Parkside Victoria Travel Blog

Parkside is in the news—again!

Parkside Victoria Resort & Spa was recently featured in Green Lodging News, the accommodation industry's leading environmental news source.

September has definitely been Parkside's month! 

After winning five awards at the Canadian Home Builders' Association CARE Awards Gala on September 24 (including the top honour CARE Development Project of the Year), Parkside was awarded a 5 Green Key rating with the Green Key Global Eco-Rating Program!

Parkside Victoria Resort & Spa played belle of the ball at the Canadian Home Builders' Association CARE Awards Gala on Friday (Sept. 24), sweeping the ceremony with five awards including the top honour CARE Development Project of the Year!

Parkside (Ocean Place Holdings Ltd.), along with partner Interior Design Group, also took home awards for Best Commercial Project, Best Commercial Interior, Best Project Website and the Award for Outdoor Environmental Achievement.

Chief Development Officer Andy Pearson made five trips to the stage with Interior Design Group President Lana MacRae, surrounded by loud applause from the packed Crystal Ballroom at the Fairmont Empress Hotel.

Interested in urban gardening and sustainable city living?

LifeCycles is hosting a great two part series with local urban agriculture guru Geoff Johnson. 

Proceeds from the series support LifeCycles, a "nonprofit organization dedicated to cultivating awareness and initiating action around food, health, and urban sustainability in the Greater Victoria community."

Here are the descriptions of the workshops from the LifeCycles Project organizers:

Urban Homesteading Workshop

Introduction to Urban Homesteading with Geoff Johnson 

You've already chosen to stay in Canada's first LEED® Platinum-targeting resort hotel, so why not make your stay even more environmentally friendly? 

Consider leaving your car at home (unless it's an alternate fuel vehicle, of course, because we've got electrical charging stations for you)!

Reduce your travel emissions and feel good about your vacation with Parkside's Green Transportation Guide to Victoria!

Support local businesses and reduce your carbon footprint on your next shopping trip in Victoria, BC! 

Check out The Victoria Green Shopping Guide from The Green Collective, where you'll find a list of sustainable and environmentally friendly shops and businesses around town.

From hair salons and designer clothing stores to body care stores and an epicurean pantry, you'll find it's easy to be green in Victoria.

Here are just a few of the fabulous sustainable businesses listed in the guide:

Instead of heading to the grocery store on a busy Saturday morning, consider doing your shopping at the Bastion Square Farmers' Market, located in Bastion Square in downtown Victoria, BC. 

Find everything from homemade crafts to fresh fruits and veggies to desserts and preserves. 

Not only does fresh, local produce taste better, but also by buying locally you are economically supporting the farmers and saving their agricultural lands from development. 

The Bastion Square Farmers' Market operates from mid June until mid September, so head down and stock up on produce before they're gone for the season!

Parkside Victoria Resort & Spa has been designed, built and furnished with sustainable development in mind. 

From the low-VOC fabrics and furnishings to the collection of waste water through strategic landscaping, Parkside is a completely sustainable resort hotel, as well as Canada's first resort hotel targeting LEED® Platinum Certification. 

Join us in the lobby at Parkside to take your own free Green Building Tour today!

Congratulations Skedaddle! You are the winner of our July Living Planet Community contest!

For joining our group and telling us what you do to live sustainably, you've won a two-night stay at Parkside Victoria Resort & Spa, plus your choice of a complimentary Spa Massage or Essential Manicure at AquaTerre Spa! 

Please email marketing@aviawest.com so that we may contact you.

For our July contest, we're asking our Living Planet Community what they do to help conserve our environment. 

Check out what Parkside Living Planet Community group member Ty on the Island is doing to help conserve our planet:

"Since 1989, my wife and I have been fortunate enough to both work and live together; this allows for us to use only one vehicle, and, in turn, vastly reduces our carbon footprint.

We are also fortunate enough to live here in the CRD where we have access to terrific recycling services, and as such we find that we have less than one green garbage bag of garbage every two weeks.