Keep eyes peeled for Easter eggs
Fill your Easter basket while keeping the children hopping at one (or more) Easter egg hunts taking place around Greater Victoria Saturday and Sunday:
• Hop over to Oak Bay for the seventh annual Easter Celebration, hosted by the Prime real estate team, on Saturday. There will be egg hunts for different age groups and a tots’ area.
Children can get photos with the Easter Bunny, be entertained by face painters or balloon animal artists, try their hand at a crafts table or scramble about in a fire truck and police car.
The event is free to attend, but people are encouraged to leave a donation or a non-perishable food item for The Mustard Seed Street Church.
The celebration runs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. behind Oak Bay Municipal Hall at 2167 Oak Bay Ave. For details, go to Facebook.
• Go looking for Easter eggs at a hunt organized by the Fairfield United Church on Saturday.
Each age group will have a chance to hunt for an assigned coloured egg. This magical egg can be redeemed for a scoop of foil-wrapped chocolate eggs.
Register online to confirm your spot. Registration is by donation (suggested $5 per person/ $10 per family), but no one will be turned away. Proceeds will go toward reconciliation activities in the Fairfield Gonzales neighbourhood.
Check-in is at 10:45 a.m., with the hunt running from 11 a.m. to noon by the Garry oak trees in the middle of Porter Park in Fairfield. For more information, go to eventbrite.ca.
• Central Saanich Lions Club is hosting an Easter egg hunt on Sunday.
The event is free, but donations are accepted. The hunt runs from noon to 12:15 p.m. near the treed picnic area in Centennial Park, Central Saanich. (Organizers always hold back candy to hand out in case someone misses out.)
• Get an early start to egg hunting at Easter at the Market, Friday at the Victoria Public Market.
Take the whole family to a fun-filled family event, featuring a chocolate egg hunt, live music by Vinyl Wave, balloon twisting and a free photo booth picture by Mr. Booth Photo Experiences.
The Easter Egg hunt will be in the style of Trick or Treating. Children bring their Easter baskets and collect chocolate eggs from vendors in the market.
The event runs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Victoria Public Market, which is in the Hudson building at 1701 Douglas St.
Churches organize range of Holy Week services
Places of worship in the region have scheduled special Holy Week services to celebrate Easter.
• At Christ Church Cathedral, you can join in a Good Friday procession.
A large wooden cross will be carried through the city and into the church. Everyone is invited.
The circular route goes down Burdett/Humboldt to Government Street, up Johnson to Quadra and back to the cathedral.
The procession starts at 9 a.m. from Pioneer Square (beside the church).
On Sunday there will be a procession with sung Eucharist with the Victoria Brass band, starting at 11 a.m. The church is at 930 Burdett Ave.
For more information, go to christchurchcathedral.bc.ca.
• St. Luke Cedar Hill offers a range of services on Easter Sunday that will appeal to a wide variety of people.
The 8:30 a.m. service is a quiet, traditional communion service. At the 10:30 a.m. Choral Communion Service, you will hear the Easter story sung in inspirational choral music and hymns.
The 2:30 p.m. Celebrate Easter Service is a special time for children, featuring a short, child-friendly service that includes songs.
The service is followed by an Easter egg hunt (outside, weather permitting) and refreshments in the hall.
The day concludes with a 7 p.m. service with Easter readings and hymns.
The church, at 3821 Cedar Hill Cross Rd. (at Cedar Hill Road), will be decorated with spring flowers and will include an Easter garden tucked into the altar at the front of the church.
For more information, go to stlukesvictoria.ca or telephone 250-477-6741.
Travel back in time at Pride and Prejudice Ball
Take a romantic step back in time to the era of Jane Austen at the Pride and Prejudice Easter Ball, in the Fairmont Empress Hotel’s Crystal Ballroom on Saturday.
Dance the night away at the Regency-themed ball, with live music, food and playing cards.
No partner is necessary or required — many guests come solo, so there’s always someone to dance with.
Organizers are offering a total of five dance lessons ahead of the event, tonight and Friday at the White Eagle Polish Hall. There will be a refresher lesson on Saturday morning.
Two of four dances will be taught at each lesson and there will be a quick review of all four at the refresher. (Videos of all the dances appear on the event website).
If you don’t have an 1800s ballroom gown in your wardrobe, organizers suggest renting one or making your own.
For ladies, the bare minimum is a full-length gown in a soft fabric with fully covered shoulders. An Empire waist is preferable, but not mandatory. No high heels.
For gentlemen, the minimum is a tail or frock coat with a vest, cravat and a white shirt. Breeches with long socks are preferable, but regular pants are fine. Any dress shoes will do.
Historical military dress and traditional cultural dress (such as kilts) are also welcome.
Organizers also have ideas on how to put together your own costume simply and inexpensively — out of things you may already have or could find at a thrift store — on their website.
Admission is $119 for the event or $189 with dinner. Dance lessons are $25. The ball runs from 5:30 to 11:30 p.m. Saturday. The Fairmont Empress Hotel is at 721 Government St.
For more information, go to prideandprejudiceball.ca.
Capture the thrills of chess for free
Chess grandmasters and masters will converge on Victoria for the Grand Pacific Open tournament, one of the largest in the province, Friday to Monday at the Hotel Grand Pacific.
This is the 13th year of the world-class tournament, which features more than 132 players, from local favourites to titled players from around the world.
The main event is a six-round World Federation and Chess Federation of Canada-rated Swiss pairing system that has $6,000 in prizes. Games are limited to 90 minutes, with 30-second increments.
The Victoria Youth Chess Championship and Victoria High School Championship will run just before the main event. Winners can then move on to world events.
There will be two free side events — a Midnight Blitz with $200 in prizes and a Bughouse tournament — to complete the weekend.
Spectators can watch games, which can take up to four hours, for free.
Players can register on-site for $105, with a $20 discount if in the U1200-ranking section.
The Victoria Youth Chess Championships (for players born in 2001 or after) is $40 to take part at the door. Check-in is 9:30 to 9:45 a.m. The event runs from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Friday.
The Victoria High School Championship is open to students in the Victoria, Sooke and Saanich school districts. There will be five rounds, with a time control of 30 minutes per player.
The event is free to join. Check in no later than 9:30 a.m. It runs from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Friday.
The Grand Pacific Open starts at 6 p.m. Friday. It runs from noon to 6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, and from 10 a.m. on Monday in the Grand Ballroom of the Hotel Grand Pacific, 463 Belleville St.
Can be found here or on the event’s page on Facebook.
Connect to nature for Earth Day
Celebrate Earth Day weekend by joining Connecting to Nature, a CRD Parks guided walk at Devonian Regional Park on Saturday.
Earth Day sees an estimated one billion people in 192 countries taking part in the largest civic-focused day of action in the world. You can be part of it by taking your family to make connections to nature while walking from the forest to the wetland and to the beach, guided by a CRD Regional Parks naturalist.
The program is recommended for children eight and older. It runs from 1 to 2:30 p.m., starting from the kiosk in the parking lot off William Head Road of Devonian Regional Park, Metchosin. The park is served by B.C. Transit routes 54 and 55.
Try to arrive 10 minutes before the start of the program. Leave pets at home. For information, go to crd.bc.ca/parks.
Make watching top archers your target
Watch skilled archers hit their marks at the B.C. Indoor Championships, Saturday and Sunday at the West Shore Recreation Centre.
The annual event is hosted by the British Columbia Archery Association. It is the association’s banner event, crowning champions in all equipment and age categories.
Archers will be here from all over B.C. and even some from the Yukon, bringing the best in archery to Victoria. There will be a large youth contingent and many families attending.
Competition divisions include compound, fixed pin and unlimited classes in the first flight, and recurve, longbow and barebow categories in the second flight on Saturday.
Participants can also enter the Open Money Shoot, open to compound and recurve competitors on Saturday.
The event is based on a single elimination format with the $25 entry fee going toward the prize money. Shoot-offs for all categories start at 6 p.m.
Spectators are welcome to watch for free.
Practice takes place from 1 to 8 p.m. Friday. Competition runs from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
The awards ceremony starts at about 5 p.m. Sunday at the Westshore Curling Complex in the Juan de Fuca Recreation Centre, 1767 Island Hwy.
For more information, go to victoriabowmen.com/bc-indoors.
