Summer So[u]lstice at Royal Oak Burial Park

Saturday, June 19, 2010 – 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Click to Download Summer Soulstice Post Card

Royal Oak Burial Park is pleased to announce its collaboration with artist Paula Jardine to create a unique public event marking the beginning of summer.  This will be an opportunity for the community to have a different cemetery experience.

Summer So[u]lstice at Royal Oak Burial Park will have 4 distinct but interwoven elements;

Explore the history of the Burial Park on guided tours with Dave Obee local historian and author of “Royal Oak Burial Park – A History and Guide’.

Stroll through newly developed areas in the Burial Park like the Woodlands green burial site, the expanded Terraces area, the water features and the new Peace Garden.

Musical Elements Ambient music will add to the atmosphere and accompany people as they move through and visit featured areas.  Performers will include the ‘a cappella’ voices of Ensemble Laude; early music group Banquo;  violinists Calvin Cairns and Zavallennahh RT, Harpist Alison Vardy, and solo cellist Laine Longton.

Find family members who may be interred at the Burial Park.  Staff will be on hand to help locate gravesites and answer questions visitors may have about the Burial Park.

Remember the dead, whether interred at the Burial Park or elsewhere, with unique floral tributes, personal poems, messages and paper prayer flags.

Poets, Wendy Morton, creator of Random Acts of Poetry and Rhonda Ganz will recite and compose poems for individuals and small groups, and Brigid Skelton, youngest daughter of the late poet Robin Skelton, will read a selection of his works.

Paula Jardine, a Victoria resident, is building on the popular success of the Night for All Souls, an event initiated by her as artist in residence at Mountain View Cemetery in Vancouver. “Inviting the public to the cemetery is a part of a reinvigoration of the role of the cemetery in the life of the community.  It’s also a great way to introduce adults and children to the subject of death in a friendly social setting, where we can support each other and acknowledge death as a part of life.”

This event is suitable for all ages, and is wheelchair accessible.

Royal Oak Burial Park is a community owned cemetery that opened in 1923.  For more information about Royal Oak Burial Park you can call 250.658.5621.