The Pembina Valley Astro Club is gearing up for its busiest year yet.
In addition to a host of events in Winkler again this fall, club founder Kenton Dyck will also be bringing his high-tech telescope to several other communities across the region.
“One of the bigger things we’re doing this year is we’re including Morden into the Astro Club program as well,” he said. “So we will be having an equal number of events in both Morden and Winkler this year.”
The club’s schedule of “at home” events kicked off with a viewing party in Morden’s Connor Hill Park on Tuesday and at Dead Horse Cider near Winkler on Thursday night starting at 9:30 p.m.
Future watch nights include Aug. 26 at Connor Hill Park starting at 9:30 p.m., Sept. 2 at Charley B’s Classic Grill & Ice Cream Parlour in Winkler at 8:30 p.m., Sept. 9 at the Jurassic Clubhouse near Lake Minnewasta at 9 p.m., Sept. 20 at Dead Horse Cider’s Apple Jam Festival at 9 p.m., Sept. 23 at Dead Horse Cider at 8:45 p.m., Sept. 30 at Jurassic Clubhouse at 8 p.m., Oct. 7 at Charley B’s at 8 p.m., and back at Connor Hill Park Oct. 10 at 8 p.m.
“We’re partnering with a lot of local eateries this year,” Dyck said. “We have a lot of events over at Dead Horse Cider again, because they’re gracious enough to let us use their site pretty much whenever we want, which is massively helpful.”
Located on property just outside Winkler, Dead Horse Cider is the perfect location for nights where they’re looking for as little light pollution as possible.
Other times, though, they’re setting their sights on brighter celestial objects, such as the moon.
“This year during our full moon events, we’ll be heading to Charley B’s in Winkler and the Jurassic Clubhouse in Morden,” Dyck said, noting he hopes those locations will prove especially accessible for more casual or rookie stargazers.
In addition to the Morden-Winkler viewing nights, the club also has an extensive “road” schedule this fall. It got underway with a stop in Miami last Friday night and continues with gatherings in Altona (at the Access baseball field, 9 p.m.) Aug. 29, Steinbach (L.A. Barkman Park, 9 p.m.) Sept. 5, Clearwater Sept. 12 and Sept. 13 (Harvest Moon Festival grounds, 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. both days), Miami (Alexander Ridge Park, 9 p.m.) Sept. 19, Steinbach Sept. 26 (8:30 p.m.), and Altona Oct. 3 (8 p.m.).
“I was punching in my map routes just to see how big my little network area was,” Dyck shared. “I did the math and it turns out that the square mileage of the area that I cover is 11,500 square kilometres.
“Obviously I’m not driving every inch of it, but to go from just a slight interest with sidewalk astronomy to something that covers that amount of area is pretty cool.”
On average, the club’s viewing parties draw upwards of 50 people a night. Thanks to the support of companies like Schinkel Properties and Winkler Construction, Dyck has been able to purchase additional telescopes to ensure everyone has plenty of opportunity to take a look through the viewfinder.
“I’m very happy with how it’s going, and the interest is only growing,” Dyck said.
If you’ve never been out to look to the skies with the Pembina Valley Astro Club, Dyck urges you to come check it out.
“Come out and see what it’s all about—we’ll show you how good of a time it is.”
For more details or schedule changes, email astroclubpv@gmail.com or follow the Pembina Valley Astro Club on Instagram
