Gord Robbins was ready for the heat, with a home-made mister set up in the driveway of his home on Gorge Road, making a hot and sunny day a little cooler for people gathering at the Gorge Canada Day Picnic.
A steady stream of people, many dressed in celebratory red and white, happily walked under the mister, built out of pieces of plumbing pipe glued together, to get respite from the heat. His mister has been an unofficial fixture at the picnic for the last seven years.
It has two heights — one for adults and another for children or people using a wheelchair.
“I always build things. I built this with my son Owen,” said Robbins. “We had initially built it for my other son, Jacob, who is in a wheelchair.”
This simple act of kindness to passerby was met with gratitude, with children coming up to give him a fist bump and adults thanking him and shaking his hand.
Thousands of people gathered for the Canada Day picnic, which featured a variety of information booths, square dancing, music, plenty of food and that most-Canadian of activities, street hockey.
At the Saanich Environmental Services booth Greyson Simmons, 5, was deep in thought considering where to put a tree on a demonstration display.
The interactive display is meant to engage with children, to teach them the consequences of every action they take in the environment.
“We give them a blank slate and try to engage them in conversations regarding habitat — in a fun way,” said Carolyn Richman, a staff member with the planning department. “They use their creativity and sometimes come up with some interesting insights.”
Another giant Canada Day party was at the legislature grounds, where thousands of adults, children and dogs were dressed in red and white.
There were T-shirts, there were pants with red and white maple leaves, there were flags worn as capes, there were umbrella hats and there were temporary maple leaf tattoos.
An estimated 3,150 people dressed in red or white gathered in the afternoon on the legislature lawn for the Living Flag project, standing in precise spots to form an image of the Canadian flag.
An organizer, Victoria Coun. Charlayne Thorton-Joe, was passing out small Canada flags left and right. “Word has spread and a lot of people, especially new Canadians, are eager to join to be part of the celebration,” she said.
At the Royal B.C. Museum stage, the Le-La-La Dancers warmed up the crowd with a traditional mask dance. The dancers are members of the Kwakwaka’wakw First Nation, whose territory is in northern Vancouver Island.
George Me’las Taylor is the director of the family dance company. He was front and centre on stage, providing a beat and supplying a running commentary on the significance of the dances.
The dancers performed a potlatch dance that has been in the family for thousands of years. The right to perform these dances and songs are passed down from generation to generation.
As the dancers mingled with the audience to perform a group dance , Taylor took the opportunity to thank the crowd.
“We love our culture,” he said. “We are proud to be First Nations, but we are also proud Canadians.”
Inner Harbour celebrations ended with a fireworks show that began at 10:20 p.m.. Some people expressed concern that the wind might force cancellation of the fireworks. Celebration organizers posted a reassuring message on Twitter, telling fireworks fans that the show would go on — the wind wasn't strong enough to cause safety issues.
