With 59 students from 10 different schools displaying 47 projects during the one-day Prince George Regional Heritage Fair, the Civic Centre was bustling with activity Friday morning.
Judges from the community were making the rounds in pairs to hear what the Grade 4 to 9 students had to say about topics like the history of Braille in Canada, Overwaitea, residential schools, and even the Canadian beaver.
One judge, who has been attending the event for at least three years said the heritage fair is all about connections.
"This is one of the reasons why I take part," Nowell Senior said. "I've just listened to a presentation by a Grade 7 student who didn't know his grandfather and decided that he'd like to find out who his grandfather was and chose to learn about his grandfather from four books his grandfather wrote that were in the Prince George Library."
The student's grandfather died before he was born.
"The student said he got to know his grandfather through the books he wrote," Senior said. "It's those kinds of emotional presentations that are so moving and I really enjoy hearing the students' presentations. They're really marvelous."
During the annual regional heritage fair there is usually only about five or six schools that participate but this year the 10 schools included Franco Nord, which is a first in the history of the fair.
While some students chose to do projects on family members, it wasn't always the case.
"Students were allowed to choose a topic on any aspect of Canadian history they are interested in," Krystal Leason, one of the organizers of the event and operations manager at Huble Homestead/Giscome Portage Heritage Society, said. "This year there are surprisingly few geneological projects. There's a lot more variety. There's one about residential schools, a few about World War I, we've got one on musical therapy, which was interesting, a couple of projects on India where families have immigrated from and a really great one on braille."
Some of the presentations have been unique, including two girls that performed a dance to depict their heritage rooted in India and there's been some desserts shared that are culturally significant, Leason added.
"I've been chatting with the judges as they return to their room after they interview the students and they all seem quite impressed," Leason said.
During the fair, students were asked to present their projects to the judges, and were given the opportunity to participate in some fun activities like learning a few magic tricks from William the Conjurer, drumming with Granville Johnson, as well as finding out about the history of the regional fur trade from representatives from the Fort St. James National Historic Site.
Rowan Brown, Grade 9 student at Duchess Park secondary, has done a project each year since she was in Grade 4.
"I love history and I love learning about it," Brown said, whose first project six years ago was about her Oma's immigration to Canada from Germany. This year's project was entitled 'an unexpected link in the coastal defence network: Terrace in World War II' and it took three weeks to complete.
One of the more interesting points Brown included in her project was that of the 1944 Terrace mutiny, which was the worst breach of discipline in the history of the Canadian military. The mutiny lasted five days and was spurred by the rumour that drafted soldiers based on the home front would instead be deployed overseas. The mutiny was successful and the soldiers stationed in Terrace were not sent overseas.
Brown will participate in the heritage fair again next year and has no set plans for her final project.
Four outstanding project makers from the Prince George Regional Heritage Fair will be invited to attend the provincial Heritage Fair held in Squamish from July 4 to 8.
The local event is open to the public at 5 p.m. at the Civic Centre and entertainment is provided by the Old Time Fiddlers.
