Provincial Fair - Day 5

After 5 amazing days, it is hard to believe that the Provincial Fair is almost over. It was bittersweet packing up this morning and saying goodbye to our friends that wouldn't be joining us on the ferry ride home. While it has been a very busy week and we are looking forward to seeing our family and sleeping in our own beds, we have created so many memories and made new friends that we will stay in touch with long after the fair is over. 

Wesley's favourite things about Provincial Fair were visiting the Legislative Buildings, swimming and dancing while Sahir really enjoyed the tour of Government House. Urvee really liked the Fisgard Lighthouse, the walking tour in Chinatown and having free time. Irene enjoyed swimming and visiting the Royal B.C. Museum while Jaia's favourite activity was the walking tour in Chinatown. Gracie enjoyed everything but what she liked most was the dance party at the banquet and meeting people from across the province.

With our Provincial Fair coming to an end, we are all looking forward to staying involved in Heritage Fairs by helping our with our regional fair and developing our leadership skills by taking on responsibilities in the Alumni program. Who knows - perhaps we will be headed back to another Provincial Heritage Fair sometime soon?

Provincial Fair - Day 4

Today is the day we've all been waiting for - the Provincial Fair Showcase!

After breakfast we all put on our blue shirts and name tags, gathered our display boards and models then boarded the bus. After setting up in the lobby of the Royal B.C. Museum, we assembled outside to march together into Mungo Martin House for the opening ceremonies.

Butch Dick welcomed us into Mungo Martin house and performed a traditional song of his people. Our Masters of Ceremony introduced the dignitaries that attended, including several MLAs and MPs. Each of the dignitaries said a few words, each with a similar sentiment echoing the importance of studying the past and congratulating the students on their hard work and dedication as young historians.  Michael Gurney, President of the BC Heritage Fairs Society (and our master photographer for the week) said a few words before he declared the 2015 Provincial Fair open. 

We spent the next several hours telling the public about our projects - hopefully we were able to teach them something new! We also saw some familiar faces as we had some  parents and family friends stop by to visit our displays. 

Sahir's project: Les Outils

Gracie's Project: L'immigration Canadienne

Irene's Project: General Currie Elementary School

Wesley's Project: RCMP

Jaia's Project: Building B.C.: The Indo-Canadian Pioneers of Paldi, on Vancouver Island

Urvee's Project: Dance - A Universal Expression

After packing up our displays, we had a few hours to explore downtown Victoria. We picked up some cool drinks to enjoy while sitting by the waterfront then spent the rest of our time browsing through the shops and buying a few souvenirs to bring home with us to Richmond.

We sung our way back to the university on our bus and had a bit of down time before heading off to our banquet dinner. Once at our tables, we learned that we would need to answer trivia questions correctly in order to get our food. While we knew some of the answers, we were at a disadvantage sitting near the back of the room and ended up being  second to last to get dinner by telling Evan what the motto was on B.C.'s Coat of Arms. After a photo slideshow of the week's activities, alumni speeches, the presentation of thank you gifts to the chaperones and organizers and Michael's poem, we danced the night away (until it was time to head back to our rooms to pack and journal!)

Provincial Fair - Day 3

Our Saturday began with a guided tour of the Legislative Building. We learned about the architect Francis Rattenbury, or Ratz for short, who designed the building (as well as the Vancouver Art Gallery) using many local materials, including Douglas Fir, Western Red Cedar and stones from the Sunshine Coast. Fun fact - the gold statue on top of the dome is Captain George Vancouver.

Gorgeous view of the Legislative Building.

We toured several rooms inside the building and learned about the symbolism in the Provincial Coat of Arms, including the fact that animals on the crest with their tongues sticking out symbolized power. We found it interesting that only heads of state could go through the special entrance, while heads of government had to go through the main entrance. That means that while President Obama could go through the special entrance as both head of state and government, Prime Minister Stephen Harper would have to go through the main entrance as Queen Elizabeth (or her appointed representative the Governor General or Lieutenant Governor) is Canada's head of state. 

Journalling on the steps of the Legislative Building.

Up next was a tour of the Royal BC Museum. We started with the feature exhibition, Gold Rush! El Dorado in B.C. where we saw amazing gold objects and got to use some fun interactives, including one that told you how much you were worth if you were completely gold!

Irene exploring the artefacts on display in the feature exhibition.

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the museum exhibits. Some of the highlights were hearing different First Nations language in the Living Languages and pretending we had gone back in time in Old Town in the Modern History Gallery. 

Posing in the Gold Rush Gallery of the Royal BC Museum.

Leaving the museum, we headed to eat a picnic lunch on the lawn of Government House before we began our tour. As the residence of the Lieutenant Governor, it was filled with all sorts of interesting pieces of history, including artwork from famous artists like Bill Reid, Susan Point and Lawrens Harris. 

Learning about the artwork during our tour of Government House.

After walking down to the Ross Bay Cemetery, we participated in several different activities led by the Old Cemetary Society. Our group started with a tour of some of the famous people buried in Ross Bay Cemetary, including James Douglas, Emily Carr, and Billy Barker. 

Next up was a lesson on how to record information on gravestones to make sure that there was a record should they get damaged or destroyed. We also did rubbings of symbols on the stones and tried to decipher them. 

Our last activity was cleaning gravestones. We had to spray them down first with water from the hose then scrubbed then down using brushes to help remove the build up of salt, dirt and tiny plants. It was fun to be able to see the difference we were making in preserving history - see our before and after shot below! 

Wesley recording information off of a gravestone.

Sahir cleaning a gravestone.

Before

After

After finishing up our activities at the cemetery, we headed down to Ross Bay for a beach BBQ. It was neat because we could see the Fisgard Lighthouse, where we were yesterday, off on the distance

Eating dinner at the beach.

Group photo by the ocean.

Out last activity of the day was a group swim at McKinnon Pool. Everyone really enjoyed cooling down in the water and playing with their friends. 

Provincial Fair - Day 2

Day 2 started with a hearty breakfast in the cafeteria and after donning our bright blue provincial fair shirts, name tags and backpacks, we were on our way to Goldstream Provincial Park. We met our tour guide Mary who had us do a group activity where we worked together to match photos to descriptions and then put them in chronological order to create a timeline of the park's history.

Working as a time to create the Goldstream Park timeline.

Along the way, we learned about the local flora and fauna and saw huge red cedars where we talked about how the First Nations used every part of the tree to create something they needed to survive using the materials that surround them. We saw several wildlife trees along the way, which are trees that would likely be cut down but instead are kept to act as homes to many different organisms.

While Goldstream got its name as a ruse to encourage the gold miners to stop and stay on Vancouver Island, the river never yielded much gold; however it is a very important salmon spawning stream that sees several types of salmon return every year.

Waiting for our naturalist tour to start at the park.

Next on our list was a stop at Fort Rod Hill and Fisgard Lighthouse National Historic Sites.

En route to explore one of the batteries at Fort Rod.

After lunch, we started our tour of the site with our tour guide Sue at the Upper Battery where we learned about how they made the artillery and saw where they kept the explosives heavily guarded and involving lots of safety procedures. They were stored in a dark room where the workers had to wear special suits and were locked in while they worked with the explosive material. At the Belmont Battery, we got the chance to hold an artillery shell and learn about the different types of guns and how the technology changed over time to adapt to the changing technology of boats. The last stop on our tour was a visit to the Fisgard lighthouse, where we explored the exhibits inside the house and then spent some time by the ocean on the large rocks by the water.

Friends at the Fisgard Lighthouse - Jaia, Gracie and Urvee.

The Richmond group hanging out on the rocks.

Next up was a walking tour of Chinatown and Old Town - one of today's highlights for us all! Our guide Chris is a local historian and had so many wonderful stories to share with us about Victoria's history. We talked about how Victoria became gold rush boom town overnight in the summer of 1858 as steamships from California arrived with thousands of gold miners needing to refuel and resupply for their trip to the mainland.

Gate at the entrance to Chinatown.

Immigration was a very important part of the story of how Chinatown came to be. Chinese immigrants were drawn to BC, known as Gold Mountain, by the promise of a better life than the poverty of their home town and dreams of striking it rich, a goal that often went unmet.

Learning about the Chinese Language School.

One interesting stop was at the Chinese school (shown above), as it is one of biggest symbols of racism in Victoria as a physical representation of the divide in the education system. Chinese children were not allowed to study in the public schools so a wealthy businessman decided to build this school as a place of learning. It became an evening language school when the Chinese were allowed to attend public school and continues to teach Chinese language and culture to students today.

One of the things we liked best was how the city used red lampposts to mark the area of historic Chinatown, as it allowed us to visualize how big it used to be (nearly 8 square blocks!) As no walking tour would be complete without a few ghost stories, Chris took us to a few locations that are rumoured to be haunted by the ghosts before we headed off to dinner at the Golden City retaurant.

After a delicious meal where we got to sample many different Chinese dishes, we boarded the bus and headed back to campus, serenading our fellow students with songs on the radio. The alumni led a workshop for the students then everyone had a bit of time to relax before it was time to turn in for the night and get ready for another busy day of sightseeing tomorrow!

Provincial Fair - Day 1

Today marks the beginning of our five day adventure to the B.C. Provincial Heritage Fair. The Richmond delegation said adieu to our parents at the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal and headed aboard.

Tristen and Irene watching the water on the ferry.

It was such a sunny day and the sailing across the Straight of Georgia was smooth and offered some spectacular sights and great photo opportunities.  Irene and Tristen looked for whales but sadly didn't spot anything other than sail boats.

After a quick stop at the airport to pick up our fellow students from Northern BC and the interior, we arrived at UVic. First on the agenda was a tour of the First Peoples House. Designed by Alfred Waugh, it was built to serve as a cultural and academic hub for indigenous students. We were told the stories behind the carved welcome poles and the houses posts and then got the chance to go inside the main hall. 

Entering the First Peoples House.

Inside the First Peoples House hall.

This space is used for many different types of indigenous ceremonies and has many different elements in its design that remind us of the different groups who have lived off this land for thousands of years, such as the intricate and colourful carvings and the cedar siding that resembles a skillfully woven basket.

After refuelling with a few slices of dinner, we dropped our bags off in our room before gathering for a walking tour of campus. Our group headed to the Student Union Building first and got a chance to talk about all the different clubs they have at UVic, which even includes a Quidditch club! Next we headed to CARSA, the new sports facility that opened in May which had an incredible rock climbing wall right in the centre of the building. 

Amazing climbing wall in CARSA.

We stopped at the Cornet, the psychology building, which supposedly has UVic's only resident ghost. Fun fact - the building's design was inspired by the human brain! 

After a few more stops along the quad, we finished up in front of the library and headed off to have Professor John Lutz tell us all about UVic's amazing history program. Some of the things that our budding historians were interested in were:

- Great Canadian Unsolved Mysteries (www.canadianmysteries.ca)

- Unique courses like 10 days that changed the world, which brings in 10 guest speakers to talk about one day that they think had the most significant impact on the world

- Hands-On History opportunities, such as public history, oral history and digital history projects, as well as a new initiative called Landscapes of Injustice about the internment of Japanese Canadians during WWII (www.landscapesofinjustice.com)

- Chances to experience history first-hand through the field schools (ethnohistory with Stolo, colonial legacies in South Africa, I-witness Holocaust program) and exchanges around the world

Ending our tour of UVic outside of the library fountain.

We ended our day with some fun alumni-led icebreaker games and journaling before turning in for the night to get some much needed rest in preparation for our busy day tomorrow!