Science on Screen®: “Mushing, Transportation Using the Power of Dogs” & "Balto"

Join us at The Gem for our 2nd 2021 Science on Screen Event on Friday, April 30th at 5:30pm: “Mushing, Transportation Using the Power of Dogs” followed by the film “Balto”.

5:30-6:00pm: Polly Mahoney and Kevin Slater, co-owners of Mahoosuc Guide Service, will join us in our outdoor theater with a couple of their beautiful Yukon husky sled dogs. Polly will talk about living a subsistence lifestyle in the Yukon Territory with her sled dogs for 10 years in the 1980’s. During that time, Polly and her sled dog team were featured in the film “Never Cry Wolf”, a beautiful film based on Farley Mowat’s autobiography about living on the Canadian tundra studying the wolf population. After living in the Yukon, Polly moved to Newry to help start a dog sledding program at Outward Bound. There she met Kevin and the two have mushed together for 31 years. As Master Maine Guides and owners of a guide service, they lead dog sledding trips in the winter and canoe trips in the summer. They will talk about the strong bonds they build with their dogs and how they rely on their strength and power to transport goods and people over snow-covered land.

6:00-6:30 Polly & Kevin’s talk will be followed by a short Q & A and a break for families to get up, move around, get some food & drink in the lobby of the theater, and then move into the indoor theaters for the film.

6:30-8:00 Balto is a 1995 American live-action/animated adventure film loosely based on a true story about the dog of the same name who helped save children infected with diphtheria in the 1925 serum run from Anchorage to Nome. The film is Rated G and will be shown indoors in two theaters so that there is plenty of room to spread out. Theater 1 will have a maximum of 30 people and Theater 2 will have a maximum of 20 people.

This event is FREE, but is limited to 50 people. Please reserve your seats today. If you need to cancel your reservation, please email info@thegemtheater.com so that others may enjoy the program. Thank you!