Happy Lunar New Year! 

This Saturday, we celebrate the Year of the Dragon, an important year that symbolizes generosity and care. The Year of the Dragon is also associated with wood, which inspired Colwood local David Citra to unveil his 12-foot wooden dragon. The handmade work of art took around 4,000 hours across 20 years to create, and is made completely from scrap wood. Citra told CHEK that he will be 135 the next time the year of the dragon comes around, and is thankful his creation came to life. With plenty of events going on in Victoria throughout the weekend, take the chance to learn more about Lunar New Year and the importance it has to the communities around us!

— Emma

ARTS

Arts and Culture Colwood Society unveils new art centre

Art aficionados are getting excited after the Arts and Culture Colwood Society announced the celebration of the new Arts and Culture Centre at 170 Goldfinch Rd. with an adjudicated art show. 

“I’ve been looking at this property as an arts advocate for at least five years,” says Laura Davis, president of the Arts and Culture Colwood Society. “The whole concept is to provide a hub for our community here in Colwood, and we know people beyond that will be utilizing the space as well.”

The building, which was already fully built, had been sitting vacant and waiting for the proper usage. Because of other competitors looking to purchase the building, it took time for Davis and her team to sign a lease. With the support of Colwood’s mayor, council, staff, and a variety of community members, the centre is now fully cleaned, decorated, and ready for use. 

“People can come, artists can come do workshops, we have a great big deck where you can actually go out there and socialize—we're also in Lagoon West Park so that we can have our plein air painters working on their craft as well,” says Davis. “It's really a gathering place, that's the important factor here, so the people have a place to hang out with the other artists or just other citizens in the community.” 

In honour of the opening, the theme “Celebrate!” highlights the society’s mission to celebrate love for community, nature and new beginnings. The show is a culmination of artworks from local artists who each brought three works of art to the table. Three adjudicators have pre-appraised and picked which pieces would be on display for the show to ensure everything is ready for the public to enjoy. Davis says that there will also be a few live performances on select days. 

“We have 59 visual arts pieces that are 2D, like watercolours, acrylic on canvas, and oil on canvas, and we also have 10 three-dimensional pieces,” says Davis. “We're just getting out of winter, and so it's really important that we look at some positivity and some splash in our life; I think that as we get towards spring, we just start to engage more in our lives with everything and so it really is reflection of an opening of an art centre, a celebration.”

Opening on Valentine's Day, the show will go until March 14. The centre’s operational hours will be Wednesday through Friday from 10am to 3pm, and Saturday’s from 12pm to 4pm for the exhibition.

EVENTS

New FanCon coming to Langford

The well-received Capital City Comic Con bravely survived the pandemic, was put on pause last year, and won’t be back this year because of funding constraints—but a new entertainment convention is sliding into Langford April 13-14.

Organizers of Island FanCon expect up to 3K entertainment enthusiasts to visit City Centre Park (the entertainment hub next to Starlight Stadium) to rub elbows with celebrities and cosplaying fans of animation, film, books, and other streams of entertainment. 

“A lot of the cosplayers really take pride in making their own costumes and handcrafting them,” says organizer Lonnie Eckardt. “It's kind of like the main event of the event,” he says of the popular costume contest. “So I refer to it as our crown jewel.” 

The convention is much more than people dressing up as Spiderman or a Star Wars Stormtrooper, Eckardt says. Modelled after Northern FanCon, which Eckardt’s business buddy Norm Coyne has directed for the last nine years in Prince George, Island FanCon intends to promote all things pop culture and provide panels and workshops on how things work behind the scenes in the visual entertainment industry, including acting, writing, and costume design.

Another big attraction is the array of comic and movie stars on hand for photos and autographs. PG’s Northern FanCon has attracted the likes of actors Levar Burton, William Shatner, and Kevin Smith.  Beginning next week, Eckardt says Island FanCon will announce a guest each Tuesday. Tickets go on sale here Friday morning.

Around the 'Shore

👟 Wounded Warrior Run has a record-breaking start: The first part of the Wounded Warrior Run started in Sooke this Feb. 4 and the eight participants running have already broken records with their donations. The 60-kilometre run from Sooke to Sidney raised $3,650 for Wounded Warrior Canada; racers were excited to hear about the thousands they already raised, and are hoping that support continues through the main event from Feb. 24 to March 3. [Vancouver Island Free Daily] 

🏈 NFL Flag Football in Langford this spring: With the continually growing popularity of flag football, even recognized by NFL stars and the Summer Olympics, Langford will be hosting a tournament for Greater Victoria kids to play the non-contact sport. NFL Flag Football is hosting the April to June tournament at Centre Mountain Lellum Middle School for children ages 6 to 14, supporting the growth of the sport and Langford’s involvement in the sporting scene. [Sooke News Mirror]

📑 Esquimalt development permitting changes: Esquimalt council met on Monday to discuss changing a bylaw that would help speed up development by giving the town’s head of development services the power to approve certain permits. In the meeting, council considered delegating approval of development permit applications for up to six housing units on one single lot, along with minor development variance applications to township staff. [Times Colonist]

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Community Events

⚠️ Scoundrels, fraudsters, and scammers: With the recent fraud and scam reports in the Westshore, Metchosin Council is hosting an informal discussion on scams and fraud at the Metchosin Community hall this Feb. 9. Starting at 7pm, the event is an opportunity to learn about the dangers of fraud from members of the RCMP Community Policing Division, and how you can better protect yourself against scams. 

🍷 Pairing wine with dessert: Enjoy an evening at Everything Wine’s dessert and wine pairing event this Feb. 10. Going from 6 to 8pm, head to the Vintages Room and learn more about pairings ranging from traditional to non-traditional options. Tickets are available online. 

🍽️ Community Dinner: Join the Gordon United Church on Goldstream Avenue for their monthly community dinner this Feb. 12. Starting at 5pm, volunteers will help prepare delicious food for you to enjoy as a community for free.

What’s Offshore?

🚢 The Argo Wind is a bulk carrier built in 2017, sailing under the flag of Panama. It is coming from 🇯🇵 Kashima, Japan ➡ 🇨🇦 Robert Banks and was scheduled to arrive Jan. 26, 2024.

Westshore Snaps

Gibraltar Bay in the morning looking toward Cole Island. —Janet Hardy, View Royal

That’s it!

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