Barkerville: The Series gets provincial award nom

Barkerville: The Series has been shortlisted for a Heritage BC award.

The six-episode web series is nominated in the Education, Communications, and Awareness Category in this year’s awards.

The Series explores modern-day life at the Historic Town and Park, exploring actors’ lives, and blending heritage interpretation with humour and drama.

“It’s really great,” says Stewart Cawood, Manager of Public Programming and Media at Barkerville, who was one of the production’s directors on the Series’ nomination.

“We had been talking about putting Barkerville: The Series together for a number of years. Then, we finally got to production and filming after the scripts were written by our in-house writer, Danette Boucher. We’re really excited to be able to share [the series] with people, and honoured for the nomination.”

The Series was filmed primarily through April 2024, and the film industry workers were hired from across the province.

Cawood says that the Lhtako Dene Nation had a lot of input on some of the storytelling, adding indigenous perspectives, and some filming was done at Lhtako Dene’s Arbour and offices.

“It was a big part of the story of the series for us to show that Barkerville is now trying to include the stories of everyone who was impacted by the Gold Rush, and who was part of the Gold Rush,” said Cawood. “It’s important because we’re still feeling those impacts today.”

All six episodes of Barkerville: The Series can be watched on YouTube and Vimeo, and through the Historic Town’s website.

The City of Quesnel has also been nominated for a Heritage BC Award in the same category.

The City’s nomination is for its work in updating its heritage interpretation along the Riverfront Trail and downtown, installing 30 new panels, 7 off-trail signs, and 5 life-sized photographic murals.

The projects included the redevelopment of Lhtako Dene Park, and included other highlights of Indigenous and Chinese heritage in Quesnel.