The Victoria Palaeontology will hold its 16th Fossil Fair on March 24-25, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. at the Swan Lake Christmas Hill Nature Sanctuary.
There will be a display of the 25 million-year-old Sooke Formation fossils from the Muir Creek area which may be of interest to the Sooke community.
The Fossil Fair will display a rich and diverse variety of ancient fossil animals and plants from the Cambrian (550 million years ago) to the end of the last Ice Age (10,000 years ago). Fossils will be displayed from Vancouver Island, other parts of British Columbia and other areas. The fossils include dinosaur bones, ammonites, trilobites, corals, mollusks, insects, giant palm leaves and microscopic fossils.
Special displays will include 70 to 80 million- year-old sea urchin fossils, sharks’ teeth and a large dinosaur leg bone from the late Cretaceous period.
The Fossil Fair is an educational experience for all age groups. The public is invited to bring in fossils for identification. Specific activities for children include a sandbox fossil dig, fossil scavenger hunt with prizes, fossil colouring and rubbings and looking through microscopes.
The Victoria Palaeontology Society cooperates with professional palaeontologists undertaking research on fossils collected by society members.
All scientifically important fossils are donated to the Royal British Columbia Museum.