Days of Yore at Heritage Park explores military history from the Viking Age to Second World War

Heritage hosts a series of military reenactments as part of its days of yore event. CTV News Calgary's Tyler Barrow reports.

A new exhibit at Heritage Park brings the bygone eras of military history to exhilarating 21st century life.

Days of Yore, which opened Saturday, takes visitors all the way back in time to give them an idea of what war might have looked like in the Viking Age, in medieval times or during the First World War.

“We have 22 different reenactment groups on site today, going on just right now on the field,” said Heritage Park special events coordinator Warren Cummins.

“Behind us is the Lord Strathcona horse, just fresh off the airplane from England, and they’re here doing their musical ride and tent picking. We have World War Two re-enactors, World War One re-enactors. We have Vikings. We have 18th century of the Fraser Highlanders youth squad here today.

“We have the Victorian Society of Alberta, we have the Royal Canadian Navy, HMCS Tecumseh with a display down by the moyee.

“The Royal Canadian Air Force Association has arranged, and we’re going to have a fly-by here at one o’clock today in the park.”

Cummins said the exhibit is an extension of what Heritage Park has always been.

“Heritage Park is, of course, Canada’s largest living history museum,” he said. “And so what we’re doing (with Days of Yore) is we’re celebrating a different kind of heritage.

“We’re celebrating military heritage,” he added. “We’re celebrating the different time periods and the different cultures and people that were involved in all our military campaigns throughout the ages. And it’s a cultural celebration of a different kind, I guess, too.”

Mark Martel is playing William of Dover, which means working with armour -- and letting visitors get a sense of what it was like to wear armour hundreds of years ago.

“We usually let them hold the armour,” Martel said. “(To) see how heavy it is. Some of the other groups are told not to let people handle their stuff, so we’re pretty free that way.

“But right now we don’t have anybody doing our armour, because our fighters are fighting.”

Harry Roberts was at the exhibit with his wife and his grandson.

 “The best part about being here is being here with my grandson,” Roberts said. “We are strong and long time supporters of Heritage Park, and we believe in coming out and experiencing all of these special events that they do.

“They are magnificent show people, and we’re lucky to have them as part of our city.”

Days of Yore is included in the price of admission. It’s on again Sunday between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.

With files from CTV’s Tyler Barrow