COMMUNITY EVENTS | 🎹 Pop-Up Piano Concert on Sunday, Aug. 25 from 2 to 3:30pm at Turkey Head/ Oak Bay Marina. This free pop-up outdoor piano concert will feature the musician and composer Brooke Maxwell. | 🎪 Family Fest at Willows will be held on Saturday, Aug. 31, from 11am to 2pm at Willows Park. The event is organized by the Canvas Church in Oak Bay, and is open to everyone. This annual event is a community favourite and features bouncy castles, live music, games and more. | 🌚 The last Oak Bay Night Market of the season will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 11 from 4-8pm. Markets were held on the second Wednesday of the month in Oak Bay this summer, where the village transformed into a European-style street market with fresh and local produce, food and artisanal goods. More info here. | 🧘🏻♀️ Summer Yoga in Abkhazi Garden will take place on Wednesdays from 6:30-7:30pm for $15 per class. Email Kaitlyn at omoutsideyoga@gmail.com to reserve your spot. |
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| | COMMUNITY NEWS | 🍄 “Extremely toxic” death cap mushrooms have been growing in Oak Bay. Death cap mushrooms can be identified by their pale and yellowish colour, large cap and skirting underneath it. They can cause extreme illness and can be lethal to people, and especially to children and pets. [District of Oak Bay] | 🚐 BC Transit cutting popular bus route to UVic. The change is part of a service update that will take place on Sept. 3. Passengers are being advised to use route 11 Tillicum Centre/UVic as an alternative, which BC Transit says overlaps with most of the current route 13 path. The changes were made in order to “better align service with demand.” [Oak Bay News] | 🚴♂️ Oak Bay survey on planned cycling improvements open until Sept. 12. The draft designs for improvements to Henderson Road and Haultain-Estevan Avenue can be viewed here, and the survey is available here. The design team has met with residents who were invited to ask questions about the design. [District of Oak Bay] | 🚘 Dad’s driving lesson leads to impounded Porsche in Oak Bay. Police say the car was recorded going more than double the speed limit at Beach and Newport. The driver, 18, held a Class 7 driver’s licence and the passenger was the car’s owner, her father, police said. The 2024 Porsche Macan was impounded for a week, and the driver was issued an excessive speeding ticket. [Oak Bay Police] | 📝 Survey about preserving Bank Street School sparks conversation about balancing a desire to preserve the heritage structure with the changing needs of the community. Some parents say building a new school is the better option for local families, as the cost of preserving the old school is the same as starting fresh, which would provide more spaces for students. [Oak Bay Local] | 🚧 Construction to affect Beach Drive access until Aug. 30. The closures along Beach Drive will occur between Bowker Avenue and Windsor Road from Aug. 7-30. Detours will be in place for the several routes along the drive, which can be viewed on this map. [District of Oak Bay] | 🎨 Arts Alive 2024 is still on, which includes names and locations of permanent and temporary sculptures on display throughout Oak Bay. Check out the interactive art map of the sculptures on display. | 🗑 Want reminders of local garbage pickup? One local is sending reminders over email. Sign up here to learn more. [Oak Bay Local] | | P.S. Did someone forward you this email? Subscribe here. |
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| | PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT | To join the conversation, become a member of the Oak Bay Local Facebook Group | | Oak Bay’s Active Transportation Strategy | Active transportation and bike lanes specifically are topics that can get heated in many communities, and Oak Bay is no different. This week, an Oak Bay local posted a survey on an upcoming proposal for improvements to the cycling routes along Henderson and Haultain-Estevan. The plan has several goals, including improving intersection safety for all users, which includes walkers, pedestrians, drivers and bike riders. | Many locals had questions and comments about this plan, including concerns about the cost, as well as the impact it could have on local parking options, as some spaces will be removed as part of the plan. The District of Oak Bay has shared draft designs of the plan and has invited the community to ask questions and share comments on the proposal. | One commenter said they hope that the plan focuses more on pedestrian traffic, since many have said they’ve had close calls from both cars and bike riders who have a tendency to go through the existing stop sign without looking. Another commenter, who attended the bike tour with Oak Bay staff and the consultant on the project, said that they now understand the plan and approve of it, after having gone through it in detail with the planners. Several local bike riders and pedestrians welcomed the planned improvements, and said that route connectivity has been a long time coming for Oak Bay. | Locals can follow along here to learn more about the upcoming changes. | | How do you feel about planned cycling route improvements in Oak Bay? | |
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| | | Unprovoked buck attacks | An Oak Bay local posted that they experienced an unprovoked attack by a large buck in a residential area this week. The original poster said that they were attacked from behind, along with their dog, and were warning others to be careful. The post drew nearly 200 comments and sparked a heated discussion about what to do. | Some community members say they have noticed increasingly aggressive behaviour by local deer, with one commenter saying they had experienced a deer attacking their dog within their own backyard. The discussion also turned to a wider conversation about off-leash dogs—though the original commenter said that their dog was not off leash before this particular incident. Others have warned that deer have been known to be aggressive to off-leash dogs in particular in Oak Bay, with some saying this could be threatening to the deer and could inadvertently provoke them into going into attack mode in unpredictable situations. | | |
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| | IN OTHER NEWS | | Oak Bay locals pull together donations in support of a newcomer family | The above photo shows a compilation of items that were donated by locals in order to help a family get settled in the community from Ukraine. The family wanted to send their hugs to all and would like to have them over for tea once they are settled as an expression of thanks. They are still in search of a few items in order to get set up in their new home. | |
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| | | PHOTO OF THE WEEK |  | Photo credit: Barbara Jane Pilling |
| Local baker taking orders for Thanksgiving pies. Are you ready for fall yet? | |
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| What did you think of today's edition? | | | |
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