Three ways to celebrate one hundred years of Parks Canada

If you are not busy with plans to meet your maker in Toronto on May 21, you may be interested in the big shindig at the CN Tower/Rogers Centre celebrating the Parks Canada centennial (the actual anniversary is May 19, but that's not on a weekend.)  Somewhat ironic to be celebrating parks at an urban icon cum mega-auditorium, but of course Parks Canada hasn't been just about parks for a long time, as the list of activities implies.

If you go you can :

• plan your next unique Canadian getaway at the Visitor Centre;
• capture yourself in Viking gear [ed note: ?];
• see Anne of Green Gables herself [ed. note: this one doubtful];
• participate in historic period games;
• meet the new Parks Canada mascot;
• take in the Critters Corner and visit with species at risk;
• keep step with pipes and drums;
• get your face painted and hands tattooed [ed. note: assuming this is henna or otherwise temporary]; 
• collect mementos [ed. note: hmm...] 
• gaze in awe at some of the most unique and breathtaking film footage from across the country;
• have an evening campout in Rogers Centre (purchasing tickets at bluejays.com/campout)
• and enjoy Mud Men, Sweet Thing, Malajube and Apostle of Hustle.

Or if your taste runs to the less frenetic, NiCHE and the University of Calgary Press have just published a book of collected essays exploring various aspects of Parks Canada's history, edited by environmental historian Claire Campbell of Dalhousie University, aptly entitled A Century of Parks Canada, 1911-2011. So you could celebrate by reading that.

And if you would prefer a yet more passive way to celebrate, you could listen to podcast no. 22 at Nature's Past, which is an interview with Campbell and two contributors to the volume, George
Colpitts and Gwynn Langemann.