10th annual Waterton Wildflower Festival to be held June 15-23

Every June, the meadows and forests of Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta, Canada, come alive with the dazzling colours of wildflowers by the millions. Superlatives apply: amazing, stunning, breathtaking, fascinating.  Of the hundreds of species, over 50 of Canada’s rarest flowers grow in Waterton, 30 of which are found only in this park.

 The Waterton Wildflower Festival is a celebration of this natural phenomena, held this year from June 15 to 23. Now in our tenth year, this festival has been ranked one of the top wildflower festivals in the world, amongst events in North America, the U.K., Australia and Italy. Waterton has even been named the “Wildflower Capital of Canada”.

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Why Waterton? It has a truly unique ecology, where the Great Plains run head on into the Rocky Mountains. Here, mountain and prairie plants meet and bloom side by side.  From diatoms to beargrass, the variety of species in Waterton’s plant community is astounding.  The Waterton Wildflower Festival has brought people from around the world up close to these plants with guidance and insight from leading scientists and specialists.  Whether examining the globally-rare Scented Pussytoes with your own eyes, or learning to photograph the Peculiar Moonwort with the macro lens on your camera, or being taught the subtleties of shading of the Jones Columbine for your painter’s canvas, or ambling through glades of giant White Cow-parsnip on horseback, you will see closer and appreciate more through the knowledge of these program leaders.

And, of course, the setting is spectacular Waterton Lakes National Park. The gem in the Crown of the Continent, Waterton has much to offer the visitor, and this festival capitalizes on these opportunities. Many of the programs take you on some of the exceptional hiking trails, both alpine and grassland, guided by leading experts in the field of botany. The famed International Boat Cruise is offering a “shore to shore” tour. Or learn your wildflowers from horseback, while taking in the stunning vistas of Waterton Valley.

This year we host two exceptional speakers. On Wednesday, June 19, conservationist, writer and photographer Harvey Locke, a recognized leader in wilderness, parks and large landscape preservation,  and the founder of the Yellowstone to Yukon initiative, will speak on the hopeful expansion of Waterton Park into the Flathead region. And on Thursday, June 20, we are very pleased to host George Scotter, botanist and author of Wildflowers of the Canadian Rockies.
For photographers, we are pleased to bring to the festival Tom Ulrich, an outstanding photographer from Montana, whose work has been featured in many top publications. He will host a workshop on technique, as well as a special evening slideshow and talk. For the artistic, world-renowned botanical artist Margaret Best will conduct a workshop on journaling with botanical illustration.  As well, Iris McRae will have a class on the ancient art form of encaustic, also known as hot wax painting.

Events continue into the evening, with slide shows and talks on a wide variety of subjects, and music concerts at the lovely United Church and the Waterton Lakes Opera House.

For more information about the event and for registration visit the website www.watertonwildflowers.com. It will be an experience to savour for a lifetime.

Related link:
Photographing Waterton: The Wildflower Festival ~ RJ Pisko