Vancouver Island is a great place to live and visit, especially in summer when the days are long and the sun is shining. This summer, the Times Colonist highlights some of our favourite summertime activities — things we think everyone should try to fit in before fall comes around again. This week: Music, arts, culture and culinary events.
Most Canadians who live in cities east of the Rocky Mountains are forced to move inside at various points during the year, thanks to suffocating heat in the summer or numbing Nor’easters in the winter. Residents of Greater Victoria have it easier and balmier than most.
Golfing in November? Cycling in February? Spring skiing in a T-shirt and shorts? Done, done and done.
Outdoor events in the capital region benefit from the same endurance-test approach. Once limited primarily to June, July, and August, Festival Season™ now operates from March through September in Greater Victoria, with as many as a dozen events taking place within a given week mid-summer.
There’s something to quench all thirsts, from music festivals to arts, culture, community and culinary gatherings.
Seasonal events endure ups and downs like any other business, of course; few are immune to abrupt weather changes or swings in popularity. Cost is also an issue, and this year inflation has made access prohibitive for some attendees — and a non-starter for others. Those that find the sweet spot between cost and fun are the ones with the best shot at long-term success.
Free events are abundant, thanks to funding from municipal, provincial, and federal arts and culture bodies. When people talk about livable cities, it is free, community-minded events — such as the TD Victoria Art Gallery Paint-In, which drew 30,000 attendees July 15 — that often provide the secret sauce.
The range of events aimed at activating green spaces is impressive. Beacon Hill Park’s Cameron Bandshell is busy this year, with everything from Symphony and Opera (Aug. 4-5) to the Free-B Film Festival (Aug. 11-26) showing everything from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off to 1959’s Plan 9 from Outerspace.
The City of Victoria’s free summer series has the biggest breadth of all, with 150 free concerts and cultural activities at venues including Fisherman’s Wharf Park, Cameron Bandshell, the 1000 block of Broad Street, Government at View Street, Fort Common at 1017 Blanshard St., and Songhees Park Plaza on the west side of the Johnson Street Bridge, largely on weekends through September.
There are some weekday events, however. Cameron bandshell hosts folk music concerts on Tuesdays in August 6-8 p.m., as well as a drop-in choir called Garden City Harmony on Wednesdays at 5:30 on July 26, Aug. 9 and Aug. 23. It also hosts Zumba and Qigong on some Thursday afternoons in August, and swing dance some Thursday evenings. There is kids’ programming select Wednesday mornings at the bandshell, too.
At Centennial Square, the 10th annual Eventide Music Series is an all-ages, free concert series including a food vendor and licensed beverage area on Wednesday evenings in August from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
In Langford, bring folding chairs to Veterans Memorial Park at Goldstream Avenue and Veterans Memorial Parkway on Sundays in July and August 2-4 p.m. for Music in the Park, featuring a mix of local musical talent.
Saanich hosts its own Music in the Park series on Tuesdays 6-8 p.m. in July and August at a variety of Saanich parks, as well as Music in the Bay at Cadboro Bay on Thursdays 6-7 p.m. A free Indigenous Music Festival is set for July 28-29 at Hampton Park near Tillicum Centre, with vendors, food trucks and arts and crafts. Go to saanich.ca for a complete schedule of events.
In Colwood, Eats & Beats Beach Party, at Lagoon Beach, runs 1-8 p.m. July 29 and includes live music, food trucks, a craft beverage garden, market, climbing wall, paddling and more.
The Sooke Fine Arts Show, Vancouver Island’s longest-running juried fine art show, also gets underway July 29 at the SEAPARC Leisure Complex, 2168 Phillips Rd in Sooke, and runs until Aug. 7. It includes a family day on Aug. 1, a seniors’ tea and youth art gallery, along with daily artist talks, demos and tours, and a market night Aug. 3, 5-9 p.m. For more information, go to sookefinearts.com.
Symphony in the Summer Festival (July 27-Aug. 5) includes several ticketed performances as well as free concerts such as the Victoria Symphony at Market Square July 29 at 4 p.m., and Symphony and Opera at the Cameron Bandshell in Beacon Hill Park Aug. 4 at 5 p.m. and Aug. 5 at 4 p.m., a collaboration between the Victoria Symphony and Pacific Opera. Bring your own chair and blanket. Go to victoriasymphony.ca/symphony-in-the-summer-festival for more information.
Wonderment Festival (Aug. 4–7), Victoria’s only electronic music festival, will feature free performances in Victoria parks as well as ticketed evening events (wonderment.ca), while ViVa! Victoria Latin Festival is a celebration of Latin dance, food and culture at Centennial Square Aug. 5–6. Events run noon to 6 p.m. both days.
The biggest large-scale, for-profit event in the city — Rifflandia — draws more interest than any other local event, and for good reason. The music festival is one of the few that warrants national and international attention. This year’s, set for six days over two weekends in September, is the biggest to date. That it comes at the end of Festival Season™ is fitting. It’s the perfect nightcap.
What makes the region so unique? The built-in support. Vancouver Island is home to both the province’s biggest country music festival, Lake Cowichan’s Sunfest (Aug. 3-6), and the Victoria Fringe Festival (Aug. 23-Sept. 3), one of the oldest alternative theatre festivals in Canada. These don’t happen without the patronage of residents up and down the Island.
FolkFest, Luminara, the Latin Caribbean Festival, and Car Free YYJ are among the former mainstays gone like dust in the wind. But their departures were short-lived, as dozens rose up in their wake. It can be overwhelming, if not daunting, being forced to keep track of the changes, but turnover is a good thing.
That means someone is still willing to take a chance, for the betterment of the city.
• For a list of summer events in Victoria, go to City Vibe at victoria.ca/cityvibe.
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