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BC Celebrates 150 years! 2008 is chock full of celebrations and special events. To help you follow all the celebrations, BC150 has created an interactive calendar of events, searchable by community, region or event type.

Arts, Heritage And Culture Guide May - August 2008 Find out about the latest arts, heritage and cultural events happening in Victoria - Download the PDF guide.

Self Guided Heritage Walks Of Victoria
Take a walk and discover the wonderful and mysterious secrets that are part of Victoria's hidden history with this series of four self-guided walks.

The Gratitude Dance
Check out this fun and uplifting video filmed in and around Victoria. Look for some of your favorite Victoria locations and see if you recognize any of the friendly Victoria locals.

Events
Emily Carr Community Festival of the Arts and Ecology
April 1, 2008 - May 31, 2008
The Emily Carr Community Festival of the Arts and Ecology will consist of two months of inspired community activities and events honouring the eco-cultural legacy of artist and author Emily Carr, celebrating local art, culture and heritage, UNESCO's International Year of Planet Earth and the Decade of Sustainable Development. Learn about Emily Carr at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, visit historic Emily Carr House, or enjoy a variety of events and explorations taking place throughout April and May 2008.

Rumors - A Farce by Neil Simon
April 9 - 19, 2008
Help the St. Luke's Players celebrate their 60th year by attending the farce Rumors by Neil Simon. This is a fast action play set in the New York area (note the spelling of the title). Four couples are at the house of a deputy New York City mayor and his wife to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary. The party never begins as the host has had an accident and his wife is missing.

The Violet Hour - Belfry Theatre
April 15 - May 18, 2008
The Violet Hour Tony Award winning playwright Richard Greenberg has a deep passion for language, ideas and comedy. The Violet Hour is about a young publisher, John Pace Seavering, who has just enough money to publish one book – either his best friend’s weighty tome or his lover’s autobiography. Then a mysterious, paper-spewing machine enters. The papers are from books in the future that have information about the lives of Seavering and everyone else. A wonderful new comic fantasy about fate, ambition and time. There, among the wisteria blossoms and the Mediterranean sunshine, all four bloom again - rediscovering themselves in ways that they could never have expected.

Hello Dolly
May 2 - 10, 2008
The Victoria Operatic Society proudly presents the Broadway musical Hello Dolly.

Centennial Tea - Every Friday at the Fairmont Empress
May 2 - September 26, 2008
As well as the world-famous afternoon High Tea, the Fairmont Empress is offering a Centennial Tea every Friday from the beginning of May right through until the end of September. This is the ultimate afternoon tea experience, served either in the intimate library with its carved ceilings and ivy-covered windows, or in The Empress Harbourside Room.

Joan Rivers at UVic Centre
May 3, 2008
Enjoy and evening of comedy with Joan Rivers, with special guests Kit and the Widow.

St. Anns Academy 150 Celebrations
May 6 - August 6, 2008
This special BC 150 event will include a re-enactment of the 1858 arrival of the Sisters of St. Ann's, a symphony concert on the grounds of the National Historic Site of St. Ann's Academy, a gala "alumni and friends" dinner and a Victorian Family Picnic. Location: St. Ann's Academy, Humboldt Street

Canadian Pacific Ballet
May 9 - 11, 2008
In celebration of BC's 150th Birthday, Canadian Pacific Ballet presents a World Premiere Ballet Scent of Cedars. This ballet is based on the powerful story of a young couple living in a remote West Coast Cove. Journey with them as they struggle with the death of the husband's ailing mother. See the beauty of this land we live in through the senses of an aging blind woman. Experience with her the tastes, sounds and scents of the West Coast. Remind yourself of the truly important small things in life that we too often forget to enjoy.

Tartan Parade
May 10, 2008
The Tartan Parade of local and visiting pipe bands and highland dancers begins at the Legislative Building and marches up Government Street to Centennial Square for demonstrations of more singing, piping and country dancing. All this is in preparation for the new Celtic Festival and the 71st Highland Games scheduled for next weekend at its new location at Topaz Park (Blanshard and Finlayson). Activities will include dance, bagpipe and drum competitions, pipe bands, caber throwing, heavy event championship, historical display, entertainment, and Celtic food.

Canadian Pacific Ballet: Little Red Riding Hood
May 10 - 11, 2008
Join us this Mothers' Day Weekend for Little Red Riding Hood. Enjoy this timeless story that is sure to enchant both the young and the young at heart. Designed specifically for families, this is the first of the Canadian Pacific Ballet's "Young Audience Series". The production includes the classical "forest birds" as well as a dancing cow!

Royal BC Museum - Saturday Series Special Event
May 24, 2008
Royal BC Museum - From the World to BC, Saturday Series The Saturday Series is held in conjunction with the Free Spirit: Stories of You, Me and BC exhibition. The series continues until December 2008. The event is held on the fourth Saturday of each month and are free, with the exception of 10:00am story times, which are included with admission.

Cirque du Soleil - Saltimbanco
May 28 - June 1, 2008
Saltimbanco - from the Italian 'saltare in banco', which literally means 'to jump on a bench'-explores the urban experience in all its myriad forms: the people who live there, their idiosyncrasies and likenesses, families and groups, the hustle and bustle of the street and the towering heights of skyscrapers. Between whirlwind and lull, prowess and poetry, Saltimbanco takes spectators on an allegorical and acrobatic journey into the heart of the city. Saltimbanco is a Cirque du Soleil signature show inspired by the urban fabric of the metropolis and its colorful inhabitants. Decidedly baroque in its visual vocabulary, the show's eclectic cast of characters draws spectators into a fanciful, dreamlike world, an imaginary city where diversity is a cause for hope.

Sports
2008 Olympic Games Womens Field Hockey Qualifying Tournament
April 26 - May 26, 2008
There will be 5 visiting teams plus the Canadian National women's team.

Stars on Ice - Live and in Colour
May 5, 2008
This season, Stars on Ice presented by Smucker’s is coming to you “LIVE and in Colour! ” Each show will be a unique spectacle as you witness the excitement of cast members jumping, spinning and flying past your seats! This year we are excited to welcome 2006 Olympic silver medalist, Sasha Cohen! She will be joined by a star studded cast, including: • Kurt Browning • Jamie Salé & David Pelletier • Xue Shen & Hongbo Zhao • Jeff Buttle • Marie-France Dubreuil & Patrice Lauzon • And many more Each show will feature an incredible display of intricate lighting, dynamic costumes and cutting-edge choreography, highlighting the dramatic difference of watching the show on TV and seeing it LIVE and in Colour! ”

Swiftsure International Yacht Race
May 24 - 26, 2008

Return of the Monster Spectacular
June 14 - 15, 2008
The Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre is proud to announce that Monster Spectacular will return to Victoria. This tour is being produced by Chris Arel Motorsports, the Canadian leader in motorized sports shows and monster truck events. The 3-hour show, with no time-outs and constant high-speed action, is a treat for all ages. Featuring five of the top North American Monster Trucks - including world champion Bounty Hunter, Weapon 1, and Maniac - the show is packed with numerous events including a wheelie contest, face-to-face duels, freestyling and much more! Accompanying the Monster Trucks will be a Jet Car, freestyle motocross, and for the first time ever in Canada, Megasaurus – the giant car eating monster!

Exhibits
Royal BC Museum: Free Spirit - Stories of You, Me and BC
March 13, 2008 - January 11, 2009
Free Spirit – The Exhibition Running March 13, 2008 – Jan. 11, 2009 at the Royal BC Museum, this 10,000-sq. ft. exhibition showcases more than 400 artifacts, specimens and documents. Drawn from the RBCM’s collections and archives, many of these objects have never before been displayed publicly. Free Spirit documents the story of British Columbia – but not in a traditional, chronological sense. This is history as seen through the eyes of ordinary and extraordinary British Columbians, glimpses into the lives and locations that have shaped this province. The exhibition celebrates the province through the stories of BC’s First Peoples to its newest citizens, from the early European surveyors to today’s high-tech visionaries, and from the pillars of the province to its legendary eccentrics. In the Mighty 90 Drive-In Theatre, a giant 1950s carbon-arc drive-in projector will flicker to life with movie travelogues from the 1940s to the 1970s. Actors and storytellers interact with visitors to animate the exhibition through words, music and demonstrations. Free Spirit Online www.freespiritbc.ca is the People’s History component of this interactive website, launched on Nov. 19, 2007, encourages all British Columbians to submit their personal stories about the province and their connections to it. Through text, photographic, video and audio submissions, the searchable site will create a fresh chapter in BC history. The website also features a resource room for teachers and a press room for media.

Brian Flynn - Exhibition at the Art Gallery
March 28, 2008 - May 18, 2008
Lab 7.5: Hedgerow Series Drawing from his childhood spent with his grandfather in Northern Ireland, Brian Flynn explores the manner in which physical place can determine both cutlural and political identities. Flynn's installation includes large-scale portraitsand street scenes ini Irish carpet underlay, along with a viceo installation based on his family's archive of Super 8 films.

Concerts
The Victoria Symphony
April 20, 2008
The Victoria Symphony Orchestra presents the final concert in their 2007/ 2008 Classics Series. Featuring Ingrid Matthews, violin/ conductor, the programme includes: Telemann, Ouverture Burlesque; Vivaldi, "Fall" of the Four Seasons; Vivaldi, "Winter" of the Four Seasons; Vivaldi, "Spring" of the Four Seasons; Handel; Sonata V, No. 4, op. 5; and Vivaldi, "Summer" of the Four Seasons.

Mostly Mozart Festival
May 3 - 12, 2008
Now in its third year, the Victoria Symphony presents the Mostly Mozart Festival that celebrates the works of Mozart and his contemporaries. For detailed event information please call or visit the website shown below.

Anne Murray - Coast to Coast One Last Time
May 8, 2008
Canadian icon, Anne Murray, in celebration of four decades of her illustrious career, will tour Canada, "COAST TO COAST – ONE LAST TIME” in the spring of 2008! Beginning in Moncton, New Brunswick in April the tour will end with this show in Victoria. Canada’s love affair with Murray began in the late 60’s but it was the 1970 release of “Snowbird” that propelled her to international stardom. Recognized world wide as one of our country’s most enduring national treasures, Murray’s signature voice has graced the airwaves on pop, country and adult contemporary radio.

The Palm Court Light Orchestra
May 25, 2008
The Palm Court Light Orchestra presents the final performance in their 2007 - 2008 season, "An English Country Garden", featuring Timothy Chooi, violin, and Charles Job, conductor. Beautiful music and fragrant flowers provide the setting for this first annual English Country Garden celebration of spring for Mother's Day. Conductor Charles Job and the Orchestra feature Victoria violin prodigy Timothy Chooi in a program of music by violin virtuosos turned composers Pablo Sarasate, Henri Wieniawski and Vienna's Fritz Kreisler. Memorable music performed in the authentic Palm Court style.

Lafayette String Quartet
May 25, 2008
Speical Fundraising Event for the Congregation Emanu-el Plan to attend an evening of wonderful music, followed by a reception with members of the Lafayette String Quartet. Concert proceeds will support much-needed restoration and repair work to the Congregation Emanu-El Synagogue. A tax deductible receipt will be issued for a portion of the ticket price.

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