The Delhi Park Pageant
The exciting return of a community favourite!
The Delhi Pageant Returns August 22 2026
Watch this space for details!
The Delhi Park Pageant was the culmination of our residency in the park in the Summer of 2025. Together, our cast and crew of 50+ people told the story of the park through story and song. It was a magical love letter to Picton’s green gem and was presented on August 23, 2025, to a crowd of upwards of 400 people. Due to enthusiastic demand, we will be remounting the pageant in 2026!
WRITER, DIRECTOR, DESIGNER Krista Dalby
STAGE MANAGER Carla McCormick
PROJECT COORDINATOR Hri Neil
Kanyen’kehá:ka perspective Erica Gray
CHOREOGRAPHER Allison Nichol
CHOREOGRAPHER'S ASSISTANT Jocelyn Wattam
COMPOSERS & MUSICIANS Lisa Bozikovic & Annelise Noronha
CHOIR DIRECTOR & MUSICIAN Sam Hirst
DRUMS Heather Kirby
PRE-SHOW MUSIC Matthew Doc Dunn
PROPS & COSTUMES
Nella Casson
Tomas Del Balso
Bear Epp
Susanne Larner
Andrea Piller
Tim Snyder
Jan Swaren
WARDEN OF THE WILDS Stephanie Rose
KEEPERS
Eloise Bergeron
Frank Hannan
Sharon Hart
Ryan Henderson
Catalin Ivan
Angela Lavender
Sarah Selecky
Emmylou Warner
CHOIR
Andrea Dawes
Janet Jephcott
John Lai
Sally McCubbin
Stacey Michener
Keri Nelson
Galen Newman
Jessica Pelchat
Jess Posgate
Lois Russell
Melissa Warren
THE RACCOONS Pierre Bouchard, Kat Burns
THE DOGS Lenny Epstein & Gavin North
THE SQUIRRELS Emberly Doherty, Beth Easton, Artemus Emu, Barbara Leitermanar
THE DEAD Thom Harrison & Nancy Kish
DRAGONFLIES
Elora Faircloth
Hazel Faircloth
Joni Greig
Alice Hanmer
Rumi Hobbs
River Keast
Eden Vreugdenhil
THANK YOU
Christine Renaud
County of Prince Edward
Feral Folc
PECIsh
Picton Home Hardware
PEC Field Naturalists
South Shore Joint Initiative
All our volunteers
Photos by Michelle Beaudette
The Delhi Park Pageant is SUPPORTED BY
The Delhi Park Project
A weekly art activation in Delhi Park with a community pageant finale.
From May 17 to August 9, 2025, you’ll find us in Picton’s Delhi Park three days a week, offering free drop-in workshops centered on collaborative art-making and nature appreciation.
Thursdays & Fridays 10-5, Saturdays 11:30-6:30 with a community picnic every Saturday 4:30-6:30
Drop by any time - all are welcome!
Delhi Park is a 31-acre green space in the heart of Picton, and a stone’s throw from The Department of Illumination studio. Starting in the spring of 2025 the DOI will begin our self-appointed artist residency in the park, inviting the community to join us as we explore the flora and fauna, as well as the natural and human history of this place, seeking to deepen our knowledge and find its hidden magic. From May 17 through August, we will spend three days a week in the park, offering a mix of free drop-in workshops centered on collaborative art-making. The art we create will be inspired by the place itself and shaped by the participants and the professional artists leading the process. We will weave these elements together to create a large-scale community pageant that will help tell the story of this beautiful public space. The Delhi Pageant will be presented for free August 23, 2025 (rain date Aug. 24).
What is a pageant? It is the story of a community told by a community, performed outdoors using elements such as procession, mask, giant puppets, spectacle, chorus, etc. We hope you will join us as we gather to create music, dances, storytelling, puppets, performances, costumes, installations and more!
Watch this space for updates, or sign up for our newsletter.
SUPPORTED BY:
John M. & Bernice Parrott Foundation
THE ELDERBERRY FUND
Public Art
We love creating art in public spaces. Available for hire.
We love creating art in public spaces - whether that’s painting murals or picnic tables, decorating our town Christmas tree, or animating public spaces with our giant puppets or projects like Boxtopia (a creative cardboard kingdom for kids). Get in touch if you’d like to know more!
Craftivism
Workshops were co-hosted by: Nella Casson and Bill Stearman, creating a series of large fabric banners with activist themes.
Craftivism was a free workshop series in winter 2024, with facilitator fees funded by County Arts.
Taking place at The Department of Illumination Studio, we created a series of large fabric banners with activist themes. Workshops were co-hosted by lead artist Nell Casson and supported by Bill Stearman, longtime activist and award-winning quilter. Each banner highlights causes chosen by the participants. The banners were created using a variety of media and techniques.
Night Watch at Base31
Our biggest and brightest illuminated adventure to date.
Night Watch was The Department of Illumination’s biggest and brightest project to date: an illuminated adventure at Base31!
After nightfall, visitors could transport themselves into the nighttime world of illuminated spectacle. Equipped with a magical lantern, they would embark on a journey through 10 immersive exhibits brought to life with dynamic lighting, spectacular video projections and a soundscape for adventure.
This one-of-a-kind experience ran for two seasons, 2023 & 2024.
ALL ABOARD
A Port Hope artist residency, working with the community to create a tiny cardboard version of itself.
In September 2022 Krista Dalby and Nella Casson did a month-long artist residency at Critical Mass Art: Port Hope, working with the community to create a tiny cardboard version of itself! It was such a special project, and we are so grateful to Critical Mass for the opportunity, as well as support from The Prince Edward County Arts Council and VIA Rail Canada. Thanks to Two Blue Shirts Productions for this sweet video!
Alvar
A festival celebrating this unique and precious ecosystem of the Great Lakes region.
AN ECOLOGICALLY-INSPIRED ARTS FESTIVAL
In August 2022, The Department of Illumination presented ALVAR, a festival celebrating this unique and precious ecosystem of the Great Lakes region. We held sunrise dance parties, created eco-inspired art and activities, presented live music & finished up with some secret popsicles.
Artists: Nella Casson, Krista Dalby, Andrea Piller, Chrissy Poitras, Victoria Taylor | VTLA Studio, Kyle Topping, Bay Woodyard. Music: Teilhard Frost and Roper & Roper. Dance: Arwyn Carpenter Hands-on nature exploration: Cheryl Chapman of NatureHood-PEPtBO. Bead talk: Moira Gaddes
Funded by the Government of Canada
Venue Sponsor
Hands-on Nature Exploration courtesy of
WILD THING: a celebration of biodiversity
Bringing together the arts and sciences to create a delightful celebration of the natural world around us.
In 2022 we partnered with South Shore Joint Initiative to bring together the arts and sciences to create a delightful celebration of the natural world around us. We ran a series of school workshops where children learned about local species and created artistic interpretations; we hosted The Society of Stitchers, an embroidery club that collaboratively created a quilt of at-risk local species, and then we had a public celebration in Picton’s Benson Park with live music from KASHKA and That’s What She Said, crafts, the unveiling of our biodiversity quilt and a community procession.
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS
Join our HERD!
Transform your bodies and bicycles into a joyful herd of beasts! We set off in a parade along the Millennium Trail, in PEC.
In September 2021 we hosted two events called Join our HERD! that took place in Picton and Consecon.
We invited the community to transform their bodies and bicycles into a joyful herd of beasts. We set off in a parade along the Millennium Trail, encountering a few surprises along the way, and culminating in a HERD celebration with live music, food and drink.
Presented by ====\\DeRAIL, Join our HERD! provided a much-needed expression of joy and playfulness, while raising awareness of the County’s histories, ecologies and the varied landscapes adjacent to the Millennium Trail. Where time is something to be considered rather than counted, the public was invited to add their own layer of meaning to this heritage landscape beyond its functional use as a recreation corridor. This initiative explored the untapped potential of the trail as a venue for artistic expression.
THANK YOU TO OUR PARTNERS + SUPPORTERS
The County of Prince Edward, Tourism Industry Association of Ontario, The County Foundation, Briarwood Development Group, Sarah Crawford + David Kirkwood, PEC Trails Committee, Ontario Provincial Police – Prince Edward County, Consecon Honey House Café, Parsons Brewing Company, Elizabeth Crombie, Noble Beast Farms, Prince Edward County Arts Council, Ameliasburgh Councillor Bill McMahon, Hillier Councillor Ernest Margetson, Picton Farm Supply, The Wellington Times, Picton Gazette, Watershed Magazine and Life Au Lait.
Ice Box
A magical winter wonderland filled with art, music, dancing, installations and surprises galore. PLUS concerts, workshops, snow dances and cozy campfires!
ICE BOX was a winter festival that we held in 2019 and 2020 on the grounds of Macaulay Heritage Park. It was a magical winter wonderland filled with art, music, dancing and surprises galore, featuring five all-new art installations each year, plus concerts, workshops, snow dances and cozy campfires, all in a charming picture-perfect setting. In 2021, due to the pandemic, we offered an at-home version of the festival.
With so much programming going in collaboration with so many wonderful artists in each Ice Box event, we have a LOT of amazing memories!
ART IN ISOLATION
A lockdown initiative; for our arts community to share their isolation experiences through creating and showing each other their art.
It was April 2020, and Prince Edward County was in its first Covid-19 lockdown. Many of our artist friends told us that despite having plenty of time on their hands, they were having trouble finding the motivation to make art. Thus was born the Art in Isolation project: an invitation to our arts community to share their isolation experiences through creating and showing each other their art, documenting their unique points of view during a month-long challenge.
When the month came to an end, we selected 90 works by 67 artists that tell the story of this month of our lives, from April 22 to May 22, 2020. As a collection, these works are a record of this remarkable period in the history of our community and a testament to our enduring creativity. We held an outdoor exhibition of these works in Picton’s Armoury Square from February 20 to March 31, 2021, as well as publishing a catalogue, which you can purchase in our shop.
- Mehdi Agahi & Krista Dalby, Curators of Art in Isolation
Papercut Self-Portrait in a Pandemic, by Krista Dalby