Detours: Bypass the Expected

16 October 2024 – 19 December 2025Detours exhibit at Sooke Region Museum

Upstairs Gallery of the Sooke Region Museum.
Admission by donation

Which route will you take?

Moving around the Sooke Region is not always done in expected ways. In this exhibit, we look at the unexpected ways people have moved through the Region, by water, wheels, foot, and air!

You may be thinking, “What else could there be?” A trike? A homemade plane? A boom boat? A dory? Living and working around the Sooke Region means thinking outside the box (or the lines of the road!). We don’t just use roads. People move around this region on trails, through water, and air. Which will be your favourite?

Buckle up, signal when you turn, and enjoy the ride!

(note: the interior exhibit is accessed by a set of 16 stairs; outdoor elements are accessed by hardpacked pathways.)

Do you have a local transportation-related story to share? Tell us all about it HERE.

CONTEST!
There is a secret Morse code message in the Detours exhibit. Visit the exhibit, decode the secret message and enter to win a BC Transit 30-day UMO pass!

Morse code for Detours secret message contest.

Thank you to BC Transit for sponsoring this contest, and the following local businesses who help us move around the region AND have sponsored this exhibit:

West Coast Collision       West Coast Outdoor AdventureWest Coast ExpressBC Transit Benjamin Moore Pacific Paint Sooke

Women of the Sooke Region: From Pioneers to the Modern Wonder Woman

September 23, 2021 – September 29, 2026

We are excited to announce the launch of a virtual, bilingual exhibit titled Women of the Sooke Region: From Pioneers to the Modern Wonder Woman, on September 29. This exhibit explores the challenges and triumphs of the women who helped shape the Sooke region. In addition to celebrating historical figures, the exhibition tells the stories of women who are building the Sooke of the future, through writings, objects, and archival photographs.

SRHS#2218 Women skipping, Lannon Flats, circa 1920

SRHS#2218 Women skipping, Lannon Flats, circa 1920

Based on the physical exhibit “Women of the Sooke Region” that debuted in our upstairs gallery on June 24, 2019, this online project was developed with the support of the Digital Museums Canada investment program. Digital Museums Canada is managed by the Canadian Museum of History, with the financial support of the Government of Canada. The exhibit will be accessible to all, featuring closed captioning for the hearing impaired as well as alternative text for the visually impaired.

“When I first set foot in the Sooke region around 10 years ago, I did not yet know the extent of the history here. In my time with the Sooke Region Museum as Collections Manager, I have heard no shortage of stories of the hardy and inventive women of the region. After working with our wonderful historian Elida Peers and local contributors on this online project, as well as the physical exhibit that debuted back in 2019, I became inspired. This exhibit features classic, as well as untold, stories of the women of the region. We have given our all to produce a bilingual exhibit that is accessible to everyone and shares the lives of Sooke women, past and present, with the world.”
– Collections Manager Montana Stanley

The exhibition will remain on the Community Stories webpage for 5 years, until September 29, 2026.
You can access the exhibition, available in both official languages at:

English: https://www.communitystories.ca/v2/sooke-women_femmes-sooke/

French: https://www.histoiresdecheznous.ca/v2/sooke-women_femmes-sooke/