'Absolutely we're going ahead': Festivals and fairs making a return to the capital region
It’s been a while since we’ve been able to ride on a ferris wheel at the fair or introduce our kids to farm animals at a petting zoo, but come September, you’ll be able to get your fill of both. The 153rd annual Saanich Fall Fair is again a go.
“Absolutely, we’re going ahead,” said Catriona McHattie, the fair’s director. “We’re excited to have all of Victoria come out and support the fair as last year we could only do an online component of the fair.”
This year’s fair will be slightly scaled down, but will mostly resemble its former self.
“This year, there will be large displays of animals, but you won’t be seeing as many animals walking around the ring, being shown to judges,” said McHattie.
The midway will be back and this year’s theme is ‘Local for Locals,’ meaning local businesses and local performers on the main stage.
The Victoria Dragon Boat Festival is back on in August, as well, but it will be quite a bit different.
“This year, we’re not going to have the actual racing,” said Tony Joe, a member of the Victoria Dragon Boat Festival Society board.
While there will be no dragon boat races, there will be entertainment, food and the beer garden.
“Normally, what happens is, the next year event gets sort of organized and funded as a result of how the year goes and we didn’t have that last year,” said Joe. “So we have to plan ahead for next year and that’s really what we’re doing.”
Scaled back versions or not, the upcoming events are still an opportunity to get out and get a piece of that normal that we’ve been missing.
“I’ve heard things like, ‘It’s the most normal thing I’ve done in the last two years,’” said Kelly Kurta, executive director of the Greater Victoria Festival Society.
“People are excited.”
The executive director says that the region is once again coming alive.
The Luxton Fair will be back, as will CarnEvil at Galey Farms and – looking ahead into late fall – Light up the City and The Santa Claus Parade.
“We’re just thrilled with the way Victoria has come together as a community to make its way through this pandemic and ensure that festivals and fairs and everything can start happening in the city again,” said McHattie. “Everybody has done such a good job.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.