Story by Kim Restall  ~ Photos by Mary P. Brooke   |         February 7, 2010

A glimpse of the Wild by Nature exhibit -- that will be displayed as one of the municipal "BC Street" displays at the Richmond O|Zone celebration venue during the 2010 Olympics, February 12-28, 2010 -- was on display to the community on Saturday, February 6 at the Sooke Fire Hall. The open house exhibit (10 am to 3 pm) attracted an estimated 100 people by early afternoon, after which attendance tapered off. Local marketing in Sooke by the organizers and by the District seemed decidedly low-key.

Designed to showcase the highlights of the beautiful region of Sooke, the exhibit primarily offers a look at the recreational opportunities available. The exhibit features a 52' X 8' panoramic photo of the majestic Sooke Harbour, in front of which the boardwalk stretches 40' amidst the ocean, beach and trees. A miniature rendition of the Sheringham Point lighthouse illuminates the display, standing proudly at seven feet while a kayak, a trophy fishing catch, a crab pot, and an 8-ft orca whale represent popular tourist activities in Sooke. A tourism video plays on two monitors at the far side of the exhibit.

To complement the exhibit, samples of Sooke smoked salmon have been packaged and business cards showing various nature photographs have been prepared to promote the sooke2010.com website. With links to Sooke tourism sites and a brief history of Sooke, the website also offers a contest to win a seven-night package valued at $7,500 (accommodations, tourism activity passes, two dinners for parties of four and a $500 travel voucher).

The local Sooke exhibit has been under construction for months by a team of artists, designers and builders from Sooke working under the leadership of art consulting manager Evonne Black (shown in photo above), with a final total budget of $50,000. Originally, the budget was $40,000 (15,000 was pledged by the Sooke Economic Development Commission while the remaining $25,000 was issued by the District of Sooke); Another $10,000 to $12,000 was added to the budget for production of a regional tourism video by Inktvis Creative. A complete list of sponsors contributing to the exhibit (presumably covering the cost of the video production, and then some) can be found online -- gold for donations of $5,000 (including Sooke Harbour House, Sunriver Estates and EPCOR), silver for $2,500 and bronze at $1,000.

Richmond’s O|Zone is slated to be the largest official celebration of the 2010 Olympics. According to www.richmondozone.com the entire event will span 60 acres in the heart of Richmond (a municipality in Greater Vancouver), and will include events such as ice art championships, a huge high definition screen, outdoor skating, athletics, exhibits, virtual reality, food, fireworks, entertainment including bands such as Our Lady Peace, Bedouin Soundclash and Hawksley Workmen and the BC Streets exhibit. The event will run for the duration of the Olympic events (February 12 to 28) and will be open to the public, free of charge, Monday-Friday from 3 to 11 pm and weekends from 12 noon to 11 pm.

Intended as a replica of a BC town main street, the BC Streets exhibit will cover a one–block radius and showcase exhibits from 82 communities in the seven regions invited to participate: Kootenay Rockies, Cariboo Chilcotin, South Okanagan-Similkameen, Vancouver Costal Mountains, Comox Valley, Tofino and Sooke. BC Streets has been billed as a "significant opportunity for communities within the province to provide the world a window into the region’s experience". With an expected 15,000 local and international visitors per day, this opportunity holds much potential to attract tourism and investment to the Sooke Region.

During the February 6 open house the 'sea pool' became a collection 'wishing pond' for the local Haitian Relief effort that has been spearheaded by the Sooke Fire Department.  MM

New Sooke Community Development Association started in January, aiming to respond to the District of Sooke on various items related to property developing including zoning and development cost charges.

Article about Sooke and Greater Victoria real estate trends for 2010. Increased sales expected leading up to mid-year, then a sag is likely as the 12% HST (starting July 1, 2010) puts additional financial burdens on home buyers.