Listen to marching bands and watch floats and, for the first time, runners at the Island Farms Victoria Day Parade on Monday.
This is the 121st year of the largest and longest parade in Victoria. The Greater Victoria Festival Society organizes the event.
The parade is an annual Victoria Day long-weekend celebration, with about 100,000 locals and visitors getting up early to line Douglas Street to watch floats, marching bands and cultural performances by hundreds of participants.
This year, runners will get to sprint ahead of the actual parade, participating in the inaugural Victoria Day Douglas Mile, running down Douglas Street (starting at Burnside Road) to the finish line at Victoria City Hall. There will be two waves of participants, a high-performance group that starts at 8:30 a.m. and the main start at 8:35 a.m.
Proceeds from the event will benefit the 21 partner charities of the GoodLife Fitness Victoria Marathon, the Victoria Festivals Society and the Victoria Marathon Society.
As always, you can expect to see performances by community multicultural groups, with Chinese lion dancers and other ethnic clubs and organizations.
The parade, led by members of the Canadian Armed Forces, starts at 9 a.m. Monday from Mayfair Shopping Centre at 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.
For more information, go to gvfs.ca.
Midway fun and pioneer flavour at Luxton fair
Take an amusement-park ride and check out local history at the Luxton Spring Fair, Friday to Monday at the Luxton Hall in Langford.
See antique farm equipment as well as demonstrations by the Vancouver Island Blacksmith’s Association.
Pioneer history of the Happy Valley/Luxton area and Langford will be on display in a heritage exhibit upstairs in Middleton Hall.
West Coast Amusements will offer midway rides from 3 to 11 p.m. Friday, 1 to 11 p.m. Saturday and Sunday and 1 to 6 p.m. on Monday.
Admission to the grounds is free. The event runs from noon to 6 p.m. Saturday to Monday at Luxton Hall, 1040 Marwood Ave. Langford. For more information, go to luxtonspringfair.ca.
History comes alive at Fort Rodd Hill
Step back in time at Fort Rodd Hill and Fisgard Lighthouse National Historic Sites of Canada as members of the Victoria-Esquimalt Military Reenactors Association occupy the park as part of the their annual Historic Military Encampment on Saturday.
You can stroll through marquee and bell tents representing various periods from Canada’s military past — from the 1850s to the 1950s.
The military reenactors, dressed in historically-authentic uniforms, will pose with equipment and motor vehicles from those eras.
Most of the reenactors will bring to life stories about military life of generations past.
The event is included in the price of regular admission: $3.90 adults, $3.40 seniors and free for youth and children. The reenactors will be on site 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday on the grounds of Fort Rodd Hill, 603 Fort Rodd Hill Rd. For details, go to www.pc.gc.ca/en/lhn-nhs/bc/fortroddhill.
Top youth storytellers share tales
Hear young people and their stories at Young Tellers Stories at Fern, a monthly event hosted by members of Victoria Storytellers’ Guild, Monday at Fern Street.
The young storytellers will read engaging and entertaining tales that won them a place in the finals for Speech Arts at this year’s Greater Victoria Performing Arts Festival.
The guild is a group dedicated to the art of oral storytelling. Their Stories at Fern are a monthly affair.
Tea and cookies served at a break.
Admission is $5. The event runs 7:15 to 9:30 p.m. Monday at 1831 Fern St. For more information, go to victoriastorytellers.org.
Bateman gallery puts focus on birds and role of museums
Check out Plumage: The Majestic Art of Birds at the Bateman Foundation Gallery of Nature on Saturday, with admission by donation, to celebrate International Museum Day.
Visitors can also take part in gallery-based activities, such as a scavenger hunt and bird-themed activities in the gallery’s reading room, the Roost.
Every year, International Museum Day celebrates the role of museums as educational, cultural and creative platforms for visitors to learn, share and enjoy. Last year, more than 40,000 museums in 158 countries participated.
The Bateman Foundation Gallery says the role of museums in society is changing. Museums now keep reinventing themselves in their quest for becoming more interactive, audience-focused, community-oriented, flexible, adaptable and mobile.
Some have become cultural hubs, functioning as platforms where creativity combines with knowledge and where visitors can also co-create, share and interact.
The Bateman Foundation Gallery of Nature event runs 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at 470 Belleville St. For more information, go to batemancentre.org.
