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 Sooke is a grade-A destination for outdoor adventure on Canada's authentic southwestern coast. Exploring forested hiking trails, chartering a boat for sports fishing and walking for miles along wave-pounded beaches are favorite pastimes here. Surfing and birdwatching devotees are also well served, and a set of fascinating guided tours (kayaking, whale-watching, seaweed collecting and mead-making included) puts one in the hands of knowledgeable local experts. Or simply relax at local spas or check out an art gallery or studio.
Shopping While Sooke's town centre is dominated by a pair of grocery stores and various essential services, there are a handful of centrally located boutiques. Salts Organic Clothing (2052 Otter Point Road) specializes in eco-friendly, locally designed fashions for women, men and children. Giftware can be found at Bombora (in the Village Foods plaza) and Harbour Crafts (next to the Canada Post outlet just west of Otter Point Road).
Literary types will find quality used books in two shops: The Reading Room in the Evergreen Mall and Well-Read Books at the corner of Sooke and Church roads.
Zipline Adventure A kilometer past the "Entering Sooke" sign on the West Coast Road (Highway 14) is the historic 17 Mile House pub. Pull into the parking lot here and set up a treetop joyride with Adrena Line Zipline Adventure Tours. Clad in crash helmets and harnesses, participants from age 5 upwards navigate a series of eight thrilling, sky-high ziplines while whizzing over 100 acres of peaceful rainforest. Shuttle buses to the site operate from the Visitor Centre in Victoria's Inner Harbour.
Specialty Foods & the Saturday Market Smoked salmon and salmon candy can be purchased at the E-Fish-Ent Fish Company (1941 Goodridge Road east of town near Sunny Shores Resort). The tasting room at Tugwell Creek Honey Farm and Meadery sells wildflower honey and a half-dozen varieties of delicious mead (i.e., wine made from fermented honey) collected and bottled on its Otter Point property (10km/6mi west of Sooke).
The Sooke Country Market (Saturdays, mid-May to September, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.) is a quaint gathering place for locals selling fruit, eggs, vegetables, plants, bread and crafts. Find it a few paces from the junction of Otter Point Road and the Sooke Road in the centre of town. Local produce is also available in season at West Coast Natural Foods (6716 West Coast Road in the Cedar Grove Shopping Mall).
Cycling Cycling is an automobile-free delight on the Galloping Goose Regional Trail, a 55 km/34 mi gravel and paved route that follows an abandoned 1920s-era railbed. Outside of urban Victoria, the Goose hits nothing but green space in Metchoshin (East Sooke's cityside neighbor) and onward as far as the now-vanished 1850s gold-rush settlement at Leechtown.
Rent bikes, repair flats and pick up tips at Sooke Cycle (6707 West Coast Road). The Juan de Fuca Community Trails Society and the Juan de Fuca Cycling Coalition are dedicated to creating more bike-friendly routes in the area. Municipal planners have prioritized a link between the Goose and the town's own network of bike trails.
Crabbing Landlubbers can get their share of the ocean's riches by crabbing off the new Rotary Pier at the base of town-centre Murray Road. Crabbing gear can be purchased at Eagle Eye Outfitters.
Performing ArtsStage West Players, the Sooke Community Choir and the Sooke Philharmonic Orchestra, a respected semi-professional troupe led by conductor Norman Nelson, all stage performances periodically at the 350-seat Sooke Community Theatre (inside Edward Milne Secondary School). The orchestra also hosts a popular annual open-air concert (known as the "fling") beside the Sooke River each summer.
The Sooke Harbour House presents live jazz on Friday nights in a lounge setting. Musicians also perform occasionally at the 17 Mile House and Buffy's Tavern. The Sooke Folk Music Society organizes a coffeehouse on the third Saturday night of each month at Knox Presbyterian Church (2110 Church Street); the evening features an open mic session and a feature performer.
Festivals & Community Events The flats at the Sooke River Campground are the site of the annual Sooke River Bluegrass Music Festival the third weekend of June. Pickers and grinners galore from the Pacific Northwest are on hand for a downhome event that invites plenty of audience participation.
Other annual local events of note: the Polar Bear Swim at Whiffin Spit (Jan. 1); the Sooke Spring Sprint Triathlon (April); the Rubber Duck Race in the Sooke River (May); Canada Day Celebrations (July 1); the Philharmonic Fling (mid-July on the Sooke Flats); the Sooke Fine Arts Show (late July-early August); Art in the Park (mid-August in Ed Macgregor Park); the Sooke Fall Fair (mid-September in the Sooke Community Hall on Shields Road); and Christmas craft fairs in Shirley and Sooke (November).
To learn more, stop in at the Sooke Visitor Centre.
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