With no speaker scheduled for the April 9th meeting, our President will report out on recent activities – we did just host a Fossil Fair! – and catch us all up, as well as introduce new members to our Society.
The meeting link will be sent via separate email to paid members.
We are in the final stages of determining which workshop will take place on April 12th, and details of the April 20th fieldtrip will be circulated a week in advance. Look to your email for further details.
More details on the upcoming Fossil Fair, taking place at Tillicum Mall on the weekend of March 22 – 23. Please help get the word out!
The Fossil Fair is a hands-on, educational experience for all age groups, organized by recreational collectors (citizen scientists) and professionals. The public is encouraged to bring in fossils found in BC for identification. Specific activities for children include hands-on inspection of fossils, a scavenger hunt with prizes and fossil colouring and rubbings.
Good news from our VicPS president:
The event will be March 22 and 23rd, 10 AM to 3 PM at Tillicum Mall. The space is near the entrance to Winners, at the top of the escalators, in a very prominent part of the mall. We will have the entire space to ourselves, and Tillicum Mall will market the Fossil Fair as part of their Spring Break public education support for local organizations.
email from VicPS president Jerri Wilkins
Stay tuned for more details. For now, set those dates aside for some paleo learning and discovery!
The Victoria Palaeontology Society needs your help.
After 26 years, the wonderful partnership with Swan Lake & Christmas Hill Nature Sanctuary – host to our annual Fossil Fair – has come to an end. This change is a loss, and also an opportunity.
Our deepest gratitude to Swan Lake. They have been an incredible partner over the years, on so many levels. Just one example: access to their microscopes has enabled us to engage the public in exploring the beautiful microfossils that add so much to our knowledge of the past.
We now have the challenge of finding a new partner for this annual event. A new partner and a new location may offer new opportunities. We get to re-envision Fossil Fair and incorporate some of the ideas we’ve dreamed of over the years and were unable to accommodate due to space and time constraints.
Finding a new venue and new partner will be VicPS’ top focus. Please let us know if you, someone you know, or an organization you know might make a good partner for Fossil Fairs going forward; and we’ll aproach them to discuss the details.
Below, as one document, are a letter of introduction and a Fossil Fair proposal. Please review it and distribute it thoughtfully in aid of VicPS’ search for a new Fossil Fair partner.
If you’re heading to Hornby Island this weekend, be sure to visit the Hornby Island Fossil Fair, presented by our friends of the Vancouver Island Paleontological Society.
Now fossil fair 2024 is in the rearview mirror, here are some words from our president about the event:
The VicPS annual Fossil Fair at Swan Lake was March 23rd-24th. About 250 people attended, down almost half from some previous years, but enthusiasm and interaction were up, and more than 100 kids participated in the annual scavenger hunt to find specimens in the collection. The National Geographic Fossil Dig/ID kits were a big hit among this year’s winners, as was the ‘Happy Little Dinosaur’ board game. … New this year was a poster about the Nigel House vertebrate fossils found near Swan Lake. A shout-out to Edward Davies for sharing dozens of high-resolution slides and photos from which we were able to put together a poster. Fossil ID is always a favourite among volunteers and this year IDs offered a few very exciting moments. We had the highest number of fossils brought to Fossil Fair for identification in recent memory. A few notable specimens:
We brought the RBCM and GSC into the conversation to assist with identification. Those conversations are ongoing.
This year, the RBCM and Fossil Management Office were unable to participate in Fossil Fair due to other commitments, and a few other usual volunteers were unable to attend. VicPS member Kalene (who works at DinoLab) offered up a few volunteers, plus an Elasmosaurus paddle (full scale) model (thanks, Kalene!). DinoLab’s Kirsten had the kids doing Elasmosaurus ‘high-fives’ and it was a great opportunity to showcase the new provincial fossil and hand out lapel buttons provided by the Fossil Mangement Office (thank you, Elisabeth and Genivieve for the buttons!). Serendipitously, the DinoLab preparator who volunteered on Sunday (Jake) was the only Fossil Fair volunteer experienced in working with bone, and in particular marine reptile specimens, and recognized the specimen brought in for identification as likely marine reptile. His hunch was later supported by vertebrate experts in our network. As is our usual way of working, VicPS members came together in the week before the event to ensure lots of volunteers were on hand when the event weekend arrived. Thanks to John, Carol, Caleb, Justin and Thor for participating. …
Please join us March 8, 7:30PM at our regularly scheduled monthly meeting for an update on the following:
Swan Lake Nature Sanctuary recently confirmed they do want to partner with us on the Fossil Fair this year on Saturday, March 25th. That’s only a few weeks away! Our ability to respond depends upon our volunteer capacity. If you’re available that weekend, please consider volunteering. VicPS President Jerri Wilkins will briefly review what’s involved so that VicPS as a group can decide if we have the capacity to proceed.
Usually there is no March field trip due to efforts focused on the annual Fossil Fair. If the Fossil Fair doesn’t go forward, we’ll plan a field trip.
Registrations and Abstracts are coming in and the Symposium is on track to be a fulsome four-day event. VicPS President Jerri Wilkins will present a behind-the-scenes peek into how the event is shaping up and will play out. This is primarily for members who are not involved in planning, to see what the planning team’s been up to, and where your talents will be needed as we get closer to June.
All paid VicPS members will have received details as to how to connect to and participate in this virtual meeting. Please contact Jerri Wilkins at our vicpalaeo gmail address for these same details, if needed.
News coverage of the succesful Fossil Fair held by VicPS at Swan Lake can be found at the Saanich News website here. Congrats to all the volunteers and VicPS members who contributed their time and effort to this educational and fun event!
Our local Times-Colonist carried advance notice of the event, and followed up after the event with a photo of VicPS member and fossil expert Tom Cockburn at the Fossil Fair.
We do not have a speaker this month, so this Wednesday’s monthly meeting will be used to plan for the Fossil Fair.
If you would like to be involved in Fossil Fair planning or are volunteering, paid members may check their email for the Zoom link for Wednesday at 7:30pm. Non-members with an interest in participating should contact Jerri Wilkins by email.
