The beginning of April often brings sunshine and flowers to Vancouver Island, but it also brings April Fool’s Day.
You must be diligent on the first day of the month as numerous businesses, organizations and Facebook friends take part in tricks and fake announcements.
Here are some of our favourites for 2021.
Oak Bay Police’s new, very West-Coast unit
Oak Bay Police Chief Ray Bernoties took to Twitter this April 1 to announce the department’s newest fleet: the Paddleboard Unit.
“This low-cost, zero-emission initiative will now allow us to interact, in a healthy & approachable way, with those on the water,” said Bernoties.
“We were admittedly proud to announce we were purchasing the first marked EV so you can imagine how we feel about announcing our new Paddleboard Unit.”
The humorous post was accompanied by a picture of an Oak Bay Police officer on a paddleboard.
In a reply, he confirmed that the new unit was fake, but that the new electric vehicle coming to the department is in fact, real.
A Coney Island in Oak Bay
A well-known development company in Victoria announced some unbelievable plans for Oak Bay’s Willows Beach.
Drawing inspiration from Coney Island, Aryze announced on Twitter a brand new hub for the beloved beach, including three new condo developments and a Ferris wheel.
“This pedestrian-priority design includes a new artificial island, boardwalk, three new condo developments, a 24-hour brewery and a neon-lit 150ft Ferris wheel,” reads the Tweet.
Aryze even went so far as to create some design plans, showing us all what will be “coming soon.”
Ikea coming to the Island? A mega-Costco?
The popular Facebook group, Costco Langford Updates, was victim to a prank on Thursday with a member announcing the company has bought 24 acres of land in the West Shore and will be building a new “Megastore”.
“Big news release!!! The new building will have 300 more parking spots, more tills and more staff,” wrote the member.
And it gets even better. Once the new store is up and running, the poster said Costco will sell the old location to IKEA, opening the island’s first location.
But alas, there will be no mega-Costco or island IKEA.
Fast Food Funnies
Many fast-food restaurants, including A&W, McDonald’s and Tim Hortons are all doing their part to lighten up this April Fool’s.
Amid a pandemic, A&W saw the need for hand sanitizer, but not just any hand sanitizer. This fast food joint has announced its very own onion-ring scented sanitizer.
McDonald’s is getting Canadian, announcing its beloved 1/4 pounder with cheeseburger is misnamed in our Northern country.
“We’re finally making the switch to the metric system: say hello to the 1/9th Kilogrammer,” reads an Instagram post from the restaurant.
Speaking of Canada, two Canadian companies are joining forces, supporting our love for Timbits.
Weeks ago, Tim Hortons announced the family-sized Timbit, a massive ball of dough large enough to feed a polar bear. But, the restaurant was just teasing.
Until the company decided to make one and send it to a family as a “reverse April Fool’s joke.”
In response, Roots has apparently created special leather pouches, all to safely transport either one singular, regular-sized Timbit, or the family-sized one!
Roots says the larger Timbit-holder is made of genuine leather at the state-of-the-art factory in Toronto.
“It’s BIG and it needs to be handled with care,” said Roots in a Tweet.
These fashionable finds are well-endorsed by Tim Hortons, with the restaurant chain retweeting the images saying, “Okay, these are AMAZING! Adding these to our spring wardrobe stat. Have anything that’d go with this?”
Where does it end? The Galloping Goose Grumps
A Saanich Councillor has made (his own) headlines today, demanding to know a question on everyone’s mind.
Councillor Zac De Vries showed off some impressive photo-editing skills on Thursday, creating a new headline to bring up the important topics here in Greater Victoria.
Where does the Galloping Goose Trail end? Where does the Lochside Trail begin?
“Saanich Residents deserve to know!” said De Vries in the Tweet.
He says there’s a major debate on the issue.
“Some have said it’s the switch bridge, others colloquial [sic] say the galloping goose runs up to the Borden and McKenzie intersection. Which is it?” questions the Saanich councillor.
Either way, this light-hearted joke got a warm response from his Twitter followers.
One for CHEK Viewers
If you have watched the CHEK News’ segment The Upside for some time, you might know Ed and Jeff pretty well.
But there’s a third member who is there every single night: cameraman Mark. And although he plays a vital role in the show, you only ever get to see his thumb, when he gives the boys a “thumbs up!” when one of them asks him a question.
Well last night, someone played a joke on this thumb, taping a “Kick me” post-it note to its back. Hopefully, he noticed before anyone tried to kick the extremity.
Rebecca Lawrence
