in, the normal golf balls were swapped with a glowing counterpart.
The mini-golf course was open throughout the day, but attendance really kicked up as soon as the course lit up for the evening.
“We had no set hours, just from dark until everybody leaves,” Amber said, noting that attendance was steady well into the night.
To provide refreshments for the event, the Travelling Bakery at the new Visitor’s Centre provided spooky, Halloween-themed cookies and hot chocolate well into the evening.
The bakery’s owner, Michael Huehn, said his spooky cookies are all home-baked and that he normally closes the bistro at 6 p.m. but kept the doors open until 9 p.m. to accommodate the new influx of guests to the park.
The event concluded with a silent disco that kicked off at 9 p.m. at the Elmview Pavilion next to the new swimming pool.
Put on by Zenhouse Productions, what made the disco silent was the 100 sets of headphones distributed to everyone partaking in the concert.
“Everybody receives their own personal set of headphones. With the headsets, everyone has control of their own volume, and you can also switch through three different channels… the attendee has the option to choose which channel they wish to listen to,” said Jason (JayZen), the owner of Zenhouse Productions. Guests could choose between Top 40 hits, EDM, and a variety of remixes.
The finale event was a wise idea, as participants could still enjoy an exciting conclusion to the evening, all while leaving nearby campers to enjoy their experience in silence. “You’re in your own little sound bubble, so to speak,” JayZen said.
Sask Parks operates under the Saskatchewan Provincial Park mandate outlined in The Parks Act. The mandate ensures park land is dedicated to the people of Saskatchewan as well as those who visit the province. The organization maintains and safeguards the natural, prehistoric, and historic landscapes around the province for the benefit of future generations.
The Park After Dark event is expected to take place again next year with details to follow. To contact the Buffalo Pound entry office for more information, they can be reached at 306-694-3320.
In response to some providers blocking access to Canadian news on their platforms, our website, MooseJawToday.com will continue to be your source for hyper-local Moose Jaw news. Bookmark MooseJawToday.com and sign up for our free online newsletter to read the latest local developments.
