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The Fernie Chautauqua and Fall Fair is an annual fall festival celebrating local art, music and heritage.
The event is a modern interpretation of the traditional Chautauquas of the early 20th century, set against the spectacular B.C. Rocky Mountains. Enjoy great events and entertainment throughout the weekend for the whole family. The Fernie Chautauqua welcomes one and all to a communion of friends and family. Whether it’s your first time visiting Fernie or a homecoming with family and friends, join in the fun and celebration!
The 9th annual festival in 2023 celebrates the 10th anniversary of the Fernie Museum in its current location in the former home bank, which was beautifully repurposed and renovated into a permanent Museum facility and gallery in 2013.
FREE ADMISSION to the Fernie Museum all weekend! Plus information tents & displays from:
10:30 AM - 1:30 PM | Heritage Tea by the Catholic Women's League $10 | Fernie Family Centre
11 AM - 3 PM | Family Safety Day with Fernie Fire & Rescue | City Hall Grounds
Information booths, fun activities for families, demonstrations, giveaways, a free bbq, and a chance to check out fire trucks!
1 PM | Live Music: The Relief Committee | Chautauqua Stage
1 - 3 PM | Facepainting & Heritage Games | City Hall Grounds
Step right up and test your skills! Are you a prize-winning Sackathlete? Maybe a top-tier Egg and Spoonist? Can you hurl a gumboot at an Olympic level? Now is your moment to shine! Age categories 5-6, 7-8, 9-10, 11-12.
Top two times in each age bracket will receive prizes sponsored by Grow and Save-On-Foods. Plus Grown-Up Prizes sponsored by the Fernie Distillers!
2 PM | Bonnets to Bloomers: The Victorian Lady Undressed | Fernie Senior's Drop In Centre
Learn about Victorian and Edwardian fashion from the “unmentionables” on up with the help of a local historian (and her lovely assistant)! Covering corsets, petticoats, gloves, shoes, hatpins, and everything in between, this is a window into the Victorian world through what they wore and how they wore it. FREE Admission.
3 PM | Live Music: Scarlett Butler | Chautauqua Stage
Scarlett Butler is a new Canadian music duo comprised of Troy Kokol and Joni Delaurier. But ask anyone in the Canadian country music industry and they would be known better individually for crafting songs you have probably heard on the radio.
After a decade writing songs for country artists (250+ songs over the last decade) with and for artists like Shane Yellowbird, Brett Kissel, Tenille Townes, The Higgins, Mike Plume and others, this talented duo stands on a solid foundation of well-crafted songs backed up by a soul-warming blend of harmonies.
10:30 AM - 12:30 PM | Brunch and Brothels: Fernie's Red Lights District with Lindsay Vallance | Fernie Senior's Centre
Turn-of-the-century Fernie was a brawling, sprawling boomtown, with all the amenities a single man could want: bars, boxing rings, pool halls, opera houses...and of course, prostitution, in the form of the "Red Lights," or Restricted District. Learn more about the women who lived and worked in the "Houses of Ill-Repute" which were an ever-present, but barely-documented part of Fernie's history.
Admission $20 including brunch. TICKETS available at the Fernie Museum or at the door, or purchase ONLINE. Limited quantity available.
1 1 AM - 4 PM | Art On The Lawn: Fernie Visual Artists Guild, Fernie Fibre Arts & Fernie Quilt Guild Show & Sale & Demonstrations | City Hall Grounds
11 AM - 1 PM | Drop In Bocce with Special Olympics Silver Medallist Wayne Gowanlock | City Hall Grounds
1 PM | Live Music: The Audielles | Chautauqua Stage
3 PM | Live Music: Shelley Lynch | Chautauqua Stage
Shelley Lynch grew up in a small town in the heart of the Canadian Rockies, surrounded by music from a young age. Fifth of 6 children, raised at a Drive-In Theatre, a family business with parents always encouraging her to ‘Dream Big’. She started playing guitar with her older sisters at the young age of 10 and wrote her first song at 12.
After years of hard work and persistence, her songs finally made it to the studio. From the first “Walk through Life” album, continued in the next album “Dream Big”, on to her next release ‘Powerful Woman’. Shelley continues to write and perform music that reflects her life experiences and the struggles and triumphs of everyday life. ‘Dreams and Gasoline” was released the fall of 2020. Her current producer Dean Miller (Roger’s Son) and some of Nashville’s best studio pickers and players, help deliver her music with a new 90’s country sound.
