SUMMER 2015 Program Highlights (Presentation Materials)

SUMMER 2015 Program Highlights

COMMUNITY PROGRAMS

Rotary Art & Wine Festival – July 24

• 225 tickets were sold.
• West Shore Parks & Recreation helped in the promotion and selling of tickets.
• 20 artists had booths and 35 volunteers worked at the event.
• Location was Fort Rodd Hill located in the City of Colwood.

Sunset Cinema – July 16

• Presented by the Coastal Community Credit Union on the hill behind Juan de Fuca Recreation Centre.
• Featured the animated movie 'Home' from DreamWorks.
• Fortis had an interactive station during the pre-show events.

Movies on the Hill – August 5

• Presented by West Shore Parks & Recreation at JDF on the hill behind Juan de Fuca Recreation Centre.
• 4th Annual 'Movies on the Hill' featuring Disney's Big Hero 6.
• Heroes Inc. Super Heroes were on the hill to interact and take photo with children and families.
• $310 in donations were raised for the Neighborhood Nights Program.

Pink Salmon Festival – August 23

• 110 children went fishing.
• Every second year when the Pink Salmon are running the Pink Salmon festival is held to introduce children to salmon fishing.
• Skippers volunteer their time for three hours of saltwater fishing and exploring local waters followed by a BBQ for familes.

Roving Play Parks – June 29 to August 28

• A FREE drop-in outdoor summer day camp that visits a different park each day of the week.
• This program was offered in View Royal, Langford, Highlands and Colwood (bordering on Metchosin).
• Program averages 40-60 kids per day reaching maximum participant numbers at certain locations throughout the summer.
• Themes and activities changed each week and included games, sports, songs and crafts.

Neighbourhood Nights – Tue/Wed/Thu, July 7 – August 27

• 10-30 families attended each night.
• Each week a 45 minute demo was presented to highlight various ways to get active with the family, including Jazzercise, Zumba, Dance Fix, Basketball, Soccer and Rugby.
• On the first night over 80 Jazzercizers and their families were at Centennial Park in View Royal.
• A special thank you to John Macmillan from West Shore Rugby – their demos were a favourite for all ages, and they attended the program on 6 different nights at all three locations.
• Water and delicious snacks were provided by Thrifty Foods, whose staff were instrumental to the program success each night.

SPECIAL EVENTS

Vancouver Island Mustang Association Car Show – July 5

• 110 show cars were on display on the Lower Fields.
• 300 spectators attended over the day.
• Fundraising efforts were donated to the Salvation Army Food Drive.

Rock the Shores – July 18 & 19

• 4th Annual Rock the Shores Outdoor Music Festival.
• Headliners were international bestselling artists The Black Keys and Jane's Addiction.
• 18,000 music fans converged on to the Lower Fields.
• 4,000 bicycles were locked up in the Q Centre helping reduce vehicle congestion.
• This year we added a West Shore Parks & Recreation tent and hosted a Fitness Challenge for prize give aways.

Turf Burn Adult Coed Soccer Tournament – August 7-9

• 7th Annual Charitable Soccer Tournament (relocated to WSPR in 2013).
• $10,000 was raised to improve youth soccer facilities in Greater Victoria.
• 28 Coed Adult Teams participated.

Easter Seals Woman2Warrior – August 30

• Presented by BC Lions Society for Children with Disabilities to raise funds to benefit the Society's Easter Seals Camping Program.
• 175 Women participated (including a West Shore Parks & Recreation staff team of 10).
• A 5km race including 12 obstacles was set up to test strength, agility, balance, and sense of adventure.
• Woman 2 Warrior Victoria participants helped raise over $50,000.

PARTNERSHIPS

New Artificial Turf Field – Velox Moves to the West Shore

• Refurbishment of the previously unusable Velodrome infield provides an all-weather practice surface for Westshore Rugby Football Club (RFC) and will also be used by Victoria Field Lacrosse, Greater Victoria Velodrome Association and West Shore Parks & Recreation programs.
• The Artificial Turf Field covers 84,000sq/ft.
• Westshore RFC contributed $450,000 to complete the field upgrade.
• Velox Rugby Football Club established in 1969 moved to the Westshore and changed their name to Westshore RFC.
• West Shore RFC will begin play in their various leagues on September 19 on Field #1.
• The Fieldhouse will act as the West Shore RFCs clubhouse on practice and game days.

Grizzlies Contract

• West Shore Parks & Recreation and the Victoria Grizzlies of the BC Hockey League (BCHL) reached an agreement on a new lease.
• The lease will keep the team at the Q Centre for the next five seasons.
• Grizzlies are entering their 21st season in the BCHL, regular season game schedule starts October 1 at the Q Centre.

Royal Bay High School grass and artificial Turf Fields

• Built in partnership with School District 62, West Shore Parks & Recreation, JDF Soccer and the City of Colwood.
• User groups including JDF Soccer and Victoria Field Lacrosse will have access to the new fields.

Victoria Shamrocks

• Winners of the best regular season record in the Western Lacrosse Association (WLA).
• WLA Playoff Champs after sweeping the Maple Ridge Burrard's and New West Minister Salmon Bellies in 4 games each.
• The Shamrocks are playing in their third consecutive Mann Cup being hosted at the Q Centre September 4-12.
• The Victoria Shamrock averaged 2,100 fans per game this season.

SUMMER CAMPS

Registration

• West Shore Parks & Recreation offered over 100 different camps resulting in 3805 registrations.
• 61 camps were at Juan de Fuca Recreation Centre in Colwood and 26 camps were at Centennial Centre in Langford.
• 13 camps were held off-site in various community locations.
• Pre and Post Camp averaged 38 children per week – a total of 760 registrations.
• Most Summer Camp programs were full and numbers increased over last year.
• Teen Specialty camps were well attended with 63 camper registrations, an all time high.
• 9 students participated this summer in Bronze Medallion, an aquatic leadership program, all were successful and are now seeking volunteer hours with West Shore Parks & Recreation this fall.

Highlights

• Getting a visit from the West Shore Wizard a mysterious figure who leaves the children notes.
• Camp leaders were AMAZING and showed a tremendous amount of team work.
• Kids got to participate in a Fun Friday Talent Show where leaders sang "Let it Go" from Frozen.

Recreation Leadership

• 21 Youth Leaders worked in camp for over 720 combined hours of volunteer time.
• Participants were introduced to skills necessary to become effective youth leaders.
• Many of our Recreation Leadership volunteers choose to return for more than the required week and each year we see between 25-50% of past participants volunteer again.

Staffing

• 23 full time staff were hired.
• 9 one-on-one inclusion workers were hired in partnership with Queen Alexandra (Island Health). 11 campers with special needs who required one-on-one care participated in our programs at both Juan de Fuca and Centennial Centre.
• West Shore Parks & Recreation received partial funding from the federal government for 9 staff who are currently post-secondary students.