Future BGB Events
As many of you are aware our organization the Historic Military Establishment of Upper Canada who brought great historic, education,
community and special event programming was evicted from Discovery Harbour in the fall of 2001. Furthermore, our
efforts to keep the Battle of Georgian Bay event which brought over 2000 re-enactors,
over 50,000 people, the largest War of 1812 event in North America and millions of
dollars to the local and regional economy has been cancelled. Management at Huronia
Historical Parks (Discovery Harbour) has declared that our event is damaging the
archaeological remains of the site through fire pits as well as tent pegs which were
driven into the ground.
After much thought and deliberation on the future fact that our organization would have
to move the encampment and in respects change the whole atmosphere, logistical and
planning of any future Battle of Georgian Bay events, the Historic Military Establishment
of Upper Canada a not-for profit charity operated entirely by volunteers has come to the
conclusion that this would not be in the best interest of the re-enactors, event and our
group.
We successfully brought to our communities the largest single tourism event in history
and had the perfect venue for this event to support it and help it grow. In moving the
encampment location we run the risk of re-enactors not wishing to participate because
it is not what it used to be and ultimately the next Battle of Georgian Bay would be a
challenge and huge risk on our part to execute.
Fort George, Stony Creek, Fort York, Fort Erie, Louisbourg etc., etc., all have
encampments on a grand scale and never have tent and fire pit issues come to a point
where living history encampments have had to be cancelled. Don't get us wrong, the
Historic Military Establishment of Upper Canada believes in the preservation of
archaeological remains as all historical organizations do, however we are all in the
same game here and that is to promote and preserve history, we are just promoting it
through living history.
It's all a smoke screen from the management at Discovery Harbour as they were
determined to remove our organization entirely from Discovery Harbour and don't care
or fail to see the economic, living history and tourism impact this event could generate
for years to come if it was allowed to continue on its natural course at Discovery
Harbour.
Personally, it's a really hard decision for me to come to grasp with, as thousands of
hours of personal volunteer time and effort has gone into planning the Battle of
Georgian Bay events over the last 8 years. To watch helplessly as politics and narrow
minded personalities stop this event from occurring is an outrage to the communities,
re-enactors and spectators it benefited.
Leaving the Battle of Georgian Bay riding on the success of 2001, as many have
quoted as the best economic tourism impact, organized and re-enactment experience of their lives, will always be a milestone within our organization. We will take pride in the
memories and stories of our accomplishments as they echo by the fires and in our
communities for years to come.
Until the management at Huronia Historical Parks changes or open their eyes and
realizes the historical and huge economic impact of this event and allows us to return
and run the Battle of Georgian Bay as it was meant to be, it will remain dormant.
David J. Brunelle
Chairman
Battle of Georgian Bay 2001
Historic Military Establishment of Upper Canada
|