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Community Christmas party lights up Oak Bay

11-year-old B.C. Fiddle Champion takes the stage Sunday
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To the tune of holiday music, an Oak Bay crew posts lights and banners throughout the village, one small step in the significant light display put on the Oak Bay Business Improvement Association each Christmas. (Christine van Reeuwyk/News Staff)

Anyone who wants a hula hoop under the tree this Christmas can take one for a test run as Oak Bay’s community light-up returns with fanfare.

With 2020 cancelled, and last year featuring a host of smaller events, Oak Bay Village welcomes the festive season with the return of the Oak Bay Light Up event on Nov. 27.

Family fun on The Avenue starts Sunday at 2 p.m. with crafts, activities, street food and entertainment. The Kiwanis Club of Oak Bay hosts a Letters to Santa writing and decorating station with a special direct-to-the-North-Pole mailbox. Kids can make a mini door swag at Oak Bay Flower Shop or Christmas craft with Oak Bay United Church while Oak Bay Recreation hosts street games. Planet Janet’s hoop jam offers folks a try at hula hooping and Paul Kilshaw returns with magic and festive balloon twisting.

Live music runs from 3 to 6:30 p.m. and features performances by Daniel Lapp and special guests, Soley Ella May, Jeanne Tolmie, Stephanie Greaves, Roy Styffe, Bryce Gilhome, Kelly Nordstrom, Danuel Tate, Jamie Troy, the Joy of Life Choir, the Oak Bay High Vocal Jazz Choir, the Whoville Children’s Chorus and 11-year-old B.C. Fiddle Champion Max Francis.

Alongside businesses that remain open for the evening, food trucks Saltchuck Pies, Snap Dawgs Mobile Doggery and Holy Cow Mini Donuts will be on hand to fill the hunger gap.

The village lights up at 5 p.m.

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A host of local dignitaries flick the lights on, including chair of the inaugural event two decades ago, Penny Farthing Pub owner Matt MacNeil, as well as Mayor Kevin Murdoch and Oak Bay BIA president Martin Cownden.

Santa then arrives in the village on an Oak Bay fire truck then stops for photos at 2249 Oak Bay Ave. Photo donations support the Oak Bay Fire Department nonessential equipment fund.

Next up in the holiday events, the lighted truck convoy rolls through Dec. 3 with live music on the lawn of municipal hall starting at 5 p.m. There will be donation bins on hand as the event supports Greater Victoria food banks. The truck convoy starts at Victoria’s Breakwater District at 5:40 p.m. and expects to finish in Langford around 8:30.

The Realtor Food Bank Challenge also returns as Engel and Völkers, Pemberton Holmes and The Agency collect cash and food donations now through Dec. 3. Those donations are then added to the community collection.

The two events are funded by the Oak Bay Business Improvement Association which represents members from 100 businesses in the village.

Learn more at www.visitoakbayvillage.ca.

christine.vanreeuwyk@blackpress.ca



Christine van Reeuwyk

About the Author: Christine van Reeuwyk

I'm dedicated to serving the community of Oak Bay as a senior journalist with the Greater Victoria news team.
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