Plus: B.C. takes on Ontario at Bear Mountain, and five plans close to home.
Good morning, Westshore.
Our pick this week is free.
Veterans Memorial Park reopens Thursday with music, games and cake, but the thing to go see is the new bandshell. Saturday brings an apple maze in Sooke. Sunday’s live-fire feast at Starlight Stadium runs $159.95 before tax, which is a different sort of afternoon. Dates and prices are in the calendar.
The Westshore team
Here's what we got for you today
Ottawa is spending $500,000 to study passenger rail between Vic West and Langford
B.C. and Ontario meet at Bear Mountain this week
Thursday has dueling pianos in View Royal and a cake-decorating workshop in Langford
Getting Around
What would it take to run trains to Langford again?
E&N Rail Trail, Langford
Ottawa is putting $500,000 toward a study of passenger rail between Vic West and Langford.
The Island Corridor Foundation will look at the old E&N route, the land use around it and what communities need from service. Passenger trains last ran on the line in 2011. The report is expected by the end of 2027.
The route cuts through residential land on Esquimalt Nation’s reserve. The Songhees and Esquimalt Nations are leading a partnership with local governments to study moving that section of track and returning the remediated land.
Sources · Town of View Royal News · Times Colonist · City of Colwood
Community Board
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At Bear Mountain
Bear Mountain gets its B.C. and Ontario rematch
A golfer prepares a putt (illustrative file photo)
Team B.C. and Team Ontario meet at Bear Mountain this week for the Indigenous Challenge Cup. B.C. won the first two editions there, in 2023 and 2024. Then Ontario took the cup last year in Muskoka.
Eight golfers a side. Matches run Tuesday through Thursday, and First Tee is hosting free youth clinics on Tuesday.
Team B.C. captain T’esóts’en (Patrick Kelly), of the Leq’á:mel First Nation, is due to receive the Order of British Columbia in Victoria on Thursday.
Sources · Goldstream Gazette
Sooke & Metchosin
Sooke says the Mount Jack fire is outside town boundaries
The district says homes are not currently at risk. Fire danger is still extreme and campfires remain prohibited.
Sooke’s urgent-care centre has its building permit
Construction is expected later this year. No opening date yet.
A prescribed burn is planned for Rocky Point in Metchosin
It will go ahead only if conditions allow. Nearby communities may see smoke.
On the Calendar
A free park party in Langford Thursday, Sept. 24
Veterans Memorial Park reopens from 1 to 4 p.m. on Aldwynd Road. Linggo plays in the new bandshell. There will be games, then cake. Free.
Dueling pianos in View Royal Thursday, Sept. 24
Doors open at 5:30 p.m. for a 6 p.m. show and BBQ buffet at Elements Casino, 1708 Island Hwy. Ticketed, 19+.
Decorate a cake in Langford Thursday, Sept. 24
Flourish BeauTea’s 6 p.m. workshop on Peatt Road covers icing and piping. You take your cake home. Ticketed. Reserve ahead.
Woodside Farm’s last open day in Sooke Saturday, Sept. 26
At 7149 West Coast Road from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., roam the apple maze, meet the animals and taste what’s growing. Admission $10 to $15.
Brewery & the Beast comes to Langford Sunday, Sept. 27
Live-fire cooking, drinks and music at Starlight Stadium, from 2 to 5 p.m. This one is a splurge: main-event tickets are $159.95 plus tax and fees, all-inclusive, 19+.
People & Places
Langford, Colwood and View Royal have signed an agreement to expand the West Shore RCMP facility
All three have signed off. Construction can start.
Colwood has named its next fire chief and deputy
Scott Abrahamson will be chief. Josh Pettigrew will be deputy.
Help pick fruit in Sooke
Food CHI is looking for volunteer gleaners and owners with fruit to share. Surplus goes to local food programs.
Where does your Westshore commute actually slow down? Hit reply. We want to hear it from the people making the trip. See you Thursday.
The Westshore team
The Westshore.
A twice-weekly, email-first local paper for the Westshore of Vancouver Island. Made out here. Yes, the traffic was bad.
Last light · First to know.
Sailing west, twice a week
The Westshore is produced on the territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən peoples (the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations) and the W̱SÁNEĆ peoples, whose relationship with this land continues to this day.
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