The categories are listed below:

1. Tripod: starry landscapes, star trails or constellation portraits
2. Wide field tracking
3. Solar System: Moon, planets, and comets
4. Deep Sky
5. Sketching

For each of the categories 1-5 above, a First Prize plaque and a Second Prize certificate will be awarded.

Two special prizes will also be awarded:

1. Photography Novice Award: Awarded to an entry from someone who has not won before at any star party.
2. People's Choice Award

The rules of the contest are as follows:

1. A maximum of 2 photos can be entered per person, and a maximum of 2 sketches per person.
2. Images may be in printed or in electronic format.
3. All entries must be identified with labels provided.
4. Photos do not have to be taken at SSSP nor not within the same calendar year.
5. Winning photos or sketches from previous SSSP's can not be entered again.
6. Entries cannot have won anywhere else, but could have been entered elsewhere as a non-winning entry.
7. Sketches must be field sketches either completed at the eyepiece or started at the eyepiece and finished later based on observing notes. All sketches must be hand-drawn.
8. The SSSP will be accepting Electronic Images for the astrophoto contest. Please bring your images on a memory stick and load them onto the SSSP laptop in the Wapiti Room - opening times will be in the SSSP 2018 Handout. Images will be displayed in a scrolling Powerpoint program, but judges will have the original images available to view. Printed images may certainly still be entered.
9. All entries must be received by 12 Noon on Saturday August 11.

The Resort catering staff will be serving a single meat entrée buffet. The banquet is served in the Wapiti Room, starting at 6:00 pm Saturday. Costs for the banquet are: Adults 11 yr+, $38; Youth 6-10 yr, $24; Children under 6 yr, free.

There are a limited number of places for the banquet. They will be allocated on a "first registered, first allocated" basis. We strongly suggest that you preorder your tickets when you register. A small number of places will be held for at-the-door registrations but only if the room limit has not yet been exceeded. We also ask you, if you find that you are not able to come to the banquet but have preordered tickets, to contact us immediately by phoning 306-280-1899. We will refund your banquet ticket costs and will allocate your tickets to people on our waiting list. If you do not contact us beforehand and you do not show up, your banquet ticket costs will NOT be refunded. See "Refund Policy" for more information.

Menu:

• Roast Turkey with Sage Dressing and Gravy
• Garlic Mashed Potatoes
• Garden, Pasta and Spinach Strawberry Salads
• Seasonal Select Vegetables
• Chef's Dessert Creations

If you have specific dietary requirements, please contact the star party organizers by e-mail or phone.

The BBQ starts at 5 pm on Thursday and will be held by the Amphitheatre. Tickets are $7. The public talk will start after the BBQ, about 7 pm.

We are pleased to announce our confirmed speakers for this year:

• Saturday Fr. Lucian Kemble Speaker: Dr. Michael Earl, University of Saskatchewan    Info
• Thursday "Under Living Skies" Public Lecture speaker: Ron Waldron    Info
• Friday evening clinic presenter: Alister Ling    Info

We regret that James Edgar had to withdraw this year for medical reasons. We wish him well.

Other guests and additional information will be posted as information becomes available.

Our room block at the Resort runs from Thursday August 9 through Saturday August 11 nights. There is a mix of hotel rooms, townhouses (2 and 3 bedroom) and cabins (2 and 3 bedrooms). There are also a limited number of hotel rooms available for the Wednesday August 8 night.

When contacting the Resort, ask first for a room in the Star Party room block. If none are available, ask for any room that might be available. If there are no units available, contact our Registrar Rick Huziak at 306-665-3392 or sssp.sk@sasktel.net. We are maintaining a waiting list for people who wish to find accommodations in the Resort. Do NOT ask the Resort to place you on their waiting list: they do not maintain a waiting list of their own.

Note that we will have to release a portion of the unbooked rooms in our room block back to the Resort about a month before the star party. So, if you want to stay in the Resort, book your accommodations as soon as possible.

Contact the Resort at 306-662-4477. Additional information about the Resort is available at their website.

SSSP observing and clinics are held in the Meadows Campground. For the dates of August 8 through August 12, all SSSP campsites are booked directly though Rick Huziak, separate from the Registration process. The provincial Reserve-a-Site website shows these campsites are blocked out because they have been exclusively reserved for SSSP attendees – they are indeed available. Reserve-a-Site opens April 16th. See here for camping fee structure.

The Meadows has pull-through and back-in campsites for RVs or tents. Every campsite has power hook-ups, a fire-pit and a picnic table, and some have water hook-ups. There is also ample over-flow camping.

If you decide to come earlier than the official reserved days of SSSP (August 8 - 12) you will be sharing camping with non-SSSP campers, but they will all have to leave by the time SSSP begins. The campground lights will be extinguished from August 8 until the morning of August 13. If you need dark skies before that, you are welcome to observe from the Dark-sky Campground at the Observatory. The Observatory has a six guest pads and power plugs on the south side of the building. If you want to camp in the Dark-sky Campground before the star party begins, book directly with the Park Campground Office.

Camping costs Electric: $30/day, Overflow: $20/day. Camping is booked through the SSSP Registrar, but fees are paid to the Campground Office at the gate entrance on arrival at the park.

Here are the Sask Park’s campground rules: HERE

For see the current Camp Map or for further information about camping in the Meadows, click Here

Bookings for the Meadows during the days of the SSSP will be handled by the SSSP REGISTRAR, Rick Huziak. If you have any complaints or disputes about camping, please talk to the Registrar, and not the Campground Office.

Use the Camping Map in the tab above and pick your SSSP campsite. If the spot is not pink or black, it might be available. If the map starts to look full, don’t panic - we will find a space for you! An updated map will be posted weekly.

Email Rick Huziak at sssp.sk@sasktel.net (preferred) or call (306-665-3392) with your campsite choice. He will try to get back to you on the same day and confirm your desired booking. You may put one camper or one tent on the site if you are the owner of the site, plus an additional tent only if they are directly related family members.

Site costs are: Electric: $30/night; Non-electric: $20/night; Economy/overflow: $20/night. All site fees are payable to the Park Campground Office once you arrive at SSSP. They will have you on their reservation list. You may take any or all of these five days, paying for only the days you use.

If you intend to come earlier than August 8 or stay later than August 13, then you must book those days and pre-pay for your camping through the Sask Parks Reserve-a-Site. SSSP cannot book days outside of SSSP dates. We strongly suggest you book extra days as close to April 16 as you can (when Reserve-a-Site opens), since Meadows is a very popular campground. If you are there earlier than August 8, you may have to return to the campground office on August 8 to pay for your SSSP camping period.

All sites not booked by the first day of SSSP will be treated as rush sites, first come, first serve, and will be booked at the Registration Tent.

If you cannot attend SSSP, please let Rick know so he can cancel your booking.

CAMPING NEAR ROADWAYS

Due to the park’s addition of a Seasonal Campground north of the Meadows campground and the Park Overflow area just to the west, we will be having more trouble restricting white light from car headlights or park overflow campers in some of our peripheral campsites. We strongly suggest that campers using Sites M1 – M30, M68, M114 – M117 set their equipment up in the main observing area, and only use your campsites for camping. We will be doing less white light patrolling in those areas. SSSP holds the star party in the Meadows to provide campsite power, water and the service centre, and for this convenience, we do share the area with nearby non-astronomer campers. The main observing area is very dark.

INFORMATION FOR TENTERS

Some tenters have mentioned that some campsites are not suitable for tenting since the gravel pad area is too hard to pound pegs into and that there is no adjacent grass. These sites would be: M119 – M125, M61, M75, and some sites in the M129 – M135 range. Please inform the Registrar you are tenting.

The SSSP has sites M1 – M76, M115 - M117, M119 - M127 & M134 - M143 booked for SSSP participants. Books these sites through Rick Huziak at sssp.sk@sasktel.ca. Campsite capacity details and images can be found on the Reserve-a-Site website.

M1–M20
Open field camping. Unprotected from Bald Butte Road, so car headlights will be prevalent during the Friday and Saturday night public star nights now held at the observatory. Cars will run up and down this road from 9pm – 11pm both nights. Great horizons, except for low south. You can also just camp in these sites and set your telescopes up for the weekend in the main grassy area of the Meadows.

M21–M30
Camping spots sheltered in the trees, but unprotected from Bald Butte Road, so car headlights will be prevalent during the Friday and Saturday night public star nights now held at the observatory. Cars will run up and down this road from 9pm – 11pm both nights. You can also just camp in these sites and set you telescopes up for the weekend in the main grassy area of the Meadows. Great north, east and west horizons.

M31, M35, M38, M43, M45
Camping spots sheltered in the trees. No light issues – face the Meadows grassy area. Great south, east and west horizons.

M32
SSSP registration tent and Star-Lite Café.

M33, M34, M36, M37, M39, M41, M42, M44, M46 – M49, M51 - M54, M60, M62, M63, M64, M70
Open field camping in main grassy area of Meadows. No shade, but excellent horizons in all directions.

M50, M64
Handicap sites with concrete pads. If you have special mobility needs, ask us specifically for one of these sites. Open field camping in main grassy area of Meadows. No shade, but excellent horizons in all directions. (If non-booked, the site symbol will show a pie-shape.)

M55, M56, M58, M59, M61, M69
Camping spots sheltered in the trees. No light issues – face the Meadows grassy area. Great south and east horizons.

M57
Camping spots sheltered in the trees, but down a fair slope. Very shaded, but is low. Large campers might have trouble getting down and up. No light issues – face the Meadows grassy area. Great south and east horizons.

M66, M67, M68 Camping spots sheltered in the trees. Horizons are not all available from here, so parking telescopes elsewhere is advised.

M71, M72, M73
Camping spots sheltered in the trees. No light issues – face the Meadows grassy area. Great north and east horizons, and south horizon looking down the road.

M74, M75, M76
Camping spots sheltered in the trees. May be some light issues as the next sites to the south are public sites, though SSSP will talk to adjacent campers about the need for sheltering any lights. Great north and east horizons, and south horizon looking down the road.

M120, M122
These spots are completely in the trees. If you want to be away from the crowd, these are good spots, but there are no clear horizons; you would have to set your telescope up in the main observing field for the weekend. It is a 1-minute walk to the observing field.

M114 - M117, M119, M121, M123, M124
Camping spots sheltered in the trees. There are no horizons available from here, so observing is recommended by parking scopes to the north through the trees near the playground. Note that the washroom near Site M118 no longer has a red night light.

M126, M137, M138, M140, M142
Open field camping in main grassy area of Meadows. No shade, but excellent horizons in all directions except low south.

M127, M134, M135, M136, M139, M141, M143
Camping spots sheltered in the trees. No light issues, but may be near public campers – face the Meadows grassy area. Great north and east horizons, and west horizons.

If you are tenting and do not want a powered site, can you overflow camp in the Meadows. You can do this only during the official SSSP days of August 8 - 13. We have designated an overflow tenting area just northwest of the Service Centre, but you can tent anywhere there is room. If we exceed the ~115 sites in the Meadows, we would like those who have paid for a powered site to offer a corner of their site to other tenters, trailers and telescopes - there is ample room. Note that we have special permission from the Park to double up on campsites if we fill all campsites. If you are tenting outside of the overflow area, please ask the nearest site owner if it is okay to share their site. Overflow campers must pay $20/night at the Campground Office, even if sharing. Overflow campers will NOT get a picnic table, so bring your own table. If you need power, then make a deal with the site owner to plug into their pole (so bring a 50-foot extension cord). Do not camp on any roads. Outside of SSSP dates, you must take an official campsite.

If you do not want to camp in Meadows, the Dark-sky Campground is available. But SSSP events and activities are held in the Meadows. The Dark-sky sites are more rustic, have a fire-pit and a picnic table, but no power. Rates for these sites are $15/night. This is a great campground to use for astronomy before or after the SSSP or at other times of the year.

When arriving at SSSP, enter the Meadows through traditional gate at the Meadows Comet Petriew cairn. The Registration Tent will be there, and you can get registered and find your campsite. We will have a map of available campsites hanging on the tent, and can offer guidance for overflow campers and those who will just set their scopes up. Do not use the Ball Diamond entrance, which now goes to Meadows-B sites used by the public.

The Service Centre has flush toilets and showers and will be red-lit for the duration of the SSSP. Note that the Service Centre will also be used by non-SSSP campers who occupy other sites in the Meadows. The Park and the SSSP will make efforts to educate these users about telescopes and the star party, and will offer red filters for their flashlights, so if you see a white flashlight, please remind them CALMLY to point them downward. Do not yell at them, or SSSP gets yelled at by the Park.

If you are not staying in the Meadows and want to set up and leave your telescope or equipment tent, you may do so by using the tent overflow area, or by occupying a corner of a powered site or a grassy area in between. Have a talk with the site owner to assure they are OK with you setting up there. Equipment tents are allowed but must be labelled "Equipment tent" and must not be occupied. There is no charge to put up an equipment tent. You may leave your equipment set up for the duration if you wish. Leave room for the site owner to get in and out of their site. You will NOT get a picnic table so bring your own table. If you need power, then make a deal with the site owner to plug into their pole (so bring a 50-foot extension cord). Do not set up on any roads. Outside of SSSP dates, either you must take an official campsite.