Landmarks across Vancouver Island will be lit up in the colour blue on Monday as part of a BC Girl Guides initiative amid COVID-19.
The well-known organization has engaged communities on Vancouver Island to partake in the Guiding Lights Across BC campaign on Feb. 22.
The campaign is geared at celebrating girl empowerment in a COVID-safe way by lighting up landmarks and various locations in blue – the colour of Girl Guides.
According to BC Girl Guides, more than 100 landmarks across the province will glow in “guiding blue” on Monday night, including multiple sites on Vancouver Island. They include:
- The BC Legislature
- Royal British Columbia Museum
- Archie Browning Sports Centre
- Sooke Municipal Hall
- Duncan’s World’s Largest Hockey Stick
- The Bastion at the Nanaimo Museum
- Parksville Civic and Technology Centre
- Port McNeil’s harbour flagpole
- Seawall in Port Hardy
Those are just some of the landmarks expected to turn blue, according to the BC Girl Guide’s website.
As part of the campaign, the organization is encouraging the public to light up their own homes, suggesting that “thousands of Girl Guide members” in B.C. are expecting to decorate their own neighbourhoods.
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“Our Girl Guide members light up their communities all year round through leadership, community service, and efforts to create a better world, by girls,” said Diamond Isinger, provincial commissioner of the Girl Guides of Canada.
“Despite the challenges of COVID-19, thousands of B.C. girls have stayed connected with online Girl Guide meetings, live virtual events, and safe outdoor activities. Now more than ever, it’s important for girls to develop relationships and make connections in their community. ”
February 22 is World Thinking Day, a day that Girl Guides typically uses to celebrate international friendship, but due to COVID-19, the organization says gatherings in the form of large camps and events are not feasible. Instead, the Guiding Lights Across BC initiative is geared at bringing “a smile to the faces of girls, families, volunteers, and the public” in a socially distanced manner.
Other well-known landmarks in B.C. slated to light up that are not located on Vancouver Island include BC Place, Canada Place, the Olympic Cauldron, Science World, Prince George’s Mr. PG and Kelowna Tourism Centre.
According to Girl Guides, many participating locations will glow for their first time ever with new lights set up in support of the event.
A full list of participating landmarks can be found here.
Graham Cox
