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True facts and fun fakes at the Royal BC Museum this October
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VICTORIA, BC—No fake news here: the Royal BC Museum is honestly the place to be for fun learning opportunities in October:
Fringe Festival fans will already be familiar with Abdul Aziz and Shawn O’Hara, creators of the comedic spectacles known as Fake Ghost Tours. Now they’re bringing their hilarious and “100 per cent accurate and legitimate” story-telling to the Royal BC Museum. Which old souls prowl Old Town? What boogeymen live in the bathrooms? This tour reveals all! Oct. 9, 10, 11 and 12, at 6 pm, 7:30 pm and 9 pm. $20 per person.
Mother Nature can be a clever trickster—learn about nature’s best fakes and how animals strive to survive at these family-friendly events:
Happy Hour: Fake Out! is Oct. 10 from 5:30 pm to 7 pm—$10 per person; snacks and drinks available for purchase. This is a 19+ event; valid photo ID required for entry. (But you don’t have to leave the kids behind! The new Parallel Play Childminding program is available for this event: $15/per child, ages 3-10.)
Wonder Sunday: Fake Out! runs October 13, 20 and 27 from 1 to 3 pm in the Natural History gallery. Get up close and personal with birds, bugs, and mammals from our collections, and make a related craft. Free with admission or membership.
It’s the truth: Maya: The Great Jaguar Rises continues to wow visitors of all ages. The multi-sensory feature exhibition spotlights the mystery, legacy and resilience of one of the world’s greatest civilizations—the Maya of Central America—and has earned rave reviews for its rarely seen artifacts and family-friendly interactives. Enrich the experience with these events:
Hello Exhibition! is a new members-only program that gives parents and caregivers the opportunity to tour the Maya exhibition while someone else minds the kids! Learning staff will lead a tour for the grown-ups, while the little ones (ages 2-5) learn about related topics with their own separate on-site programming. October 15, 10 to 11 am, $15 per member family.
On November 27, 2019, the Distinguished Lecture Series features Tulane University’s Dr. Marcello Canuto, who last year led a team of archaeologists to new discoveries at the Maya site of La Corona in Guatemala. His talk, An Isolated Stop on the Road of Power: La Corona, the Snake Kings and Altar 5, presents new evidence for how a powerful kingdom known as the Kaanul dynasty began. Newcombe Hall; 7-10 pm; $15 for Royal BC Museum members; $39.95 for non-members.
Come meet “Buster”—the very real new dinosaur discovered in Northern BC by Victoria Arbour, Curator of Paleontology—at these events:
Dr. Arbour will dig deep into the story of BC’s Mountain Dinosaurs during Live at Lunch on Oct. 2 from noon to 1 pm in Newcombe Hall. By donation.
Buster is also the focus of the Helijet-sponsored Pocket Gallery (in Clifford Carl Hall) until Feb. 26, 2020. The exhibition follows Dr. Arbour’s quest to unearth the mysteries of a small plant-eating relative of the Triceratops that was first discovered by accident in 1971 near the Sustut River, north of Smithers in BC. Not only is Buster one of the first dinosaurs found in BC– he’s one of the most complete skeletons ever unearthed here. Free.
On Oct. 20 from 2-3 pm, Dr. Patricia Roy, author of The Collectors: A History of the Royal BC Museum and Archives, will go Behind the Scenes at the Provincial Archives to tell the unvarnished truth in her lecture, The Women Who Did the Work. Learn the names and stories of the many women who contributed to the success of the provincial archives from its conception in the 1890s. In Newcombe Conference Hall; free for members of the Friends of the BC Archives; $5 for non-members.
The Royal BC Museum explores the province’s human history and natural history, advances new knowledge and understanding of BC, and provides a dynamic forum for discussion and a place for reflection. The museum and archives celebrate culture and history, telling the stories of BC in ways that enlighten, stimulate and inspire. Located in Victoria on the traditional territory of the Lekwungen (Songhees and Xwsepsum Nations), we are a hub of community connections in BC–onsite, offsite and online–taking pride in our collective histories.
