Oak Bay Tea Party Parade 2011

What most of us think of as "Victoria" is actually a cluster of smaller entities that are so close together that they are indistinguishable except on paper. One of these is the city of Oak Bay. Oak Bay holds an annual celebration called the Oak Bay Tea Party, unlike its more famed namesake in Boston in that it is so named in honour of the especially tea-drinking, British nature of the city and has a Mad Hatter/Alice in Wonderland theme. It's a very much more neighbourhood style of event than the Victoria Day Parade and the marching bands are local. Below is a taste of the Lambrick Park Secondary School marching band in case you missed the parade. The Tea Party is a two day event that also includes a carnival midway, an air show and bathtub races. We'll see some more of it here later this week.

Victoria Day Parade

Victoria Day is a national holiday in Canada but is an especially big holiday here in the city named for the English queen whose birthday is being celebrated on that day. The parade is a long tradition and it never fails to delight. As usual, there were lots of marching bands but I thought the tyranosaurus (left) was a nice feature. As for the 12 year old on the right, getting to ride a growling dirt bike in an outfit like that is pretty awesome, but doing wheelies down Douglas Street in front of an admiring crowd - well, I hope he went home happy - it's not gonna get much better than this.

One That Got Away

Victoria Day Parade 6 - Ethnic Communities

I have to confess that the Victoria Day Parade is getting a lot of coverage here this year partially because the weather lately has been dreadful - cold and dark and rainy - so I have not been out and about much despite two very inviting outdoor events - the Highland Games and the Swiftsure Yacht Race. However, the parade really deserves more exposure than I usually give it so here are a few more photos representing some of the displays put on by Victoria's ethnic communities. The girls above were in one of several displays representing our vibrant Chinese-Canadian community and the young woman below was playing on a float celebrating the Polish ethnic community.

Majorettes and Beauty Queens - Victoria Day Parade 5

Here's two more traditional parts of every parade - the majorettes that often accompany marching bands (above) and the beauty queens representing various organizations. Those below represent Job's Daughters. There weren't very many beauty queens in this year's parade. I suspect the era of beauty queens is passing.

Victoria Day Parade 4

With any parade the bystanders on the sidelines are often as interesting as the participants marching past. This trio was having so much fun I don't think anyone nearby was watching the parade. It's been a long time since I played Ring Around the Rosie. If I fell down now I'd probably break my hip. This is one of those games that only works when you're still fairly close to the ground.

Marching Bands - Victoria Day Parade 3

Despite all the social changes in the last century here is something that seems to maintain its popularity - elaborately costumed kids' marching bands. When I was a boy I played trumpet in one that toured the USA and Canada one summer (1956), traveling from city to city and marching in their parades. Consequently these marching bands bring back plenty of memories. We wore dark blue capes lined with bright red satin that I thought were just about the sharpest thing possible. I'm sure the kids in these pictures are much more blasé about their outfits.

Trumpeters in berets	Flautists in buttons
Saxaphonists in kilts	Clarinetists in plaid

Parades would be pretty dead and dull without the show these kids provide. Many thanks to the American and Canadian kids who marched and played.

Horses - Victoria Day Parade 2

These splendid horses belong to the Victoria Fire Department and were pulling an antique fire engine in the parade. I think they are a kind of horse known as a Percheron.

Clowns - Victoria Day Parade 1

Victoria always celebrates Victoria Day with a parade and over the next few days I will share some of the photographs I took of this year's. To set the mood here's a couple of photos of clowns. They are always always fascinating subjects since there is a double layer to their features - the makeup and the expression underneath it, each giving added depth to the other.

Clown

A classic feature of any parade or fair is a clown. In this part of the world, clowns are most often provided by the Shrine Temple, a voluntary organization that supports children's charities. The clown above, who appeared in the Oak Bay Tea Party parade was, according to the International Shrine Clown Association, an "Auguste" type of clown:

His is the most comic face. His make-up is a flesh color (pink or reddish or tan) instead of white. His features (usually red or black) are exaggerated in size. The mouth is usually thickly outlined with white, which is often also used around the eyes. Outlining is very important. Gradual shading of colors is often used. He will usually have a ball nose, but there are many exceptions.

Clowns have been around for a long time. According to the International Clown Hall of Fame:

First known clown was a pygmy presiding as a court fool at the court of Pharaoh Dadkeri-Assi, Egypt’s Fifth Dynasty. In 1818 BC, one of China’s rulers, neglecting ancient religious rites, filled the court with clowns. His successors restored the rites, but also kept the clowns. One of China’s jesters, Yu Sze, is remembered as a national hero because he saved the lives of thousands of laborers when he kidded the Emperor Shih Huang–Ti out of having the enemy side of the Great Wall whitewashed in 300 BC.

Norman Rockwell Moment - Oak Bay Tea Party

I captured this intent photographer while watching the Oak Bay Tea Party parade. This is an annual event that takes place in the Victoria community called Oak Bay. In a city that prides itself on being British, Oak Bay is the supreme bastion of the jolly olde tea-drinking set. The Oak Bay Tea Party has events over this entire weekend, including an air show and bathtub race today, so I'll be posting more photos soon. In the meantime, I trust all you photographers out there will enjoy this Norman Rockwell moment.