VISITOR EXPERIENCE  / 2014 - 2019

Fernie
Chautauqua
Festival

PROJECT GOALS AND IMPACT

Project Overview

CATEGORY

Visitor Experience and Audience Development

CLIENT

Fernie Museum and Wildsight Fernie (lead partners)

The Fernie Chautauqua Festival, hosted annually in mid-September by the Fernie Museum, is a celebration of the town's culture, heritage, and community spirit. It revives the Dominion Chautauqua that took place in Fernie from 1917 to 1935. Originating from Chautauqua Lake, NY, and rooted in Canadian Methodist Temperance rallies, the Dominion Chautauqua was a mobile institution that brought education, inspiration, and entertainment, including musical performances, lectures, plays, and magic or puppet shows, across North America.

Reviving this tradition, the Fernie Museum hosts a festival each year to honor Fernie's vibrant history and culture. The event, designed for families, showcases musical acts, lectures, plays, and demonstrations. It takes place in Fernie's historic district, with the support of numerous community partners and logistical aid from the City of Fernie.

Heritage Fernie’s annual Doors Open event also occurs during Chautauqua, giving residents and visitors alike unpresedented access to heritage buildings and sites.

Notable festival features have included the Back Alley Speakeasy Tour (2018), Art After Dark (2019), the Chautauqua Main Stage (2015-2019), the family-friendly Chautauqua Tent (2019), the Chautauqua Cultural Dinner (2016-2019), the Tasting Room (2019), Doors Open (2016-2019), historical walking tours (2015-2019), and weekend buskers in two downtown locations (2019). Spanning four dynamic days, this festival has become an eagerly anticipated annual event for both residents and visitors, and it continues to be celebrated today.

  • Foster Community and Social Cohesion: Strengthen the bonds within the Fernie community by creating an inclusive and engaging festival that brings together people from diverse backgrounds to celebrate arts, culture, and heritage.

    Enhance Social Capital and Bridging:
    Promote social interactions and connections among different community groups, fostering a sense of belonging and mutual support. Encourage collaboration between local artists, businesses, and organizations to build a stronger, more interconnected community.

    Establish a Signature Cultural Festival:
    Develop and grow the Fernie Chautauqua Festival into a premier cultural event that showcases the unique arts, heritage, and cultural offerings of Fernie, attracting both locals and visitors.

    Promote the Fernie Museum:
    Position the Fernie Museum as a vibrant and integral part of the community’s cultural landscape. Highlight its role in supporting local government’s social, cultural, and economic development goals, and its contribution to preserving and promoting community values and identity.

    Expand Heritage, Culture, and Art Activities:
    Extend the reach of heritage, culture, and art activities beyond the museum's walls into the broader community. Transform Fernie into a living museum and gallery where history, art, and culture are interpreted in their authentic contexts.

    Raise Awareness of Fernie's Cultural Assets:
    Increase awareness of Fernie's rich history, cultural heritage, artistic traditions, and culinary scene among locals and target audiences. Position Fernie and the festival as a competitive tourism destination with a unique and vibrant arts scene.

    Ensure Sustainability and Growth: Position the Fernie Museum as a charity of choice, strengthening its partnerships and funding opportunities. Focus on sustainability to ensure the long-term success and growth of both the museum and the festival, enhancing their ability to serve the community and attract visitors.

  • The Fernie Chautauqua Festival created the following outcomes:

    Economic Impact

    • Tourism Boost: The festival attracted 8,000 participants across all events in 2019; 50% of those attending were visitors who travelled 250 km or more to participate. Accommodation occupancy exceeded 90% on the Saturday night, with an estimated 70% of those staying overnight Friday and/or Saturday participating in one or more Chautauqua events. The event resulted in higher accommodation rates, increased hospitality and retail sales and a general uptick in tourism-related revenue, particularly in 2018 and 2019. Visit Park Place Lodge for an example of packaging.

    • Creative Economy: The influx of visitors and festival-related activities created revenue generating opportunities for local artists, whether it was honorariums, artist fees, sales of work (onsite or offsite), and merchandise sales.

    Cultural Enrichment

    • Showcasing Local Heritage: The festival highlighted Fernie's unique culture, rich history and emerging culinary artistry, fostering a deeper appreciation and awareness of local heritage, culture, art and place among attendees.

    • Community Engagement: By involving local artists, performers, and cultural groups, the festival fostered a sense of community pride and unity, enhancing the cultural vibrancy of Fernie.

    Social Impact

    • Community Cohesion: The festival serves as a social gathering point, helping to strengthen community ties and provide residents with opportunities to connect and celebrate together.

    • Provide opportunities for full-time, weekend and vacationing residents and visitors to engage with one another in fun, unexpected ways around history and culture.

    • Volunteer Participation: Organizing and running the festival in 2019 engaged 92 community members in volunteer roles, fostering a spirit of volunteerism and community involvement.

    Promotional and Strategic Benefits

    • Enhanced Visibility: The festival likely helped put Fernie on the map as a vibrant and attractive destination, enhancing its profile and appeal to a broader audience.

    • Alignment with Strategic Goals: The festival outcomes likely aligned with the broader goals of Fernie's tourism and heritage strategies, contributing to long-term objectives such as sustainable tourism development and preservation of cultural heritage.

  • For the Fernie Chautauqua Festival, I played four roles:

    Artistic Director. Conceptualized and curated the festival program, booked the festival’s program of talent, oversaw sound and lights for all stage productions, served as MC for select stages, curated/programmed all special events such as the Art After Dark event (2019).

    Fund Development. Applied for federal and municipal festival funding, secured annual and one-time corporate sponsorships, and administered donations and sponsorships according to agreements.

    Marketing and Communications. Developed an annual festival promotions program in partnership with Tourism Fernie, secured ad buys and editorial, wrote and scheduled social media posts, prepared press releases, prepared and designed all promotional material, and maintained/updated festival website. Served as spokesman for festival.

    Administrator. Contract management; bookkeeping and cashflow management; partnership and stakeholder/community relations.

2019 Fernie Chautauqua             

Festival  Schedule                       

  • 2019 Festival Goals

    For the 2019 festival edition, organizers will:

    • Grow attendance to 8,000. 50% will be from Alberta and BC market, 50% local/regional traffic.

    • Emphasize local food culture: food traditions, regional producers and today’s hot chefs and kitchens,

    • Extend the festival’s fun and creative energy into the commercial core with unique cultural experiences.

    • Further develop the Saturday night adult event as an immersive and unexpected collective cultural and social experience that defines the Chautauqua Festival.

  • 2019 Festival Partners

    • City of Fernie, Community Services and Planning Services (lead partner / steering committee)

    • Fernie Arts Station

    • Fernie Heritage Library

    • Fernie Museum (lead partner / steering committee)

    • Heritage Fernie

    • Ktunaxa Nation Council, Economic Development Sector (lead partner / steering committee)

    • Tourism Fernie (promotion partner)

    • Wildside Fernie (lead partner / steering committee

  • THU SEP 19

    CULTURE ON THE CORNER, LUNCHTIME EDITION
    Downtown Fernie

    Experience live music for lunch on Thursday and Friday of Chautauqua. Grab your lunch or coffee, head outside along Victoria Avenue and soak up performances by local buskers.

    Fernie Chautauqua partners are introducing a four-day busking pilot during Chautauqua to measure community and visitor re4sponse.

  • THU SEP 19

    UPSTAIRS AND DOWNSTAIRS HOUSE TOUR
    Downtown Fernie

    Join Elana Zysblat, a Canadian heritage consultant working on the Fernie Heritage Strategy, for a four house tour showcasing recent examples of heritage house conservation in Fernie. Gain first-hand knowledge of some of the opportunities and challenges of these four projects from a trained conservator and house owners. Ticketed event, maximum of 20 people, includes a wine and cheese reception hosted by Heritage Fernie.

  • THU SEP 19

    PJ STORYTIME: PIONEER STORIES
    Fernie Heritage Library

    Stories and songs of Fernie’s early beginnings with Anie Hepher for under 5’s and their family / caregiver.

    Anie Heffer is a local songwriter, storyteller, musician and cultural ambassador working as Programming Lead for the Fernie Heritage Library.

  • THU SEP 19

    CHAUTAUQUA OPENING GALA
    Fernie Arts Station

    We added the Opening Gala to our 2019 Festival schedule so we had a space to:

    • introduce the festival’s four day program,

    • recognize our funding partners, community sponsors and our volunteers,

    • give those in attendance a taste of what is in store for festival participants over the following three days.

  • FRI SEP 20

    CULTURE ON THE CORNER, LUNCHTIME EDITION
    Downtown Fernie

    Experience live music for lunch on Thursday and Friday of Chautauqua. Grab your lunch or coffee, head outside along Victoria Avenue and soak up performances by local buskers.

    Fernie Chautauqua partners are introducing a four-day busking pilot during Chautauqua to measure community and visitor re4sponse.

  • FRI SEP 20

    CHAUTAUQUA LUNCH AND LEARN
    Fernie Senior’s Centre

    As the Fernie Museum seeks to build a new foundation for its relationship with the Ktunaxa people, we invite you to join Janice Alpine for insights and understanding of the Ktunaxa First Nation who have lived in this region for over 10,000 years. Janice serves as the Business Development Officer for Tourism Engagement, She is a lead partner in the Fernie Heritage Strategy.

  • FRI SEP 20

    CELEBRATING FERNIES ITALIAN HERITAGE
    Fernie Museum

    Join the Fernie Museum and curators/creators of the Fernie’s Italian Heritage: 1880s to 1929 Digital Museum of Caada exhibit as they publicly launch this new online heritage and education resource, cumulating 18 months of research and development.

    Refreshments and music by members of the local Italian community.

  • FRI SEP 20

    CHAUTAUQUA COMMUNITY PICNIC AND DANCE
    Fernie City Hall Grounds

    Friday’s Chautauqua Picnic and Dance with the Kootenay’s own music star, Craig Moritz, is a chance for the community and visitors alike to gather and kick off the weekend’s celebrations in earnest.

    We are proud to showcase the region’s musical artists of every genre and expanded artist opportunities for 2019.

  • SAT SEP 21

    CHAUTUAQUA PANCAKE BREAKFAST
    Fernie Museum

    Join members of the Fernie Dolphins Swim Club for our annual pancake breakfast featuring:

    • pancakes

    • sausages

    • scrambled eggs

    • orange juice

    • locally roasted coffee by Rooftop Roasters

  • SAT SEP 21

    THE CHAUTAUQUA CULINARY TASTING ROOM
    Participating Establishments, Downtown Fernie

    The 2019 Chautauqua and Fall Fair put a greater focus on Fernie's vibrant culinary scene, with farm fresh local food at nearly every event and regional wines. The Culinary Tasting Room is a new event for 2019 that highlights local and regional producers found downtown. Our own Celebrity Chef Barrie Elliott created culinary masterpieces for our Chautauqua Opening Gala and the Art After Dark event.

  • SAT SEP 21

    CULTURE ON THE CORNER
    Downtown Fernie

    Busking Program. Buskers were scheduled from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm and energized the whole festival atmosphere by layering all day long live music into the experience.

    Street Corner artist demonstrations added a fun, interactive and participatory element that maybe wasn’t expected that created meaningful two-way engagement.

  • SAT SEP 21

    CHAUTAUQUA MAIN STAGE
    City Hall Grounds

    Dominion Chautauqua was popular in large part because of the professional music it brought to communities.

    In keeping with this tradition our festival showcases a wide variety of local and regional musicians and bards. In 2019, over 40 musicians pleyed in some capacity during the four-day festival.

  • SAT SEPT 21

    THE CHAUTUAUQUA CHILDREN’S TENT
    City of Fernie Ground

    In true Chautauqua tradition, we welcome the Dr. Von Houligan’s Family Extravaganza, the Kelly Haines Magical Ventriloquism Extravaganza and the showstopping children musical stylings of Music with Mandy to this year’s festival. The Chautauqua Family Tent also features crafts, activities and face painting throughout the day. Our performers were found roving thought the Chautauqua grounds Saturday.

  • SAT SEP 21

    CULTURE ON THE LAWN
    Fernie City Hall Grounds

    Showcasing Fernie’s arts, culture and heritage with:

    • Artists and Artisan Showcase. Connect with creators living and working in the Elk Valley as they exhibit their work. Ongoing and scheduled demonstrations.

    • Heritage Showcase. Featuring an antique car show and exhibits by the Sparwood Museum, the Fernie Museum and the Ktunaxa Nation Counci.

  • SAT SEP 21

    FERNIE DOORS OPEN
    Venues throughout Downtown Fernie

    Fernie Chautauqua welcomes back the Fernie Doors Open event, featuring 7 heritage buildings located within a 6 block radius in Fernie’s heritage district. Our volunteer guides make these buildings fully accessible and share the often hidden stories their walls have witnessed. This is one way that Heritage Fernie is promoting the community’s culture, traditions and stories.

  • SAT SEP 21

    HERITAGE WALKING TOURS
    Fernie Museum

    11:00 AM: Fernie’s Greatest Hits Heritage Walking Tour with Elana Zysblat

    1:30 PM: Adaptive Reuse: Fernie’s Heritage Projects Then, Now, and Upcoming with Elana Zysblat and Patrick Sorfleet

    3:00 PM: Rum Running & Whiskey Six with Lindsay Vallance

  • SAT SEP 21

    ART AFTER DARK
    Downtown Fernie Cultural District

    Explore Fernie's vibrant visual and performance art scene during our Art After Dark event. This spectacle-for-the-senses cultural experience features special performances by the Circus Insommiacs and Dr. Van Hooligan, cocktail mastery by the Fernie Distillery, culinary artistry by Fernie's celebrity chef, Barrie Elliott, and live music at each of the evening's five venues.

  • SUN SEP 22

    CULTURE ON THE CORNER
    Downtown Fernie

    Busking Program. Buskers were scheduled from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm and energized the whole festival atmosphere by layering all day long live music into the experience.

    Street Corner artist demonstrations added a fun, interactive and participatory element that maybe wasn’t expected that created meaningful two-way engagement.

  • SUN SEP 22

    FERNIE FALL FESTIVAL
    City Hall Grounds

    Celebrate this year’s harvest end and lealn more about food security in the Elk Valley. A foodie’s delight, the event features cooking contests, prizes for the largest or the most tasty vegetables. Make sure to explore the artisan market, food vendors and food trucks. Demonstrations such as blacksmithing and apple cider making are also featured along with zanny games and activities for the whole family.

  • SUN SEPT 22

    CHAUTAUQUA CULTURAL DINNER
    Historic Central Hotel

    What better way to finish off this year’s festival than with a community dinner. Gather together as we uncover the hidden stories of Fernie’s Sikh community. Guest speaker Dr. Michael Hawley from the Southern Alberta Sikh History Project will share what he’s learned about this community and its relationship with the Elk Lumber Co. Traditional blessings will be made on the food and the event.

Previous

The Canmore Museum Reimagined Strategy