2023 marks the 210th anniversary of the Battle of Fort George, and Parks Canada and the Friends of Fort George are planning programs and events to commemorate this anniversary. To kick things off, we are hosting a Speaker Series inside Navy Hall called Fireside Fridays in February, which will feature hour-long presentations including original artifacts from the War of 1812 with a specific emphasis on the Battle of Fort George.

“We are very excited to be working alongside Parks Canada to highlight different aspects of the history of Fort George and the Battle of Fort George in particular” notes Amanda Gamble, Executive Director of the Friends of Fort George. The Friends will be at Navy Hall for each lecture with a special gift shop table set up, with a sample of items from the Fort George Gift Shop for sale, including the newest publication Fort George: A History.

A Grand Musical Experiment: Reconstructing the Band of the 41st
Peter Alexander – Historic Musician and Historic Music Program Coordinator for Fort George National Historic Site
Gavin Watt – Historic Musician and Military Animation Coordinator for Fort George National Historic Site
Friday, February 10, 2023. 11:00am at Navy Hall

Both Peter Alexander and Gavin Watt have been a part of the Fort George Family for the over 30+ years. They started the Historic Music Program at Fort George in 1987 with the 41st Fife and Drum Corps. Just prior to the Bicentennial of the War of 1812, they began the journey of recreating “The Band of the 41st Regiment of foot”. Even though military bands were universal, very little detail about them was known, but on October 16th of 1812, the Band of the 41st Regiment played at the very public funeral of Isaac Brock, which is where our story begins. Come and follow their discovery of the 41st Regiment’s band, the events they were involved in, the instruments they played and hear examples of popular tunes that were performed for entertainment, ceremonies, dances and funerals.

Tickets are $15.75 (taxes included) per event or $47.25 (taxes included) for the series of all four.
Tickets go on sale Friday Jan. 6, 2023 and can be purchased at the Friends of Fort George Online store at: https://friendsoffortgeorge.square.site/ Seating is limited so get yours today!