Oak Bay Tea Party

When you have a tea party of course you have to have tea cups.

Secret of Bumper Car Driving

Hammering big nails may be a matter of wrist action or where you hold the hammer (see yesterday's post) but it is clear that the secret to bumper car driving is to hold your tongue just exactly right.

Hammered!

About 50 paces away from where I took the beach photo I posted yesterday I came across the sight above. It is, of course, the preparation for the famed Oak Bay Tea Party Ladies' Nail-Driving Competition. Below are some of the contestants, hammering.

Willows Beach

The carnival ride photo I posted yesterday is located in Willows Park where the rest of the Oak Bay Tea Party events also take place. We'll have some more photos of the Tea Party events this week. Today's photo is Willows Beach, probably Victoria's most popular ocean beach. When the busy bustling midway became a little overpowering it was nice to take a stroll along the beach.

The Midway

What could be better than to be flung around at high speed in a shiny green plastic chariot on a sunny afternoon in June?

Oak Bay Tea Party Parade

Oak Bay, though part of what is called Greater Victoria, is actually a small city and the annual Oak Bay Tea Party Parade perfectly captures this small-town atmosphere. Above, while waiting for the parade to begin children romped and chased bubbles and neighbors exchanged news. Below is one aspect of modern parades - lots of parade participants throw candy to the children. Great idea! It certainly makes parade-watching more interesting for the kids.

Below is a bit of a montage that may suggest what this year's parade was like.

June Choices!

As I wrote yesterday, "Every year I put together a calendar for friends and family, of photos I have published on this blog for the last year or so. However, it's always difficult to make decisions about which photos to use. I am hoping visitors to this blog will help out. Every day for the next few weeks I will publish two or three photos from a given month and hope that comments and choices made by visitors will help me make a final decision which photos to use in this year's calendar. As an incentive, I will offer an online downloadable/printable file of the calendar to anyone who helps me make a choice."

Thanks to everyone who has given me their opinions so far, and it really helps when you give reasons for your preference.

Below are my favorite June 2016 photos. There are four to choose from today. From now on there is a steady stream of events every weekend through til autumn. June starts off with the Oak Bay Tea Party and the Vic West Skateboard Competition - two of my favorite events. Anyway, here's four photos of Victoria in June. Which one do you prefer?

Oak Bay Tea Party Midway (I like this photo because carnival midways usually look sort of trashy but this one looks so green and rural.)

Pierre St. Pierre - Street Performer (In Summer the Inner Harbour Causeway is a never-ending program of excellent street performers. Pierre is one of the best.)

National Aboriginal Cultural Festival (another great event in June)

Vic West Skateboard Competition (These four photos are a set, no need to choose between them.)

Screamfest

Before we leave the Oak Bay Tea Party behind for this year I thought I would share with you some screams from a popular midway ride. I'm sure I don't understand why anyone would pay to have an experience that makes you scream but they do and here's proof (video below is 1 minute long).

Town Crier

In those long ago days before the internet, every town had a town crier who broadcast important news to the people. Oak Bay still has one and he can be seen marching in the Tea Party Parade every year, as above, with his lady.

Oak Bay Tea Party

When the Oak Bay Tea Party sets up the midway at Willows Beach Park I am always amazed at how the big trees there make even the glitzy, razz-a-ma-tazz seem pleasantly pastoral.

Oak Bay Tea Party Parade

I just got back from the Oak Bay Tea Party parade so here's a quick glimpse of what it was like. As usual, it was a parade full of kids on bikes and scooters, local marching bands, a few floats, lots of old fire trucks and, of course, some clowns.

Oak Bay Tea Party

At this time of year there is one or more major events every weekend. Last weekend was the annual Oak Bay Tea Party. I missed the parade this year but here's a taste of the midway at Willows Beach.

Meanwhile....

Crowds came to Willows Beach on the weekend for the Oak Bay Tea Party, the midway rides and the junk food. Some people even came to drink tea. But many just came down to sit on the beach and do those beachy things, like...dig. I figure the Bald Eagle on the right showed up to take part in the air show but since he was snubbed, he flew elsewhere. As for junk food, there was lots of pink candy floss and burgers, hot dogs and chips of every description, but there was some other good stuff too - I had a vegan tofu wrap from the purveyor below that was as delicious as it was nutritious.

Oak Bay Tea Party

The Oak Bay Tea Party takes place over the whole weekend so I went down to Willows Beach on Sunday to look at some of the events. There is bathtub racing, lots of midway rides, and an air show.

Oak Bay Tea Party Parade

Every year Oak Bay holds a community celebration called the Oak Bay Tea Party that is loosely associated with the Mad Hatter's Tea Party from Alice in Wonderland. The kick-off event is the parade held on Saturday morning and I always make it a point to attend because it's always a delight. It's a very small town kind of parade with lots of kids on their bikes or scooters, a few beauty queens, a half dozen marching bands and a few clowns. I'm sure most of the population of Oak Bay is there as the parade winds its way along its mostly residential route. Those that aren't in the parade are watching from deck chairs on their lawns. Above are some of the participants from the Ross Bay Pre-school and below is a collage of other marchers.

Rides - Oak Bay Tea Party

It's that time of year again when the carnival midways pop up in various locations around Victoria. Last weekend these rides graced the Oak Bay Tea Party at Willows Beach. This weekend the midway will light up Esquimalt for Buccaneer Days.

Oak Bay Tea Party

In a society where many of the fun things we used to do when we were kids are now off limits for children as too dangerous, it's nice to see that midway rides still offer some extreme experiences that feel dangerous even if they aren't. The kids above are enjoying one of my former favorites, the Tilt-A-Whirl, on the midway at the annual Oak Bay Tea Party, last weekend.

Oak Bay Tea Party

Last Sunday Fern posted a photo here of this beach (Willows Beach) at sunrise. Eight hours later this is what it looked like, crowded with spectators for the Air Show. Behind me when I took the above photo was the midway - cotton candy, hot dogs, French Fries, cold pop and ice cream and, because it's the Oak Bay Tea Party, you could also have a nice cup of tea. And after stuffing yourself with junk food, what could be more refreshing than to be thrown about at high speed on one of the many "rides" (below). My favourite ride this year was "The Zipper" because it produced the most screams per minute. Below is a video of the Zipper in action. It's not a long video but if you just want the high point there are some particularly full-throated screams at about 18 seconds.

If you missed the midway at the Oak Bay Tea Party, don't despair. There's another local celebration this weekend with a parade and midway amongst other events - Esquimalt Buccaneer Days. The parade's on Saturday at 10 am but there are events on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Click HERE to find out more.