New ground is being broken with this Saturday's launch of a series of free bilingual historical interpretive tours of the Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park.

Sarah Parker, executive director of Glenbow Ranch Park Foundation, is thrilled to see the idea come to life and the number of partners who have come onboard to make this unique program possible.

In all, translated tours will be available in five languages through the course of the summer and the first ones being offered are in Spanish this Saturday at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. They'll also be free tour days made available in French, Punjabi, Arabic and Tagalog, based upon census statistics on Cochrane.

An added enjoyable feature of the tours will be potluck picnics.

"The people who take part will all bring food and socialize," says Parker. "Maybe they know each other from their community or church, but they'll also meet new people who speak their language."

Parker believes there are many people who miss the opportunity to fully understand the significant history and natural beauty of the park because of language barriers. She was able to establish eager partners in  Cochrane Immigrant Services Committee, Family and Community Support Services, Calgary Catholic Immigration Society, Calgary Foundation, Bearspaw Historical Society and Alberta Parks.

"We have many partners on this," she says.

To complement the park experience, brochures are currently being printed in all five of these languages, as well as English., 

Five bilingual volunteers in each language are being trained to translate the tour information and Parker is impressed with the cross-section of people who have stepped forward.

"It's a really cool mix of people," she says.

When hearing about what was proposed, Cochrane Immigrant Committee Services co-chair Fleeha Ahmad was eager to become involved..

"It will be a great way to introduce the Glenbow Ranch and then they can continue coming with their families and with other people who visit them," Ahmad says. "I simply love the idea because it's such a historic site and it's not something everybody is well aware of, so it's like a hidden treasure. I just jumped right into it."

Adding the picnic was a great idea, she says.

"That even sounded better, a tour and food; you can't get better than that."

"It will be a fun gathering to discuss the tour, maybe get to know each other if you don't already and build on that and do a little networking. It just makes it a great day."

If they are successful in receiving funding, Parker hopes to expand the program.

"Our hope is we get funding again next year and we expand to other languages, like the Stoney Nakoda language, German, Dutch, Korea and Mandarin. Those will be our next five."

While Alberta does translate some of their material, Parker isn't aware of any offering historical translators and definitely not bilingual golf cart tours.

Up to 30 people will be accommodated each tour day but they must pre-register to participate. It's offered on a first come, first served basis.

You can save your spot by emailing: experienceglenbow.grpf.ca.