The beauty and history of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore and many other national parks will be showcased in an online film festival starting June 12th, thanks to the National Park Service. We hope you’ll join the Friends in the virtual audience for this online event as we celebrate 50 years of the park we love.
“On the Edge of Gichigami – Voices of the Apostle Islands” will run from June 12 through June 25. This 20-minute film features the voices of those who live, work and play in the islands. You’ll enjoy hearing stories of the region, as images of lighthouses, beaches, sandstone cliffs and Lake Superior take you on a virtual tour of the park in all four seasons.
The film is normally shown in the Visitor Center at park headquarters in Bayfield, Wisconsin. That’s not possible now because of the pandemic, so we’re excited to share the news about this online opportunity to view it.
The musical soundtrack was composed and performed by Bobby Horton, multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, and music historian. Horton says some of the songs are traditional melodies popular with the people who lived in northern Wisconsin and others are his own compositions.
“On the Edge of Gichigami” will be paired with other films featuring National Parks on Assateague Island, Cape Cod, Cape Lookout, Channel Islands, and Gulf Islands. All of these films are grouped under the theme, “A Day at the Beach.” The idea is that if you can’t visit this summer, this online festival will bring some of the most iconic coastal destinations in the National Park System to you.
After “A Day at the Beach,” the schedule includes the following themes: World War II, America’s Wilderness, The Cold War, Back to Nature, Preserving African American History, and Alaska and Hawaii. Some of the films will be accompanied by online panel discussions. New films will become available every two weeks. The series runs through September 17th. Click here to enter the film festival website and watch the movies.
The online video event is being produced by the Harpers Ferry Center for Interpretive Media unit of the National Park Service, which is also celebrating 50 years of creating a wide variety of audio visual programs, publications and other materials to share the stories of the National Parks.
We’ll see you at the online movies starting June 12th, as we celebrate 50 years of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.
Photo credit: Sand Island Lighthouse by Jon Okerstrom
