VICTORIA — The city’s namesake monarch is again celebrated this weekend with a parade highlighting events leading up to Monday’s Victoria Day holiday.
Queen Victoria (1819-1901) was the first sovereign of a confederated Canada, and the city of Victoria began celebrating her reign while she was still alive.
This Monday’s 113th Victoria Day Parade southbound on Douglas Street starts at 9 a.m. at the Mayfair Shopping Centre north of downtown.
Bands, floats
Bands, floats, bagpipers and other entries are scheduled for the 2.5-mile parade — the start of which should reach the southern part of downtown about the time the MV Coho from Port Angeles arrives at 9:30 a.m.
Douglas Street is three blocks east of the ferry landing.
Even older than the 113 years of Victoria Day parades are the 148th annual Victoria Highland Games and Celtic Festival on Saturday and Sunday.
Thousands of spectators of Scottish descent or aficionados of highland culture are expected to attend the two-day event.
More details on the games and Celtic festival can be found in box at right.
On Sunday, the 37th annual Victoria Inner Harbour Boat Parade will feature 55 boats decorated with colored flags starting at 1:15 p.m.
The boats will parade past Laurel Point — just to the west of the Coho ferry landing — and cruise along the waterfront to the host boat moored directly in front of the Fairmont Empress hotel.
Onboard the host boat, Victoria’s police chief, Jamie Graham, will take the salute from the passing boats, which then come about and sail to Ship Point.
How to get there
The privately owned Coho is now the only ferry between Port Angeles and Victoria.
The car-passenger ferry departs Port Angeles at 8:20 a.m., 12:45 p.m. and 5:15 p.m.
Departures from Victoria are at 10:30 a.m., 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
For fares and additional information, visit www.cohoferry.com.