Explore: Flypast gives salute to Island Farms Victoria Day Parade

Bring your earplugs, as well sunscreen, if you’re taking in the Island Farms Victoria Day Parade on Monday.

The Greater Victoria Festival Society, the organizer of the largest and longest parade in Victoria, celebrates its 120th year with a flypast at the start of the parade by a 443 Squadron Sikorsky CH-124 Sea King helicopter and a pair of CF-18 Hornets. The aircraft will fly at a mere 152 metres above ground minutes before the start of the parade.

The parade has been a Victoria Day long-weekend staple for generations of families and visitors alike. Organizers expect about 100,000 people to line Douglas Street to watch the 95 entries and thousands of participants.

Bands from Reynolds, Spectrum and Lambrick Park high schools will be joined by others from the Lower Mainland and the United States.

Expect the return of many groups that represent the multicultural mosaic of the community, with lion dancers from Victoria’s Chinese community, and other ethnic clubs and organizations taking part.

The parade starts at 9 a.m. Monday from Mayfair Mall, Douglas and Finlayson streets. It runs along Douglas Street to the corner of Humboldt Street.

Douglas Street will be closed to traffic from Cloverdale Avenue to Belleville Street from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. The block of Finlayson Street between Blanshard and Douglas streets will also be closed. Douglas Street will reopen in sections as the parade moves toward downtown.

A 21-gun salute will take place along Belleville Street at 1 p.m.

Celebration Square, a family-friendly addition introduced last year, returns to Centennial Square, with inflatable amusements, children’s entertainment and food trucks. This year, it includes a climbing wall. The feature will run 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

For more information, go to gvfs.ca.

Clans gather for 155th Victoria Highland Games

Historic European Martial Arts and Agility Dog are the two newest tournaments to join the 155th Victoria Highland Games Festival, making it one of the oldest, and the largest, cultural festivals in North America, Saturday to Monday at Topaz Park.

Although the Highland Games is held this weekend, events have been taking place over the past week to add up to a 10-day celebration of Scottish and Celtic arts, music and sport, including last weekend's Tartan Parade through downtown Victoria.

Up to 25,000 people are expected to attend the three-day Games, which include the sight of heels kicking up in demonstrations of Highland and Irish dancing, and the sound of piping and drumming by massed bands.

The Canadian Invitational Drum Major Challenge, the Simon Fraser University Grade 1 Pipeband and the Scottish Highland Dance and Irish Dance Feis are not to be missed.

Athletes will show their strength and skills in the World Heavy Events Championship, with putting the stone, the sheaf toss, throwing the hammer and tossing the caber. Competitors will be judged on their ability to throw weights for distance and height.

New this year is the International Historic European Martial Arts Blade and Stick Fighting Tournament, with 71 competitors from all over North America. The tournament takes place Saturday and Sunday, and on Monday the public will be invited to don protective gear and try out the growing sport.

The Agility Dog tournament, with dogs of all sizes, is back due to popular demand. Organizers have hinted that the dogs may stage an impromptu parade, with the four-legged participants wearing kilts. If a parade takes place, it will be led by a piper, of course.

The event will feature a children’s entertainment area with miniature heavy events, sack races and a 100-yard dash.

And with the royal wedding on everybody’s mind, this year’s festival will feature a fascinator competition.

Festival-goers can search for their roots in the old country at Scottish clan and genealogy booths. This year, there will be wi-fi access to records in Scotland in real time. If you have an address, researchers can look it up and tell you who lived in the house at what time — and who your neighbours were.

A Clan Torchlight Ceremony starts at 8 p.m. Saturday on the steps of the legislature. The 20 gathered clans will collectively form a Scottish Saltire (which represents the flag of Scotland), with a pipe band delivering a short performance.

Single-day admission is $15 for adults, $12 for seniors and youth (13 to 18) and free for children under 12. Three-day passes are also available. Cash only at gates. No pets are allowed.

The event runs from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday at Topaz Park (corner of Topaz Avenue and Blanshard Street).

Limited parking is available at S.J. Willis School, Topaz Park and on the street. Disabled parking is at a lot outside the Finlayson Street entrance.

For more information, go to victoriahighlandgames.com.

You can name that sea creature at Cattle Point tide-pool school

Take advantage of a low tide to view an amazing diversity of marine life at Tide Pool School, held at Cattle Point on Saturday.

The event is being hosted by the Friends of Uplands Park, who will have biologists with identification sheets to help you name what you find.

At this family-friendly event, you can use supplied nets and containers to catch shrimp, fish, crabs and more. You can watch them wiggle, hide and interact. Afterwards, release your critter collection carefully back into the tide pools.

You are asked to wear water shoes or rubber boots so as to tread softly on the exposed rocks and barnacles.

The event is free to attend, but donations to Friends of Uplands Park appreciated. The event runs from 1 to 2:30 p.m. at Cattle Point in Uplands Park, off Dallas Road in Oak Bay.

For more information, call Margaret Lidkea, 250-595-8084 or friendsofuplandspark.org.

Vessels on display at boat shows

Boat lovers have two events to choose from this weekend, one in Victoria and another at Maple Bay:

• If you believe that boats are better when they’re made of wood, then the Maple Bay Wooden Boat Festival is a must-see event, Saturday and Sunday at the Maple Bay Marina.

You can bring the family down to view and vote for your favourite wood boat and model boat.

Walk on the docks and take the opportunity to talk to the owners and learn the history and stories of the boats.

There will be a remote-control boat show for nautical lovers young and old.

Local artisans and vendors will be on site, and there is live music daily between 1 and 4 p.m.

The festival is free to attend. It runs 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Maple Bay Marina, 6145 Genoa Bay Rd., Maple Bay.

For more information, go to maplebaymarina.com/wooden-boat-festival.

• Members of four yacht clubs from Canada and the United States will be in Victoria’s Inner Harbour to take part in the 44th Annual Decorated Boat Parade on Sunday.

Visitors will be able to view the boats while listening to the Festival of Bands and the fourth annual Drum Battle taking place on the nearby B.C. legislature lawns.

The boats will be open for viewing from 12:30 p.m.

Take trip to ancient Egypt

Travel back to a time when civilization sprang up along the Nile and people believed gods walked among them at Egypt: The Time of Pharaohs, the Royal B.C. Museum’s feature exhibition, which opens tomorrow.

The exhibition covers Egypt from the emergence of its ancient civilization to the Ptolemaic and Roman eras.

The collection includes more than 300 original artifacts, some of them up to 4,500 years old.

Families can learn about the language, art and burial practices of ancient Egyptians with hands-on activities at the next two Wonder Sundays.

A lecture planned for Tuesday on a connection between Egypt and the B.C. Archives has been cancelled.

Admission to the exhibition is included with regular museum admission. The exhibition runs until Dec. 31.

The Wonder Sunday program runs 1 to 3 p.m. May 20 and 27.

Tickets to the Egypt and the B.C. Archives lecture is $10. It runs 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. May 22 in the Newcombe Conference Hall of the Royal B.C. Museum, 675 Belleville St. For more information, go to royalbcmuseum.bc.ca.

Party celebrates our maritime heritage

Celebrate B.C.’s maritime heritage and Victoria Day at the Victoria Day Block Party, Monday on Humboldt Street.

Hosted by the Maritime Museum of B.C., the event includes live bands, performers, an inflatable amusement, interactive Lego builds, face-painting, food vendors and a beer garden.

The party is free to join. Activities and admission to the museum will be by donation. The event runs 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The museum is at 634 Humboldt St. For details, go to mmbc.bc.ca.