Christmas in Victoria
Christmas at Christmas, with the Victoria Symphony
December 7, 2007 - Fri. 8:00 PM
December 8, 2007 - Sat. 8:00 PM
December 9, 2007 - Sun. 2:00 PM
Venue: Royal Theatre Series: Beltone Pops
Jeff Christmas, conductor
Sonja Gustafson, soprano
Begin the Christmas season in style with a traditional holiday pops. Canada’s newest singing star, Sonja Gustafson, performs light classic Christmas melodies including O Holy Night and Gesu Bambino, with Jeff Christmas conducting some of his own stunning orchestral arrangements.
Handel’s Messiah
December 14, 2007 - Fri. 8:00 PM
December 15, 2007 - Sat. 8:00 PM
Tania Miller, conductor
Victoria Choral Society
Merideth Hall, soprano
Rosemarie van der Hooft, mezzo-soprano
Colin Balzer, tenor
Tyler Duncan, baritone
Giuseppe Pietraroia, choir director
Venue: Christ Church Cathedral
Series: Special Concerts
Concert sponsor: Butler Bros. Supplies Ltd.
December 17, 2007 - Mon. 8:00 PM
A Cape Breton Celebration with Natalie MacMaster
Venue: Royal Theatre – Series: Special Concerts
Giuseppe Pietraroia, conductor
Canada’s fiddling sensation Natalie MacMaster returns to perform with the Victoria Symphony. Celtic medleys and traditional jigs as well as some holiday favourites will ensure a spectacular concert to celebrate the festive season. One night only!
Oak Bay Sea of Lights Festival
December 7 - 7:30 start
A beautiful parade of lit boats. The boats leave the yacht club and sail to the Oak Bay Marina. The best view is at Willows Beach.
The Victoria Harbour Ferry Company offers 45 minute harbour tours in ferries decorated for Christmas. All proceeds from these tours benefits the Times Colonist Christmas Fund. Adults $16.00, Seniors $14.00, Children 12 and under $8.00. Inner Harbour, 11am-4pm
Festival of Trees
Every year, the Festival of Trees transforms The Fairmont Empress into a lush forest of beautifully decorated trees to raise funds for BC Children’s Hospital. As sponsors of this event, local businesses, organizations and individuals decorate the trees - in a sometimes wacky, often irreverent and always beautiful fashion. The trees are then displayed throughout The Fairmont Empress over the holiday season, beginning mid-November and then wrapping up during the first week of January.
Spawning Salmon Run
mid-late October -> early December
Goldstream Park has a world-class salmon spawning stream with thousands of Chum Salmon returning each year. Bright colours and hooked jaws develop on male Chum salmon after they enter breeding streams. This accounts for the very different appearance these fish have from when they are caught in the ocean.
Every autumn, million of Pacific salmon forge their way up the myriad streams of the Pacific northwest to spawn and die. Pacific salmon have always been fishes of mystery. We know them well as fine food, and as superb sport fish, but the details of how they spend their time in the ocean and of how they find their way back to their home pools in their parent streams are even today not fully understood.
In Goldstream, salmon appear about mid-October, and may be seen for about nine weeks, the dates varying from year to year. Of the five kinds of North American Pacific salmon it is the Chum salmon that is most abundant in this river, though you may also see some Coho and Chinook salmon, as well as the Steelhead and the Cutthroat trout
The Eagles Have Landed at Goldstream Park
Tend of the Goldstream Salmon Run is a signal to Bald Eagles that it is time to return to Goldstream for their annual salmon feast. Record numbers of Bald Eagles have been returning to the park - up to 276 in one day! - for the past three winters. By closing the estuary to people, the birds can feed undisturbed while visitors are able to see them up close with the use of a video camera and telescopes. This protective measure has proven extremely effective.
This winter, from early December until the end of February, Goldstream Provincial Park’s Visitor Centre will be celebrating the return of the Bald Eagles with special programs and exhibits focusing on birds of prey. Keeping the visitor centre open at this time of year is due entirely to public support from donations at the door!
Free school programs occur throughout the week (teachers must book ahead) and visitors are welcome to join in. Check out the exciting weekend and holiday activities as well (yes, something for the kids when school is out)!
Don’t forget to make a track-print card or wrapping paper to take home for Christmas, or get your face painted like an eagle! There is hot coffee and baked goods available at the book store and the fire is usually lit to warm yourselves after a nice walk along the river. Park in the main-picnic-area-parking-lot off the Island Highway at Finlayson Arm Road. Come find out what fun is all about at the Eagle Extravaganza; right here in Goldstream Provincial Park! Call (250) 478-9414 for more information! Open 9:00am to 4:30pm daily (closed Christmas day).
Christmas Lights Across Canada
Every year in early December, the Speaker of the House hosts the annual Christmas Lights Across Canada event at the Parliament Buildings. From 4 - 5 pm, come on out and listen to children’s choirs, feast on free cookies and hot chocolate, and then see the ceremonial moment when the Parliament Buildings form the final link in a chain of light across the country.
