The Martlet

The Inner Harbour’s hugely entertaining buskers, unique art, crafts and great spots to eat and drink make it a wonderful place to spend the day and evening — and not just for tourists. Locals can also get lost in everything one of Victoria’s most popular tourist destinations has to offer.

The best acts are the professional street performers at the main stage, across Government Street from the Empress Hotel.

The Akron Show is one of this season’s highlights. Akron Mckenzie combines fire-torch and machete juggling, breath-taking axe balancing, magic, mime, acrobatics and a nine-foot unicycle (a.k.a. “The Skull-Cracker”) with a massive dose of comedy to deliver a must-see act.

“Do you want to see me light these torches with this torch… or with the flaming Whoopee Cushion technique?” Akron asks his rapt audience.

“Flaming Whoopee Cushion!”

“What we’re going to need is a Whoopee Cushion and a bottle of butane – I think you get the idea,” said Akron.

Akron inflates the Whoopee Cushion with butane, places it on the ground next to a lit Zippo and his juggling torches, and then sits down, emitting a massive, flaming fart.

Akron, 35, knew he wanted to be a street entertainer when, at age 15, he went to Edmonton’s Fringe Fest.

“I saw some street acts there and went, ‘That looks like a good job.’ So I started juggling.” He performed his first street show at 18 years old.

“There’s a lot of problem solving – it’s learning to work with a crowd,” said Akron of his profession.

“It’s a whole art form in itself, learning to be relaxed in front of a crowd. To be a character and a real person at the same time is one of the skills that I’ve constantly developed over the years in order to connect with the audience.”

When this busking season ends Akron is off to clown school in Paris, at the École Philippe Gaulier.

Other shows not to be missed this season include Aaron Gregg, Alex Elixir and Shammon McKenzie.

These shows are hilarious, entertaining, and, weather permitting, will run into October. Busker show times are posted on the stage.

Between busker shows, check out the variety of art and crafts for sale on the causeway.

First Nations carvers, knitters and artisans sell their wares at the south end of the causeway. The carvings aren’t cheap, but there are good deals on beadwork, including beautiful dream catchers for $12.

Brenda, a traditional Cowichan knitter, sells toques and winter hats knit with thick, handspun sheep wool. She learned to knit from her mother, a Cowichan Tribes member.

Brenda sells her mother’s traditional Cowichan toques alongside modern variants that she knits, including beanies, toques with earflaps and Scottish-style tams.

“Hers are traditional and mine, I call them ‘modern-traditional,’” said Brenda.

At $35 apiece, Brenda’s warm, handcrafted winter headwear is well worth the price.

Gas mask-wearing spray can artists Jay and Robin Seagrave, who work and sell their amazing paintings at the south end of the causeway, are also not to be missed.

“We’re doing lunar landscapes, pyramid themes, a lot of B.C. mountain themes, and natural, landscape themes,” said Jay Seagrave. “It’s fantasy art. Kind of psychedelic too.”

The Seagrave brothers use an assortment of spray-paint cans, stencils, shapes, knives and masking techniques to make their vivid, arresting fantasy paintings.

“We’re using stencils to create different animals, like the orcas, bears, eagles, wolves, dolphins. A lot of it is making a pattern, shading it off and then masking it off, and blending it in together and using opposite colours so that they punch out,” said Jay.

When you work up an appetite, there are three restaurants near the causeway.

Milestones is a decent but generic Earls/Cactus Club/Brown’s Social House type eatery. However, Milestones’s speedy front of house staff don’t wear skimpy cocktail dresses and appear to be hired based mainly on competence.

Red Fish Blue Fish has some of the best fried-fish around. Housed in a converted shipping container below the bottom of Fort Street, Red Fish Blue Fish uses only Ocean Wise certified sustainable seafood and biodegradable and recyclable take away plates and utensils.

The Flying Otter Grill, located in the Harbour Air Seaplanes terminal, is the best place to eat and drink near the causeway.

While the food is good, what makes the Flying Otter - Victoria’s only licensed floating restaurant - worth a visit is its unique environs and stellar patio.

On the patio, you’re right on the water, surrounded by yachts, zodiacs and Harbour Air’s fleet of De Havilland Single Otter float planes.

“It’s a great view, watching the sea planes,” says manager Maryanne Ottahall.

As the sun sets, the Otters’ rugged yet sleek bodies glisten and seem both animal and mechanical, while rays bouncing off the water sparkle and sway on the restaurant’s ceiling and walls.

The Flying Otter is a prime spot to enjoy afternoon beers or diner and drinks between busker shows.