The Second Annual Solstice Lantern Walk
December 21, 2024
Come celebrate the longest night of the year with a magical Solstice Lantern Walk!
When: Saturday, December 21
Time: 6:30PM
Where: John Phillips Memorial Park (2201 Otter Point Road)
Bring a battery powered lantern - creativity encouraged - and gather by the new parking lot next to Sooke Municipal Hall for a wintery community stroll through John Phillips Park.
All ages, all welcome, with free hot chocolate to warm us up at the end.
Follow us on Facebook or Instagram to learn about free lantern making workshops and ideas.
Free Solstice Lantern Making Workshops:
Supplies and inspiration provided, with guidance from local artists. Bring your lantern to the Solstice Lantern Walk on Dec 21st!
Five different dates. All ages welcome.
Saturday, Nov 30 - Sooke Winter Craft Market, Sooke Community Hall (downstairs), 10 am to 4 pm
Sunday, Dec 1 - Sooke Winter Craft Market, Sooke Community Hall (downstairs), 10 am to 4 pm
Saturday, Dec 7 - Sooke Region Museum Winter Market, 11 am to 4 pm
Sunday, Dec 15 - Sooke Library, 10 am to noon
Thursday, Dec 19 - Sooke Library, 6:30 - 8:30 pm
Follow us on Facebook or Instagram to learn about free lantern making workshops and ideas.
November 7, 2024
Remembrance Day StoryWalk
On November 7, we proudly partnered with the Vancouver Island Regional Library and the Esquimalt Military Family Resource Centre (MFRC) to host a meaningful Remembrance Day StoryWalk at Woodland Creek Park.
We welcomed 254 students from local elementary and middle schools, giving them an interactive way to connect with the importance of Remembrance Day while enjoying the fresh air and beauty of one of our many valued, small community parks.
The students created heartfelt letters and artwork, which will be sent to Royal Canadian Navy personnel aboard the HMCS Ottawa who are deployed until spring 2025.
Thank you to everyone who joined us in honoring the past and supporting our service members.
November 1, 2024
Spooky Pumpkin Walk
Thank you, Sooke, for bringing us your pumpkins and coming out to the Spooky Pumpkin Walk at Pineridge Park on Friday night! We collected about 250 pumpkins that are now being composted at a local farm.
Shout out to Wild Wise Society for joining us and sharing info on how events like these help us dispose of our pumpkins responsibly, removing wildlife attractants from our neighbourhoods and keeping us and bears safe.
It takes a community to host this free event so a big thank you to Cafe Vosino for preparing the hot chocolate, to Village Foods for donating the hot chocolate mix, to the neighbours that let us plug into their power to light the bridges, and to our members and volunteers that helped organize the event, set up, greet guests, serve hot chocolate, and stayed to clean up the pumpkins in the pouring rain. Amazing!
Also our gratitude to the District of Sooke, CRD Arts and Culture, and the Recreation Foundation of BC for their funding of this event.
Photos credit: P.Kristiansen Photography
October 16, 2024
Pineridge Park Clean Up
Eight soggy souls came out to clean up Pineridge Park and clear invasives on Wednesday, October 16. It was amazing to see everyone turn out in the rain, carrying hot chocolate and homemade muffins no less. Very heartwarming!
Periwinkle was pulled, holly was hacked, and blackberries were busted. Thanks to Sooke Parks staff, Jessica, for being such a wealth of knowledge and working along side us.
Spotlight on Millennium Park
March 2024 - May 2024
May 10, 2024
Movie Night! E.T. Phone Sooke
What a magical night for our first movie night in the park! we had between 50-100 people attend and everyone was amazing. Then at the end of the movie we were all treated by an incredible display of northern lights. It was beautiful!
We were overwhelmed with the support and attendance and can’t wait to host another movie night in the near future. Thank you to VOSINO for the hot chocolate and thank you so much Steve Anderson for the PA system!
You can see more pictures on our Facebook page.
Spotlight on John Phillips Memorial Park
December 2023 - February 2024
April 21, 2024
Park Clean-Up and FireProof Event
Our Millennium Park Clean-Up and FireSmart event was a huge success!! Thank you to everyone who came out to help. Over 25 people volunteered and in under two hours we managed to plant two new beautiful trees, remove a huge truckload of invasive species and other hazardous fuels, and completely raked the cemetery clean of leaves.
January 26, 2024
Literacy Week Pop-Up Story Walk
The Friends of Sooke Parks Society hosted a pop-up story book walk at John Phillips Memorial Park in partnership with the Sooke Library on Friday, January 26. Roughly 20 adults with children came out and over 60 dogs :)
We chose to coordinate this pop-up story book walk in January as part of Family Literacy Week 2024 which is designed to celebrate adults and children reading and learning together across the province. The theme this year was “Let’s Have a Family Party!” Make food, sing songs, and play games.
Thank you to everyone who came out to enjoy reading along to Valerie Bolling's book, Bing, Bop Bam: Time to Jam! with illustrations by Sabrina Khadija.
December 21, 2023
Winter Solstice Lantern Walk
The Friends of Sooke Parks Society hosted Sooke's first ever Solstice Lantern Walk for the longest night of the year on December 21. There were amazing homemade lanterns, lots of happy voices, and a beautiful first winter evening.
Thank you to our amazing volunteers for all the behind the scenes work that went into putting this amazing event on including all the creative lanterns to light our way along the path and hot chocolate station. Thank you as well to Village Foods for the hot chocolate mix, Cafe Vosino for preparing the hot chocolate and the cups, Sooke Region Museum for hosting the lantern making workshop and lending us a 2nd thermos, Vancouver Island Regional Library + Fans for hosting a take and make lantern craft set at Sooke Library, and A Sea of Bloom Floral Design for leading the procession.
We would love to turn this into an annual event and partner with the many creative talents in Sooke. If you have ideas for next year, please let us know.
November 22, 2023
Tree Planting in John Phillips Memorial Park
We were thrilled to plant nine new trees in John Phillips Park along with our awesome volunteers, District of Sooke Parks Staff and Councillor Jeff Bateman on November 22, 2023 as part of our Sooke Parks Enhancement Program.
The trees were planted along the Stickleback Urban Trail on the Nott Brook Pond side of the park. Two species, a Greenspire Linden and a Burgundy Belle Maple, were planted in an alternating pattern with the intention to create a majestic boulevard of trees at maturity, contrasting nicely in their natural shapes and their seasonal colours. At full maturity, these trees will grow to 40 feet, providing a beautiful ambience for park visitors, shade in the summer, and improved air quality for all.
Planting trees helps mitigate against climate change and we know that preserving and expanding urban green spaces is one of the most important and impactful contributions that municipalities can make to promoting greater climate resiliency.
Spotlight on Pineridge Park
August-November 2023
December 1, 2023
Tree Planting in Pineridge Park
We planted two beautiful trees in Pineridge Park on November 10, 2023 with the help of our amazing volunteers and support from District of Sooke Parks staff. This time we planted two Cornus Eddie’s White Wonder dogwood trees.
Besides beautification - white flowers in the spring and fantastic fall colours - dogwoods have an interesting shape and are one of the few trees that will survive in a forest understory. These trees are a great option to reduce fuel hazard – low hazard itself, rapidly decaying leaf-litter, and shade the ground and lower bows of trees with higher fuel hazard ratings. Dogwoods are also moderately slow-growing and well behaved ‘good neighbour’ trees that can live over 100 years.
We also took the opportunity to pull out more invasives - 4 bags of periwinkle, holly, and blackberry vines in an hour!
November 10, 2023, 12pm-4pm
Remembrance Day Pop-Up Story Walk
The Friends of Sooke Parks Society (FSPS) hosted a Remembrance Day Pop-Up Story Walk with the Sooke Library and Military Family Resource Centre at Pineridge Park on Friday, November 10 from 12pm-4pm. Over 200 people came out including several classes from Poirer Elementary. The colouring tent hosted by the MFRC was a big hit.
The featured book was: In Flander’s Fields: The Story of the Poem by John McCrae by Linda Granfield with illustrations by Janet Wilson.
Thanks so much to everyone who came out and look forward to seeing you again next year.
November 1, 2023, 5pm-8pm
Spooky Pumpkin Walk
The Friends of Sooke Parks Society (FSPS) hosted a Spooky Pumpkin Walk event at Pineridge Park on Wednesday, November 1 from 5pm - 8pm. We received over 300 pumpkins and 200+ attendees making the evening a huge success.
Thank you to everyone who came out and/or donated a pumpkin. We already can't wait for next year! For more pictures of the evening, see our Facebook page.
September 23, 2023, 10:30am
Park Clean-Up and FireProof Initiative
Thank you to everyone who came out to help clean up and FireSmart Pineridge Park!
Key Highlights:
23+ people and a few kiddos too
Two truckloads of debris and potential fuel for fires
Invasives like holly and ivy cleared out
Pathways raked
Nice Work everyone!
Getting Started as a Society
September 16, 2023, 10:30am
Meet and Greet
Thanks to everyone who came out to the meet and greet at Murray Road Park. We had over 20 people attend and it was inspiring to hear all the great ideas and to feel the passionate support for Sooke parks and green spaces.
