Friends of Uplands Park - Camas Day 2026 Victoria BC

Friends of Uplands Park - Camas (Kwetlal) Day 2026 Victoria BC

Join the Friends of Uplands Park for the 2026 annual spring celebration of Camas (Kwetlal) Day 2026 and celebrate Uplands Park's 80th Birthday!

This is a community celebration of Uplands Park's endangered Garry Oak ecosystem during the peak camas (kwetlal) bloom.

This FREE for EVERYONE EVENT includes:

* Live Music with the Bald Eagles
* Environmental Organizations Displays
* Guided Camas Meadow Walks
* Free Refreshments
* Family Activities
* Prizes of Native Plants

The location is the Beach Drive Field at the Entrance to Cattle Point.

Uplands Park was designated a natural area park in March 1946, so this year marks its 80th anniversary. This event brings together local environmental non-profit organizations who will help share the importance of protecting Garry Oak and other local ecosystems. Uplands Park is one of the best examples of a Garry Oak ecosystem and also hosts the region's highest bird species count thanks to restoration efforts. Music, prizes and guided walks through Uplands Park will entertain -- and there, of course, will be cake!

The lək̓ʷəŋən people, known today as the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations, have long harvested the camas lily's onion-like bulbs, historically steaming them in pits to produce inulin, a healthy sugar. Cooked bulbs taste like baked pears and can be eaten whole or ground into flour. First Nations cultivated camas lilies in family plots, using traditional methods to increase yields and weed out the toxic white "death camas." Pit cooked camas was both a staple food and a valuable trade item. As you look over the meadows of blue in Uplands Park it is likely that these extensive fields of camas lilies were once cultivated by the lək̓ʷəŋən people.