Grab your helmets and pedal on down to celebrate Earth Day on the move at the Saanich Cycling Festival on Sunday at Saanich Municipal Hall.
Take the whole family out for a bike ride to visit seven community Celebration Stations, where you can collect stamps on your event map. The more stations you visit, the more chances you will have to win prizes.
The Kids Decorated Bike Ride features routes of 1.5 and 2.2 kilometres, so all ages and abilities can take part.
Need a tuneup? You can get your bike examined during the festival to see if it is road-ready.
The main Celebration Site will be located at the Saanich Hall, with a stage, two live bands and a variety of free family activities.
They include: a bike rodeo; cycling obstacle course and skills challenge; face painting; inflatable obstacle and basketball shooter game; interactive information booths and a bike safety tent.
There will be food carts and concessions on hand.
The festival will run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Kids Decorated Bike Ride starts at 1 p.m. Some celebration stations will close by 2:30 p.m. to ensure all cyclists have a chance to make it to Saanich Hall before the event concludes. The main celebration site is located at the Saanich Municipal Hall parking lot, 770 Vernon Ave. For information, go to saanich.ca.
Three events deliver gardening guidance
Get expert advice on how to buy and grow plants at three gardening events this weekend.
• Learn more about alpine and rock gardening — as well as woodland, bog and bonsai plants — at the Vancouver Island Rock and Alpine Garden Society Spring Show, Friday and Saturday at the Cadboro Bay United Church.
The show is an opportunity for gardeners to take in a juried show, with more than 70 exhibit classes and hundreds of plant entries.
Members of the society will be on hand to answer questions about alpine and rock gardening, including such issues as trough building, propagation from cuttings, growing from seed and more.
Buy plants grown by club members and take advantage of commercial plant and seed sales, door prizes and a silent auction.
Admission by donation. The show runs 1 to 8 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Cadboro Bay United Church, 2625 Arbutus Rd. For more information, go to virags.com.
• Find plants, from abelias to zantedeschias, at the Spring Plant Sale at the Gardens at the Horticultural Centre of the Pacific, Saturday and Sunday.
Proceeds from the annual sale, with many unique plants propagated at the centre, support programs at the not-for-profit teaching garden.
Master gardeners will be on hand to answer questions on plant sale day.
Admission is free. The sale runs 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the centre, 505 Quayle Rd. For more information, go to hcp.ca.
• Find a comprehensive collection of native plants suited for sun, partial sun or shade, at the Native Plant Sale at Swan Lake Christmas Hill Nature Sanctuary Saturday and Sunday.
Native plants are better adapted to local soil and weather conditions, require less water and tend to be hardier and more disease resistant. They also attract birds, butterflies and other pollinators to your garden.
A native plant garden that surrounds the Swan Lake Nature House provides a living example of more than 80 species of plants native to southern Vancouver Island. The sanctuary also offers an introductory workshop on native plant gardening.
The sale runs 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the sanctuary, 3873 Swan Lake Rd.
For more information, go to swanlake.bc.ca.
Events in Victoria, Sooke will celebrate Earth Day
Celebrate the 48th annual Earth Day on Sunday at two events open to the public on Sunday.
• Join Friends of Beacon Hill Park Society and the Victoria Natural History Society at the 27th annual Camas Day at Beacon Hill Park on Sunday.
Join in a celebration of the park’s Garry oak ecosystem with a series of guided walks: Birding Walk with Rick Schortinghuis and members of the Victoria Natural History Society; Wildflower Walk with Dr. Adolf Ceska, consulting botanist and mycologist; Archeology Walk with Dr. Grant Keddie, curator of archaeology at the Royal B.C. Museum; First Nations Walk with ethnobotanist John-Bradley Williams; and a Wildflower Walk with Thomas Munson, environmental technologist, City of Victoria Parks.
The walks are free to join. They run one to two hours in length, with the first at 7 a.m. and the last at 1 p.m. People are asked to meet at the flagpole at the top of Beacon Hill in the park.
For more information, go to: friendsofbeaconhillpark.ca.
• Take part in a fun, educational, richly experiential all-ages Earth Day adventure at the Planet Earth Party at the Sooke Community Hall on Sunday.
Sooke region and South Island non-profit groups, green vendors and Earth-friendly businesses will be represented. The day features workshops, demonstrations, interactive displays, food trucks, an upcycled fashion show, PEP talks, a clothing exchange, art-making projects and the first anniversary edition of Zero Waste Sooke’s Repair Café.
Exhibition hours will be from 10 a.m. to mid-afternoon, with a community dance party to start in the late afternoon/early evening once the cleanup crew has done its work.
The event is presented by Transition Sooke and its working group, Zero Waste Sooke, in association with the Sooke Fall Fair and Creatively United.
Admission will be by donation. The party runs 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the Sooke Community Hall, 2037 Shields Rd., Sooke. For more information, go to Facebook.
The sky’s the limit for Astronomy Day fun
Celebrate International Astronomy Day 2018 Saturday with daytime activities at the Royal B.C. Museum and public telescope viewing at the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory and the Centre of the Universe in the evening.
The celebrations are hosted by the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Victoria Centre.
Astronomy Day activities begin at the Royal B.C. Museum with solar telescopes arrayed for safely viewing the sun and the society’s Walk among the Planets display outside on the main concourse, weather permitting.
There will be displays of telescope mirror grinding, astrophotography and historical displays indoors. Volunteers and Science Venture students from the University of Victoria will engage children with hands-on activities.
There will be two free lecture presentations by astronomers, at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.
Admission to the events taking place at the Royal B.C. Museum is free. It runs 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the museum, 675 Belleville St. For more information, go to victoria.rasc.ca/astro-day-2018.
Friends of the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, the RASC Victoria Centre and the National Research Council of Canada Herzberg will play host to the evening activities.
The historic Plaskett Telescope will be open for tours, and RASC members will have their personal telescopes set up for public viewing (if weather permits). The Centre of the Universe exhibits will be open and tours of the observatory will be given.
Historian Daniel Posey will speak in the Centre of the Universe on the early history of Dominion Astrophysical Observatory. The presentation will begin at 8 p.m.
Entry to the observatory grounds is free, but by ticket only. International Astronomy Day events runs 7:30 to 10:45 p.m. at the observatory, 5071 West Saanich Rd.
To obtain your entry ticket, go to: thecentreoftheuniverse.net/star-parties.
Marine garage sale set for Ogden Point
You don’t need a map to find seafarer’s treasures at the Maritime Museum of British Columbia’s annual Massive Marine Garage Sale, Saturday at Ogden Point.
This is the 15th year of the maritime sale, one of the largest (and most colourful) fundraising events hosted by the museum. Money raised helps support the museum and its community and school education programs.
“The Massive Marine Garage Sale is one of the museum’s flagship events, which is completely volunteer-driven in support of the museum,” executive director David Leverton said.
The event has become one of the highlights of the year for area mariners, with more than 50 tables of boating and marine-related goods for sale.
People looking to sell are also welcome, with tables found inside Pier A and larger items found outside.
Expect to find anything that one can expect to find in, on, or around a boat — be it fishing gear, books, prints, maps. Anything nautical can be up for sale. That includes clothing, anchors, anchor chains, charts and even marine antiques.
The museum will also have a table at the sale, offering both marine and non-marine items that have been donated to it. Representatives will accept items even on the day of the sale.
Coffee, hot chocolate and pastries will be all available by donation, with a hotdog vendor also on site.
Admission is $5 for adults, free for children younger than 12. Table rental, car topper and boats on trailers: $40. Commercial sellers: $85. The event will run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Pier A in Ogden Point, off Dallas Road. For more information, go to mmbc.bc.ca.
25 Oak Bay artists offer studio tours
View art, meet the artists, and learn about their inspiration and process at the Oak Bay Artists’ Studio Spring Tour, Saturday and Sunday at venues throughout the municipality.
The free, self-guided tour will take you into the home studios of 25 artists. Some participants will show their work in a shared space in the Neighbourhood Learning Centre. The juried tour is produced by Oak Bay Parks, Recreation and Culture.
It runs noon to 4:30 p.m. both days. Printed brochures with artist images, descriptions and a tour map are available at the Oak Bay Recreation Centre, Oak Bay Municipal Hall, Oak Bay Library, local businesses and via participating artists. For information, go to oakbay.ca.
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