Sometimes you’ll hear me complaining about how I wished I lived in the city, or at least close to a larger city than Las Cruces since the streets pretty much close up at 9pm. The one thing you’ll never here me complaining about is the lack of artificial lights interfering with the starlight. Out here in the boonies, I can look up at any time and see the beautiful stars dotting the night sky, silky gray and white clouds stretched across the dark expanse, and if I’m in our yard, sinister looking branches reaching up the celestial beauty like a corpse rising from its grave. ALl in all, it’s a beautiful sight to see, and I don’t have to see some obnoxious flashing neon sign either. I love that.

The 5th Annual Dark Sky Festival is set to to be held on Saturday, April 5th, 2008 in the Town Square of Harmony, Florida. The festival will officially start at 7pm that evening. As you might have inferred, the Dark Sky Festival is a celebration of the night sky, a sky free of the effects of light pollution. The festival will be helping to educate people about the benefits of having a more effective lighting setup as well as the downsides to extravagant outdoor lighting.

I really wish I lived in Florida somewhere so that I could go and visit the festival. There is going to be a live performance by Rare Earth at the festival, as well as some talks from astronomers and telescopes set up for viewing!

For more information about light pollution and the festival be sure to check out the Dark Sky Festival’s official press release (below) as well as their website.

Get Ready! This Year’s Dark Sky Festival is Out-of-this-World

HARMONY, FL – March 15, 2008 – The 5th Annual Dark Sky Festival at Harmony will be held on Saturday, April 5, 2008. Sponsored by the Harmony Institute, the Kissimmee Convention and Visitors Bureau, several astronomy clubs, the Osceola News Gazette and Florida Travel & Life Magazine, the event will kick off at 7pm in Harmony’s Town Square.

“The Dark Sky Festival is intended to celebrate and promote the benefits of a night-sky free from the effects of excessive artificial lighting,” said Greg Golgowski, Harmony’s Conservation Director and a key member of the Dark Sky Festival Planning Committee. “Poor outdoor lighting not only washes out the splendor of the heavens, but also reduces visibility at night, wastes energy, and disturbs wildlife.”

As with the past four Dark Sky Festivals, attendees will be able to enjoy viewing the night skies through a variety of telescopes. There also be lots of music and food, numerous specialty booths, an educational zone with presentations from astronomers and other scientists, nocturnal creatures, a Cosmic Kids Zone and so much more.”

Local favorite, the Silver Clouds Orchestra, will start the entertainment portion of the evening at 7:00pm. This will be followed by a free concert by legendary recording artists, Rare Earth.

Rare Earth will take to Harmony’s outdoor amphitheatre stage at 8:00pm for a live concert chock full of their greatest hits including “Get Ready” and “I Just Want to Celebrate.”

“We are ecstatic to have Rare Earth performing at this year’s Festival,” said Shad Tome, president of Harmony Development Group. “We are encouraging everyone to wear comfortable shoes because Rare Earth is known for getting the whole audience up and dancing.”

The festival will be emceed by Magic 107.7’s afternoon drive on-air personality and program director Ken Payne.

The Festival is open to the general public. Over 3,500 people are expected to attend the event this year. The event will conclude around 11:00pm.

This date was selected because it falls on the heels of National Dark Sky week (March 29 – April 4); where people in the United States are encouraged to turn out their unnecessary outdoor lights in order to temporarily reduce light pollution.

For more information, please visit www.DarkSkyFestival.com or call 407-891-8358.

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