There are holiday memories to be made in Sidney this winter. The Sidney BIA has pulled out all the stops to bring exciting and heart-warming activities to the town this holiday season.
Do you hear the sound of hooves?
New this year Victoria Carriage Tours are bringing their unforgettable horse-drawn carriage experience to Sidney. Setting off from the convenient First Street location (outside the Sidney Waterfront Inn, opposite Fairway market) tours will take up to six passengers on a 20 minute excursion through the festive lights of Beacon Avenue, or out along the waterfront towards Tulista Park. Pick up a hot drink and treat from one of the nearby coffee shops and snuggle down with your family or friends. The cost of the ride is $30 per carriage, with space for six. Victoria Carriage Tours have this to say about their high standards of animal care: “Our horses are Belgian, Percheron and Clydesdale draft horses. They were bred as working horses and they thrive on work, just like humans that take pride in their work. A draft horse can easily pull a wheeled vehicle that is six times its own weight. They enjoy the attention of the public and staff.” Horse Drawn Carriage Tours: Thursday evenings 4 – 7 p.m. and Sundays 1 – 4 p.m.
Time for fellowship
Circulating the Sidney downtown during extended Christmas shopping hours will be traditional carol singers. Adding some festive cheer and even more reason to stop and linger a while on Beacon Avenue, the Linden Singers will regale Thursday night shoppers in December. On Saturdays and Sundays from 12 – 3 p.m. there’s a chance to engage with your community as local church groups take turns singing all your favourite carols and traditional tunes.
Holiday Hub
The centrepiece of Sidney’s special activities is the Christmas Grotto at 2387 Beacon Avenue (between Alexander’s Café and Miss Bliss). There is a unique Christmas Lego Display, built especially for us by the Professional Lego Builders of Victoria. Inside the grotto you can come and chat with our volunteers and take advantage of complimentary gift-wrapping for your purchases. On Saturday’s have a picture taken with Santa (12 – 3 p.m.), and maybe whisper a little wish into his ear! Pictures with Santa are also complementary, but we will be collecting donations for the Sidney Lion’s Food Bank. You can also drop-off a new, unwrapped gift here for our Toys for Tots collection.
Contest and prizes too!
For added fun there are two contests running over the festive period. Store owners in Sidney’s downtown have been challenged to raise the bar on their already wonderful window-decorating. When you are in Sidney make note of the creative and unusual window displays. You can vote for your favourite and the store-owner will receive a gift in the New Year. But there are other gifts to be won too. If you haven’t received one in your Seaside Magazine then pick up a Sidney BIA wishbook from any of our retailers. There are all sorts of ideas: for others, or even for yourself! On the reverse of the window display ballot there is the chance to list a wish of your own. You could win your choice of prize from any of our stores.
Artisanal Gifts for the Holidays
There are all sorts of ways to support your local community as you prepare for the Christmas and New Year’s festivities. As well as wonderful stores in downtown Sidney you can look for local craft fairs as a way to find unique gifts, often made right here, by local artists. The Community Arts Council of the Saanich Peninsula is holding an Artisans Gift Gallery at their Tulista Centre. In its 21st year, this show and sale features Island Artisans. Items in the Artisans Gift Gallery are varied; jewelry, glass, pottery, turned and carved wood, children’s clothing and toys, fibre art, wearable’s, photography and holiday décor are just a sampling. It is eclectic, unpredictable and representative of the immense talent of Island Artisans.
This show runs through December 23rd, Tuesdays – Sundays (closed Mondays), 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. New this year are extended hours on Thursdays, November 27th – December 18th until 8 p.m. Meet the artists in this artist run co-op and celebrate the season with originals by local artists.
Once Upon A Teddy Time (By Ginni Stevia)
Christmas can be a magic time for kids and grown-ups alike – and nowhere is that more apparent than at Sidney Museum, where, this time of year, teddy bears take over! This year’s theme is Once Upon a Teddy Time, featuring a variety of dioramas based on fairy tales and nursery rhymes (including “Three Billy Bears Gruff” and “Mary, Beary, Quite Contrary” among others). A trip through the museum gives you a chance to visit with over 500 teddy bears, including some bear celebrities like Paddington Bear, Jungle Book’s Baloo, Smokey the Bear, and Bear in the Big Blue House. Famous bear-makers are also highlighted: from the classic Steiff of Germany to today’s Build-a-Bear phenomenon. There’s even a reproduction of the first true Teddy bear, named after President Theodore Roosevelt after he saved a bear cub in 1902.
Get the entire family engaged in the bear-y challenging scavenger hunt while you stroll through the museum, and enter to win a prize (bear, of course). There are bears hiding throughout the museum’s regular exhibits as well as in the exhibit gallery, so you’ll have to keep your eyes peeled. There’s also a colouring contest for the kids (and for creative adults, too!) – entry forms can be picked up in person at the museum or printed from our Facebook page. We might even have a bear garden to see what’s brewin’.
And if you can bear it, there are more bears to be seen downtown at the Hotel Grand Pacific, with the annual Bear Wear event, raising money for the Children’s Health Foundation of Vancouver Island. Visit the bear scenarios from November 25th on, and vote for your favourites!
The “Once Upon a Teddy Time” exhibit at Sidney Museum runs from November 18th to Dec. 30th, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day except Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Admission is by donation.
Come visit soon, and have a Bear-y Merry Christmas!
There are so many reasons to head into Sidney this December, so come along and make some new traditions.
