Barkerville to host 22nd annual Mid-Autumn Moon Festival on Saturday

After taking a couple of years off for COVID, Barkerville will welcome back the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival on Saturday. (Sept 3)

James Douglas, the Director of Public Programming & Media, says they will kick things off with the unveiling of a new signboard for its Chinatown arch.

“Visitors to Barkerville will be familiar with the arch that brings you up into Chinatown. We’ve more accurately represented what the sign would have actually said at the time. Archaeological evidence from the 1990’s actually showed that the Chinese community in Barkerville officially declared, unofficially officially, but officially declared the Chinatown of Barkerville a colony of China.”

Douglas says they’ve redone the Chinese characters on the sign to reflect that particular name.

It will be unveiled at around 9 a.m., kicking off a day full of Chinese themed events to celebrate the harvest cycles in that country.

There will be a schedule of events available when you first arrive at Barkerville.

Douglas says that will be followed by the evening celebration beginning at around 7.

“In the evening traditionally we’ve had an outdoor event of musical performances and magic acts and that sort of thing, but we’re going to have it inside the Theatre Royal this year so everyone can avoid the chill of the early September air.  But we’ll have the traditional moon cake tasting and the lantern parade at dusk, so after the variety events in the Theatre Royale in the evening, we will go outside.”

Douglas says people will have had an opportunity to either purchase lanterns or make them at workshops during the day, and he says there will be a giant parade of these illuminated lanterns up through the streets of Barkerville with all of the lights out.

He expects that to take place at around 9-30.

Douglas says there will be a series of celebratory banquets throughout the evening at the Lung Duck Tong Chinese food restaurant, which will require a reservation.