BC Heritage Fairs Program Honoured with a Heritage BC Award

VANCOUVER, Feb. 10, 2016 /CNW/ - The BC Heritage Fairs Program is honoured to be receiving an award for Outstanding Achievement in Education and Public Awareness from Heritage BC. 

"The peer review panel of judges recognized that the Heritage Fairs Program in BC has been outstanding as a means of engaging youth in the history and heritage of BC and Canada," said Kathryn Molloy, Executive Director of Heritage BC. "Through participation in the Fairs program, youth develop citizenship and leadership skills. The Heritage Fairs program builds young citizens and future leaders who understand the relevance of the history and heritage of our Province."

BC Heritage Fairs is a province-wide program to encourage youth to to see history around them in the places where they live.  As young people develop stronger roots in their communities and understand the many ways that history is present in our lives, they become the leaders who will shape history themselves. Heritage Fairs have been held in British Columbia for over 20 years with the first Heritage Fair in British Columbia in Kamloops in 1994 and the first Provincial Heritage Fair in the same city in 2008. 

Today 14 communities in BC host Regional Heritage Fairs each spring and involve over 6,000 students annually. Sixty of those students are selected to attend the annual Provincial Heritage Fair, a weeklong history camp hosted in different parts of the province in July each year.

"Heritage Fairs projects often appeal to students who might not be inspired by schoolwork but are enthusiastic about subjects close to them—like hockey, or a grandparent's wartime service. These are what they turn into Heritage Fair projects," said Michael Gurney, President of the BC Heritage Fairs Society  "The recognition a student receives through presenting his or her project at a School, Regional or Provincial Fair can have a significant positive impact—and change an unfocussed student to an active one. Heritage Fairs help set young citizens on a path to becoming leaders."

The award will be presented at the 35th Annual Heritage BC Awards Gala where the outstanding and significant achievements of British Columbia's heritage conservation heroes are recognized.   The Gala is being held from 6 – 9 pm , Feb  18, 2016 at  The Imperial, a restored theatre at 318 Main Street; Vancouver.  Tickets to the Gala are available at www.heritagebc.ca/awards/

SOURCE BC Heritage Fairs Society

please contact: Dr. Jane Watt, Provincial Coordinator, BC Heritage Fairs Society, Telephone: [phone], Email: [email protected]