Aboriginal Cultural Festival

Aboriginal Cultural Festival is a three days event with music and dance performances on an outdoor stage at the Royal BC Museum to celebrate National Indigenous Peoples Day. Each day of the event will begin with a traditional welcome by your host nations, the Esquimalt and Songhees, and then you can enjoy more than 100 cultural performers all over BC. These performances are history and storytelling on stage with cultural songs and dances. At this event, you can go on a Totem Tour, go through the Indigenous Arts Marketplace and talk freely to the artisans. One of the crucial parts of the event is that you can try Indigenous cuisines such as fry bread, barbecued salmon, west coast clam chowder, and other dishes at the Songhees Seafood and Steam Food Truck. To know more about First Nations history in BC, visitors are encouraged to visit the Royal BC Museum’s extensive First Peoples gallery. The museum and archives showcase the diversity and resilience of Indigenous peoples through a collection of many photographs, films, recordings, and objects from 10,000 years of history.

Aboriginal Cultural Festival Location

The Aboriginal festival takes place in the Royal BC Museum, which is the traditional territory of the Songhees and Esquimalt nations. Since Royal BC Museum is located in downtown Victoria, you have plenty of places to see and enjoy, such as Inner Harbour Causeway, The Maritime Museum of British Columbia, and Miniature World. Of course, there are many other excellent landmarks and entertainment nearby. Downtown also has exceptional food locales that you have to try, such as Liberty Cafe Ltd and BC Legislative Dining Room.

How to Get to Aboriginal Cultural Festival by Car

From downtown to the museum, the best route is via Trans-Canada Hwy/BC-1 S, which is 800 m, 2624.6 ft long and takes about 2 minutes, directions are Head west on Yates St toward Trans-Canada Hwy/BC-1 N 57 m, 187 ft, Turn left at the 1st cross street onto Trans-Canada Hwy/BC-1 S 700 m, 2296.5 ft, Turn right onto Belleville St, Destination will be on the left 77 m, 252.6 ft.

From Nanaimo, the best route to the museum is via Trans-Canada Hwy/BC-1 S, which is 111 km, 68.9 mi long and takes about an hour, and 25 minutes, directions are Take Wallace St to Trans-Canada Hwy/BC-1 S 550 m, 1804.4 ft, Follow Trans-Canada Hwy/BC-1 S to Belleville St in Victoria 111 km, 68.9 mi, Turn right onto Belleville St, Destination will be on the left 77 m, 252.6 ft.

History of the Aboriginal Cultural Festival

The Royal BC Museum has hosted the Aboriginal Cultural Festival since 2015. From the early days of colonial settlement in Victoria, the province's significant artifacts and specimens have been collected and safeguarded for future generations by the museum that brings back the museum's foundation to 1886; the museum was built as a result of a petition signed by 30 prominent citizens. The museum has been through a lot over the years; for example, the museum was relocated twice, first to the former Supreme Court building and then in 1898, to the East Wing of Legislative Buildings.

Things to do around the Aboriginal Cultural Festival Area

The must-do activities during the event are browsing and shopping the beautiful wares at the Indigenous Arts Marketplace and talking to the artisans, witnessing a traditional smudge ceremony, going on an educational tour about the history of totems, and indulging yourself with delicious treats like fry bread, barbecued sockeye salmon and West Coast clam chowder from the Songhees Seafood and Steam food truck. Also, the museum's surroundings are full of great restaurants and coffee shops where you can enjoy a lovely meal and a good drink. As for the places to go, we have Victoria's Chinatown, one of the oldest china towns in Canada and a fantastic place for photography and learning more about Victoria's history. After that, maybe you could visit Beacon Hill Park, a beautiful park with the largest standing totem as a landmark and a momentum where you can relax from the city's crowd.