Celebrations to mark the Bonavista Peninsula’s official designation as an UNESCO Geopark will have to wait a while longer.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization officially recognized the Discovery area last week along with the Fundy region of Nova Scotia.

The designation is focused around the Discovery region’s unique geological features, not the least of which are fossils of some of the Earth’s earliest-known complex life-forms found in the rock at Port Union.

Bonavista Mayor John Norman, the Chair of the Discovery Geopark’s Board of Directors, says while exciting, they’ll have to wait a while longer to celebrate properly thanks to COVID-19. A celebration could potentially go ahead this fall.

He acknowledges some time and thought will have to go into organizing some kind of gathering – with social distancing in mind – to allow the 8200 people who call the Geopark home an opportunity to celebrate.