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The new faces of the Kimberley Medieval Festival

The organizers of the festival and proposed RavenStone Viking settlement are in town this week.
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Jen Silverhorse (right) is pictured with her son Rowan (left). They are in Kimberley this week to meet the community. Silverhorse will be taking over the Kimberley Viking Festival, formerly run by the Kimberley City Bakery, and hopes to build a permanent Niking village here in Kimberley. (Bulletin file).

The Calgary-based organizers of the Kimberley Viking Festival and proposed RavenStone Viking settlement are determined to follow through on their dream to build a full-time Viking village in or near Kimberley, however there are a lot of hurdles to get over before their plans can come to fruition.

As the Bulletin reported last summer, Jen Silverhorse, her son Rowan and business partner Sandy Poxon are taking over the Kimberley Viking Festival that was formerly run by the Kimberley City Bakery.

This year’s festival is planned for July 13 and 14. It will look very similar to previous festivals with family fun, entertainment and education says Silverhorse.

Silverhorse heads up the marketing and advertising for the festival, and she says a big part of marketing the festival is determining solid numbers for attendance.

“We’ll be changing the structure for attendance so we can make those numbers [more] provable,” she said. “We will have electronic cash registers so we can see just how many adults, children and seniors are attending.”

In terms of the RavenStone Viking settlement, the group is doing their research in hopes of securing both land and funding to bring their dream to reality.

READ MORE: Kimberley to see historically accurate viking village built in near future

Silverhorse and Poxon have been part of the Medieval circuit in western Canada for many years, and are the driving force behind the Alberta Medieval Settlement, a project in conjunction with the University of Calgary to create a historically accurate Medieval town, as it would have been in England in the year 1450.

They have already started working with Columbia Basin Trust, Tourism BC, Community Futures, and local, provincial, and federal governments to raise funds for this project and find the ideal plot of land.

“We are here in Kimberley to get to know the community and also let the community get to know us,” Silverhorse said. “We do live in Calgary, but we hope to become a part of this community…home is where your boots are.”

She says she has spoken with some Kimberley residents this week, as well as City Councillors, to try and get the word out. They are also looking for partnerships for land use, more specifically someone who is willing to lease their land to the settlement. 40 acres is what they’re hoping to find.

“We’ve had a couple of offers for land lease agreements, but it has to be a partnership,” she said, adding that someone who wants to lease their land for a percentage of net profit would be an ideal situation. “We’ve also looked at Crown land but we can’t build anything permanent, which would be a bit of an issue.”

Silverhorse explained that they have also looked into the possibility of purchasing land that can be re-zoned, as they are running into troubles with BC’s agricultural land use inventories.

“We can’t apply for the grant funding without a partnership in place, so we have to take it one step at a time,” she said. “If we can get local businesses on board I think we can offer an attractive advertising scope through the festival and our website [etc.].”

READ MORE: Plans announced for RavenStone Viking Village

She adds that their partnerships in Calgary will help them to establish the historically accurate village, by bringing in vendors, reenactors and volunteers from the Alberta Medieval Settlement.

In terms of a timeline, Silverhorse says boots on the ground in 2020 would be ideal, but it all comes down to gaining the support of the community, finding the adequate land and securing funding.

If you want to find out more information or get in touch with the team, check out the Kimberley Viking Festival Facebook page or the RavenStone Settlement Facebook page.



corey.bullock@kimberleybulletin.com

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Corey Bullock

About the Author: Corey Bullock

Corey Bullock is a multimedia journalist and writer who grew up in Burlington, Ontario.
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