8 ways to save money on heating this winter
We’ve had a milder mid-December with daytime highs reaching 13C and 11C earlier this week, but as the days churn on toward the coldest time of the year, there’s one thing on many Haligonians’ minds: Heating costs. The price of home heating oil has “never, never been this high,” Scotia Fuels general manager James Farquhar…
Will Halifax’s trees survive the next hurricane?
Hurricane Lee, almost assuredly, will not hit Halifax with the same oomph of last year’s Hurricane Fiona, but it could still bring enough wind, rain and surf through the Maritimes over the weekend to stir up memories. Winds are forecasted to gust between 60 to 90 km/h throughout the HRM and much of Nova Scotia…
Here’s the seven-minute short movie about the Halifax Explosion you’ve got to see
Update, Jan 24, 2023: Today, the Academy Awards announced the nominees for its 95th annual celebration of cinema. Amongst the flicks picked? The Flying Sailor, a seven-minute short created by Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby that imagines what it must’ve been like to be on the ground when the blast occurred (and is the focus…
Halifax’s year in sports
If you were looking for an exclamation point for Halifax’s year in sports, you could do worse than Aug. 20, 2022. On a gorgeous summer day, if just for a moment, you could close your eyes and dream of a city of champions. Thousands gathered, cell phones outstretched, for a glimpse of the Stanley Cup.…
What the hell is that? 2022’s breakout star, Pearl the Oyster
Reflecting on the unexpected viral hit, Pearl the Halifax Oyster Festival mascot
Making sense of this nonsensical COVID year
Thinking back, way back through the thick mists of pandemic time, at the start of 2022 everything about COVID made sense. Nova Scotia was in the middle of a tidal wave of omicron cases—there were more infections reported in the first week and a half of January (8,996) than in the first year and a…
Review: The Rolling Stones: UNZIPPED can’t contain my complex feelings for the greatest rock band
Billboards, newspaper headlines and posters plastered in public spaces in 1970s England displayed the nation’s raised hackles through a blistering rhetorical question: “Would you let your daughter marry a Rolling Stone?” The lads were banned from their home country for either drug use or tax evasion (depending who you ask), and were not only rock…
The best albums of 2022: Shay Pitts’ Attitude
It’s been a big year in local music, with countless new releases from newcomers and scene veterans alike. As we look back on 2022, The Coast is naming its top 10 albums of the year (in no particular order). Peep the full list here. Imagine if Nicki Minaji draped the roughest edges of her raps…
The best albums of 2022: Jah’Mila’s Roots Girl
It’s been a big year in local music, with countless new releases from newcomers and scene veterans alike. As we look back on 2022, The Coast is naming its top 10 albums of the year (in no particular order). Peep the full list here. The average theatre stage is 35 feet deep, but for singer-songwriter…
The best albums of 2022: Maura Whitman’s Introspection
It’s been a big year in local music, with countless new releases from newcomers and scene veterans alike. As we look back on 2022, The Coast is naming its top 10 albums of the year (in no particular order). Peep the full list here. Imagine if Alessia Cara swapped some of the smoke from her…
The best albums of 2022: Gina Burgess’s Isnow
It’s been a big year in local music, with countless new releases from newcomers and scene veterans alike. As we look back on 2022, The Coast is naming its top 10 albums of the year (in no particular order). Peep the full list here. There is a strain of music criticism that says nothing is…
The top 10 most popular Coast stories of 2022 according to Google Analytics
1 Mattea Roach talks drag, hate comments and weed By Kaija Jussinoja May 17 The most-read Coast story of the year is a recap of Halifax-raised Jeopardy! Champion Mattea Roach’s Reddit “ask me anything” session, done shortly after Roach’s record-setting time on the show ended. One thing we learned is that Roach didn’t study much…
What is the point of the police?
In last Wednesday’s Board of Police Commissioners meeting, the Halifax Regional Police asked for more money. In a year where council is asking every city department to make cuts, the HRP has decided it needs more money. Police chief Dan Kinsella is asking the board for $95.264 million in the next budget year, which is…
Saying farewell to Jane Kansas
“No! Don’t fucking move me, bitch!” Those are the first and almost the only words Jane will say at the Valley Hospice. It makes the nurse laugh, as she and three paramedics lift her into the air above the gurney and over to the hospital bed. That the nurse goes in for a hug next…
We picked the best Christmas movie of all time. It’s a close call.
In this line of work, you have to maintain some level of objectivity. The pursuit of truth demands no less: You present the facts, such as they are, and let a reader come to their own conclusions. And so, when we set about discussing the best Christmas movies at The Coast’s office this week, we…
The best albums of 2022: Pillow Fite’s Flutter
It’s been a big year in local music, with countless new releases from newcomers and scene veterans alike. As we look back on 2022, The Coast is naming its top 10 albums of the year (in no particular order). Peep the full list here. Imagine if Tegan and Sara left the land of slick pop,…
Halifax’s year in food was a whole smorgasbord
Call it anything you want, but Halifax’s year of cafe, bar and restaurant openings, closings, re-openings and industry gossip certainly wasn’t boring. The year 2022 brought our fine Atlantic city a chef’s plateful of new waterfront restaurants, a weeklong war over pizza, an ownership change to a north end institution and a labour shortage (or…
The best albums of 2022: Aquakultre’s Don’t Trip
It’s been a big year in local music, with countless new releases from newcomers and scene veterans alike. As we look back on 2022, The Coast is naming its top 10 albums of the year (in no particular order). Peep the full list here. First, there’s the irresistible boom-bap of the backbeat tapping at your…
The best albums of 2022: Willie Stratton’s Drugstore Dreamin’
It’s been a big year in local music, with countless new releases from newcomers and scene veterans alike. As we look back on 2022, The Coast is naming its top 10 albums of the year (in no particular order). Peep the full list here. I’m not alone in my love of Drugstore Dreamin’, the retro,…
The best albums of 2022: Washing Machine’s Cheat The Pattern
It’s been a big year in local music, with countless new releases from newcomers and scene veterans alike. As we look back on 2022, The Coast is naming its top 10 albums of the year (in no particular order). Peep the full list here. A group of Halifax music scenesters who also populate the lineups of…
Halifax’s short-term rental dilemma
Bill Stewart remembers The Hydrostone before the short-term rentals arrived. He and his partner, Mary Reardon, have called the north end Halifax neighbourhood home since the late 1990s. It’s always had its charm, he says: English-style row homes open onto wide, treed boulevards of Norway maples and European lindens. Gardens teem with flowers; conversation spills…
The best albums of 2022: Pale Ache’s Mourning as a Metaphor
It’s been a big year in local music, with countless new releases from newcomers and scene veterans alike. As we look back on 2022, The Coast is naming its top 10 albums of the year (in no particular order). Peep the full list here. There’s a scene in the later half of season three of…
5 glimpses of the late, great Jane Kansas
Born June 5, 1954, a Saturday, Jane Kansas died more than 68 years later on December 18, 2022, a Sunday. The last few years had seen her declining from various ailments; it was kidney failure that took her at the end, at the Valley Hospice in Kentville. Her writing is full of such details, although…
Halifax, here’s your Dec 19-21 going out guide
Just because the sun is setting at what feels like 2pm doesn’t mean you need to retreat to the couch until Spring’s thaw. Proof that there’s more to do around town than you might’ve thought exists right here, in our weekly Sure Things guide. Here’s all the fun to be had between Dec 19 and…
Halifax faces “heck of a crisis” as unhoused brace for cold winter
Two words come to mind when Laura Patterson describes tenting in the winter: “Fucking horrible.” The housing advocate and lifelong Halifax resident spent October through March last year supporting people sleeping rough at People’s Park. For six months, Patterson and a rotating cast of four to six volunteers would trade shifts at the now-vacant tent…
The best albums of 2022: Blue Lobelia’s Resilient Moon
It’s been a big year in local music, with countless new releases from newcomers and scene veterans alike. As we look back on 2022, The Coast is naming its top 10 albums of the year (in no particular order). Peep the full list here. Imagine if Lana Del Rey lived in a lighthouse, basing her…
12 concerts to look forward to in 2023
Perhaps you’re on the hunt for a last-minute gift for the music lover on your list. Or maybe you’re just in need of a little something to look forward to after the holiday season ends, a promissory note-to-self for the gray days of January and February. Either way, Halifax has you covered: Next year promises…
Everything you need to know about council’s Dec 13 meeting
The city has a new chief administrative officer! Cathie O’Toole will take over for Jaques Dubé in the new year. She has been with Halifax Water for the past 10 years in a director role, but previously served the city’s finance director 10 years ago. Her time with the HRM ended due to the now…
Halifax, here’s your weekend guide for December 15-18
Yes, yes, the nights are getting longer and the days colder, but that excuse isn’t gonna cut it this weekend: There is simply too much interesting, noteworthy stuff happening in Halifax as the holidays creep in for you to spend time couch-bound. Instead, light up the group text with some of the following options—including concerts…
Halifax, here are the top New Year’s Eve parties to help you ring in 2023
For those who love sequins, are in the thrall of new beginnings, live for champagne popping and that page-one feeling, it’s never too early to start hatching New Year’s Eve plans. Even the rest of us who are still in the holiday scramble could spare a thought about where we want to spend 2022’s waning…
Take a look inside Halifax’s first barbershop on wheels
It’s a frostbitten Wednesday afternoon on Gottingen Street, and barber Mohammad Nabelsi has a hair trimmer trained on the back of his latest client’s neck. From inside his mobile barbershop—a Ford Transit van converted into a full-service haircutting setup—the Damascus-raised Nabelsi glances at the mirror and adjusts his clippers’ settings. Dressed in a white button-down,…
The ultimate list of Nova Scotian-filmed holiday movies—and how to watch them
If you’ve ever wandered around downtown on a snow-dusted eve and thought it was the ultimate scene for your seasonal meet-cute, you’re not alone: The Hallmark Channel itself often sets up shop in Nova Scotia, finding our windswept shores, charming towns and historically-shaped capital city the perfect locale for, say, a high-powered business woman to…
How the DND chose Hartlen Point for its planned warship testing site
The Canadian military’s choice of a future land-based warship testing facility has rankled neighbours, fishers and environmentalists alike. And a third-party site selection review leaves further questions, according to documents The Coast has reviewed. The 202-page report, prepared by Irving Shipbuilding Inc. for the Department of National Defence, weighs the pros and cons of Hartlen…
We asked, you answered: The results of our Quality Street candy poll
As of 2022, there are 11 different flavours in a tin of Quality Streets and whether you love em’ or hate em’ a lot of folks have a small, octagon-shaped space in their heart for these nostalgic treats. So, last week we asked our readers: Which Quality Street is the best? Hundreds of responses came…
Halifax, here’s your going-out guide for December 12-14
Just because the sun is setting at what feels like 2pm doesn’t mean you need to retreat to the couch until Spring’s thaw. Proof that there’s more to do around town than you might’ve thought exists right here, in our weekly Sure Things guide. Here’s all the fun to be had between Dec 12-14: Sing…
A year into omicron, Dr. Strang wants to talk flu
According to the province’s count, we are currently in the seventh wave of COVID infections. The first started March 1, 2020, with the earliest known cases in Nova Scotia announced March 15. The pandemic’s omicron era arrived in Nova Scotia on December 8, 2021, making Thursday the first omicronniversary. It’s been a year marked by…
9 hyper-local, hyper-specific gift ideas that take part in Halifax’s biggest fashion trend
The latest look in a reopened Halifax has been a delicious doubling down on what makes our city unique: Armouring ourselves against sharp sea winds and an ongoing pandemic by dressing in outfits that act as name-drops and insider nods to our favourite small-biz haunts. It’s a local take on Zizmorcore, a trend born in…
How Sobeys and Superstore legally steal from small businesses
The sun is streaming in through a large bay window in front of the house. The phone sits on the table, its cracked screen protector throwing weird reflections on the wall. The phone is on speaker with a recorder set up by the mic. “Do you mind if I record this conversation?” I ask. The…
Halifax, here’s your weekend guide for December 8-11
Yes, yes, the nights are getting longer and the days colder, but that excuse isn’t gonna cut it this weekend: There is simply too much interesting, noteworthy stuff happening in Halifax as November winds down for you to spend time couch-bound. Instead, light up the group text with some of the following options—from a play…
Nova Scotia offers carbon pricing system—and little else—in latest climate action plan
Nova Scotia’s government is ready to take drastic steps toward reducing its carbon footprint—just not until 2030, thank you very much. Or so was the gist of the province’s newest Our Climate, Our Future report, a climate change plan that will guide the government’s actions over the coming decade. On Wednesday afternoon, Nova Scotia’s environment…
Two of the buzziest names in Canadian pop are headlining Halifax’s free New Year’s Eve show
If you still don’t have plans for New Year’s Eve, HRM has you covered. The city has long played host to the best party in town by sending off the year with a live showcase at Grand Parade square—and 2022’s slip into 2023 proves no different: Today, it was announced that Juno-winning pop-rocker JJ Wilde…
How rising hospital admissions hint at a COVID surge in Nova Scotia
Update December 8: The new provincial COVID numbers came out today, and cases, hospitalizations and deaths are all back down. To find out more about the threat of a winter surge, we got on the phone with Dr. Robert Strang, who thinks Nova Scotia is in a good place right now with the disease. “What…
Could women’s pro soccer find a home in Halifax?
Canada’s greatest soccer player of all time has a message for the sport: Women’s pro soccer belongs in this country—and it’s coming soon. On Monday night, FIFA’s all-time leading goal scorer, Christine Sinclair, joined her former national teammate Diana Matheson on CBC’s The National to announce they’ve been working on a first-of-its-kind domestic women’s professional…
Road work on the $122.6M Cogswell District is underway. How’s that going?
It might be hard to believe when staring at the mound of rubble along Barrington Street north of Cogswell, but Halifax is one day away from one of its first key milestones in a landmark downtown redevelopment effort. Road crews are nearly finished work on a detour that will last 18 months as developers clear…
Here are the 12 local books that topped our reading lists in 2022
When it comes to local reads, 2022 has been one for the books (lol/sorry): From the return of giants of the field (like Ann-Marie MacDonald’s first novel in eight years) to emerging voices (like first-time author K.R. Byggdin’s novel about a queer youth finding their place in the world), there’s been no shortage of stories…
Elliot Page announces new memoir
View this post on Instagram A post shared by @elliotpage Everyone’s favourite Haligonian announced earlier today that they’re entering the celeb memoir genre: Elliot Page took to social media to share that their upcoming book, titled Pageboy, will be hitting stores June 6—but is available for preorder now. “At last, I can be with myself,…
Halifax, here’s your going out guide for Dec 5-7
Just because the sun is setting at what feels like 2pm doesn’t mean you need to retreat to the couch until Spring’s thaw. Proof that there’s more to do around town than you might’ve thought exists right here, in our weekly Sure Things guide. Here’s all the fun to be had between Dec 5-7: Sing…
Quinpool Road sushi spot Wasabi House finally reopens for eating in
After nearly three years of take-out only, the Quinpool Road institution Wasabi House opened its dining room this week. For lovers of affordable Japanese cuisine, friendly service and the fact that you’ll somehow always receive a few extra rolls on the house, this is the post-pandemic reopening of all post-pandemic reopenings. Chef and owner Richard Wu…
A tale of two Christmas albums
When it comes to setting the tone for the most wonderful time of the year, the soundtrack is key. (I mean, what are you gonna do? Decorate the tree in silence?) A good holiday album evokes equal parts joy and wistfulness, it makes room for all the big feelings of another year’s end and it…
The suburbs are a Ponzi scheme
The city’s budget pre-season is done. Friday’s budget committee meeting of Halifax regional council brought the preparations for next year’s budget to an end, with council giving chief financial officer Jerry Blackwood and chief administrative officer Jaques Dubé their marching orders. The senior staffers will come back in a few weeks with information, suggestions and…
Jah’Mila moved from Jamaica to Halifax to make the perfect reggae album
The cinematic drum-thumping that opens Roots Girl, the debut LP of Halifax’s preeminent reggae artist Jah’Mila, feels like the opening black screen before an epic movie’s beginning. It’s a signal of something you can’t help but sit up straighter for, spine aligned with anticipation. It’s a heralding, matched by slowly chanted lyrics that feel equal…
Halifax has a queer bar again
“When I came to Canada, it was my dream that I wanted to perform as a drag queen,” says Jasleen, a drag artist who began performing on Halifax stages last summer. “My drag started, like, I think it was inside me from my childhood.” The self-described “first Bollywood drag diva of Halifax” is originally from…
Halifax, here’s your weekend guide for Dec 1-4
Yes, yes, the nights are getting longer and the days colder, but that excuse isn’t gonna cut it this weekend: There is simply too much interesting, noteworthy stuff happening in Halifax as November winds down for you to spend time couch-bound. Instead, light up the group text with some of the following options—from seeing Serena…
Halifax is throwing the ultimate birthday bash for Britney Spears on Dec 1 at The Seahorse
I was not a Britney truther—at least, not at first. Just like the rest of us who were MTV’s prime demographic during her heyday (and, in quick succession, her downfall), I knew Spears; my well-worn CD of Oops!…I Did It Again! was a marker of my casual fandom. But, by the end credits of the New…
HFX Wanderers announce Patrice Gheisar as soccer club’s new head coach
Derek Martin has something to smile about. On the last day of November, as the frost melts across Halifax, the HFX Wanderers FC founder and president is grinning as he greets reporters at the club’s Sackville Street office and holds forth on his soccer club’s future. For the first time in the Wanderers’ four-year history…
How a DIY art crawl can help fight your seasonal slump
In the throes of a July heatwave I wouldn’t necessarily call myself a Summer Person—but I guess I must be, since every November I find the sky itself oppressive as night falls at, according to Google, precisely 4:36pm. There are many ways to white-knuckle the long evenings until bedtime, but common coping—like TV binging or…
Here’s why the 2023 World Junior Hockey Championship isn’t a sure thing, yet
On December 26, the first puck drops in the 2023 International Ice Hockey Federation men’s World Junior Championship, co-hosted by Halifax and Moncton, New Brunswick. Less than four weeks from now, the Maritimes will welcome fans and players from around the world, and millions of Canadians across the country will engage in the storied holiday…
Macdonald Bridge bike flyover funding extended
Last week, the beleaguered Macdonald Bridge bikeway flyover got some bad press. With construction delays and cost overruns, the city was going to be on the hook for the full $12.7 million price tag of the new estimate—but that’s now expected to be just $2.1 million. In 2017 when the project was first announced, the…
Friends and family of Pat Stay lobby for Dartmouth street to be renamed in his memory
Nearly three months after Dartmouth battle rapper Pat Stay’s tragic killing, momentum is building for HRM to honour the late and celebrated entertainer above its sidewalks. A change.org petition is calling on the regional council to rename a street in Dartmouth in memory of Stay, 36, who was best known for putting the “Darkside” on…
Halifax, here’s your going-out guide for Nov 28-30
Just because the sun is setting at what feels like 2pm doesn’t mean you need to retreat to the couch until Spring’s thaw. Proof that there’s more to do around town than you might’ve thought exists right here, in our weekly Sure Things guide. Here’s all the fun to be had between Nov 28-30: See…
Daryâ restaurant is here to transport you to the Eastern Mediterranean
It’s been a hectic few months for Wesley Bernard, chef de cuisine at Daryâ, the newest culinary addition to the waterfront Queen’s Marque district. Preparing to open a restaurant is both an exhausting and exhilarating endeavour full of revamping, restructuring and reorganizing, but once the dust has settled, seeing everything come together is nothing short…
Military facility at Hartlen Point could ruin area for birding, surfing, fishing
It’s a blustery November morning, and Nikki Gullett has her binoculars trained on the whitecapped waters off the edge of Cow Bay. An avid bird watcher, she’s been tracing the path of a possible red-throated loon, one of the more than 300 bird species found at Hartlen Point, a rocky and dune-covered outcrop at the…
Why did CBC end the Halifax legal drama Diggstown?
Earlier this month, the North Preston-set CBC series Diggstown quietly ended a four-season run. Floyd Kane’s story of a hotshot lawyer who returns home to Nova Scotia after the tragic death of her aunt causes her to shift her priorities was a critical slam dunk (disclosure: I am one of said critics) that netted five Canadian…
Rethink the past and envision a better future at this weekend’s Creative Counter-Memorializations Symposium
The goal is to break out of the ivory tower and really get in touch with communities. And I think art is something that a lot of people are engaged with in a lot of different ways. And it’s something that I think is more accessible than a conventional panel,” says Lucy Boyd, coordinator of…
Taxi licencing could get cheaper in Halifax
The new transportation standing committee met today. Committee members rotate around every two years, and the new chair is the same as the old chair, councillor Waye Mason. Vice-chair is councillor Pam Lovelace. They chair a committee that includes the returning Tim Outhit and committee rookies Shawn Cleary and Trish Purdy. Tony Mancini, Iona Stoddard…
Hey Halifax, make merry this holiday season with these festive events
If you agree with the song that this is, in fact, the most wonderful time of the year, you’re in good company: A bunch of Haligonians are already maxing out on the season, delivering holiday-themed plays, tree lightings, celebratory concerts and more. Here, we’re loading up your calendar with ways to feel merry and bright—over…
Get to know the real Maud Lewis at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia’s new exhibit
The black cats. The bright colours. The halcyon rural settings. It’s impossible to misidentify a Maud Lewis work since, as Interim Director & CEO of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia Sarah Moore Fillmore, puts it, “you get exactly what you need from the picture…very quickly and very emotionally.” But, despite Lewis’s fame—the record-setting sales…
Need for shelter this winter is the “worst it’s ever been” in Halifax
In another time, Kat Stein may have been excited about the rapidly approaching winter—that sense of joy knowing they’d soon be cosying up under a blanket while the first snow falls or sipping a hot chocolate on the first truly cold day. But now, the program manager at Out of the Cold Community Association only…
Demystifying the HRM’s 2023 budget meetings
Yesterday municipal budget season officially kicked off. In the coming weeks, you’ll be hearing a lot more from and about the city’s (about-to-retire) chief administrative officer, Jaques Dubé, and its (unofficial) captain of budget season, chief financial officer Jerry Blackwood, so here’s a bit of an explainer on how the budget process works. It…
Psychedelics are becoming big business. Is Nova Scotia ready?
The glitzy hotel conference room surroundings said as much about psychedelics’ rise to mainstream interest as anything else. In the basement of the Atlantica Hotel in mid-November, a group of 30-odd academics, therapists, mycologists and MBAs mingled to discuss the latest research and commercial forays into magic mushrooms, MDMA and other psychedelic tools of therapeutic…
New Viola Desmond memorial on Gottingen Street celebrates her legacy perfectly
A crowd about 100 people deep braced against the sharp-edged air on November 23, as history was being made–and recalled and refracted—on a spate of Gottingen Street sidewalk. “Why are you crying?” one woman asked another, pulling her in for a hug. The tears sparked, presumably, from the magnitude of the moment: The unveiling of…
Halifax, here’s your weekend guide for Nov 24-27
Yes, yes, the nights are getting longer and the days colder, but that excuse isn’t gonna cut it this weekend: There is simply too much interesting, noteworthy stuff happening in Halifax as November winds down for you to spend time couch-bound. Instead, light up the group text with some of the following options—from Charlotte Cardin…
Everything you need to know about Halifax council’s Nov 22 meeting
Budget season kicked off Tuesday in Halifax Regional Municipality with an introduction to the budget’s strategic priorities. This step seems like a very high-level wishy-washy process with very little tangible impact, and it’s not an incorrect assumption to make. However these high-level discussions have a very real impact on how the city’s money (AKA your…
NSCAD announces new plan for waterfront campus
It’s 1.3 kilometers from NSCAD’s Fountain Campus, at 1895 Granville Street, to the region of the Halifax waterfront known as The Seaport, where a statue of Samuel Cunard presides over the slate-coloured waters. By car, that’s a four-minute journey; on foot, it’s more like 20 minutes. For the school itself, though, relocating from its longtime…
Macdonald Bridge bike flyover delayed to 2024
Cyclists travelling the Macdonald Bridge between Halifax and Dartmouth will need to wait two more years for a Halifax-end bikeway flyover that was initially targeted for completion in 2021. In a report submitted to Halifax regional council ahead of Tuesday’s council meeting, HRM project manager Ahmed Allahham notes that delays to the project—which cyclists have…
Colorado mass shooting echoes in Halifax
The 3,443 kilometre distance separating Halifax from Colorado Springs felt awfully small on Sunday evening, as about two dozen vigil attendees gathered at the Peace and Friendship Park to mark the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance. As trans people and their allies mourned those lost to transphobic-rooted violence over the years, many couldn’t help but…
Halifax, here is your going-out guide for November 21-23
Just because the sun is setting at what feels like 2pm doesn’t mean you need to retreat to the couch until Spring’s thaw. Proof that there’s more to do around town than you might’ve thought exists right here, in our weekly Sure Things guide. Get started with these events, from November 21-23: See Boney M…
Your Halifax guide to the FIFA soccer World Cup
When Canada’s men’s national team takes to the soccer pitch against Belgium on Wednesday, Nov. 23, it will make history—not just as the first Canadian men’s side since 1986 to qualify for the world’s largest sporting event, but as the fastest-climbing team in global FIFA rankings in 2021-22. Led by global star Alphonso Davies, a…
Dawn Her Dad and the Tractor announced as winner of the 2022 Nova Scotia Masterworks Award
When first-time feature director Shelley Thompson debuted her flick Dawn, Her Dad and the Tractor at the 2021 FIN Atlantic International Film Festival, it was her first time seeing the final cut—and she was feeling the stakes of the moment. Back then, she told The Coast that “I think everybody’s making films to change the world,…
RCMP leader ridicules officers after Portapique
Say what you like about the Mass Casualty Commission—call it expensive, disrespectful or a let down—you can’t deny there’s a lot to read on the commission website. And at the end of October, another 2,000 or so documents were made public, adding to the pile of statements, decisions, transcripts, foundational documents and such related to…
A “perfect storm” of respiratory viruses hits Nova Scotia, putting pressure on the IWK
What some are calling a “tripledemic” of influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and COVID, has arrived in Nova Scotia. The flu and RSV are impacting young children (preschool age and below) in particular, leaving the already strained children’s acute care system even more burdened. Across the province, pediatric units are “stretched, stretched, stretched,” Dr. Andrew…
Tim Houston flexes legislative power in 2022 fall sitting
Whenever a politician thinks they did something good, something bad, or really anything at all, they then turn to their supporters for adulation. Premier Tim Houston and his PCs are no different than any other political party and—right on queue, as the fall session ended—the party put out its vainglorious propaganda. We’ve made tremendous strides…
Nova Scotia-based health startup trials magic mushrooms as PTSD treatment
Nova Scotia’s first clinical trial involving psilocybin—the psychoactive ingredient in magic mushrooms—will receive its first volunteer patients this week. The Windsor-based Halucenex Life Sciences Inc. is trialling the compound for use in treating severe post-traumatic stress. The psychedelic compound production company is banking on the drug’s potential as a breakthrough therapeutic treatment for veterans and…
Halifax poet Annick MacAskill wins the 2022 Governor General Award
Annick MacAskill sometimes still struggles to find the words for what she’s lived through. The thrice-published poet and translator takes such a deep pause when I ask her how much her latest book of poems—Shadow Blight, which won the 2022 Governor General Award for poetry on Nov. 16—was lifted from her real life, I almost…
Winnipeg artist Divya Mehra wins the 2022 Sobey Art Award
Last night in Ottawa, the newest winner of the Sobey Award—the nation’s top prize in visual art—was crowned. Winnipeg’s Divya Mehra is the one taking home the top brass for her timely and change-making work surrounding themes of reparations. It’s probably easiest to label Mehra a conceptual artist, since much of her current practice highlights…
In praise of Greco, the greatest bad pizza around
I can only recall feeling envy once on Twitter (that’s an emotion usually found lurking under Instagram’s round-cornered veneer). It was midway through the hellscape of 2020, and while there were a billion pressing things I should’ve been fixating on, I found myself repeating the same story to any friend held captive in my socially distanced…
Halifax, here is your weekend guide for November 17-20
Before you waste another evening flipping between streaming services trying to pick a movie, already, may we suggest leaving the couch behind? Here are some can’t-miss Sure Things happening this weekend to take the guesswork out of going out, since we all know these are the most precious days of the week: Catch a flick…
The new Woodside Ferry Terminal is a functional paradise
The Woodside Ferry Terminal has been under construction since 2019, and while it has been open to the public throughout the process, the facelift is finally complete. Before the official unveiling ceremony, which happens this afternoon (Nov. 16), The Coast went to Woodside to check it out. Arriving at the terminal from the street, you’re…
Halifax Pride announces departure of executive director and communications manager
It’s time to count Halifax Pride Festival among the ever-growing list of organizations in the city’s cultural sector that’s switching up its leadership: Longtime executive director Adam Reid announced earlier this week he’s stepping down from his position to pursue new opportunities after six years in the role. Reid gave The Coast the scoop a…
Your 2022 guide to 20+ Halifax’s holiday makers’ markets, Christmas craft fairs and more
Chances are that, by now, you’re in full-on Santa mode, making a list and checking it twice. One of the best ways to make sure you score perfect presents—and dare we say, have fun in the process—is to hit up makers’ markets, craft fairs and pop-ups featuring small, local businesses and independent creators. Here, we’re…
Mattea Roach reflects on Jeopardy! as a weird way to become famous
On Friday, Nova Scotia’s Jeopardy! phenom Mattea Roach took their final bow on the Alex Trebek Stage after losing their semi-final game in the Tournament of Champions. Barring a special reunion episode, Roach’s time on the iconic trivia show has come to an end. But you don’t become the fifth-best J! player of all time…
Dal president Deep Saini is leaving for McGill
On Monday afternoon, Dalhousie University announced its president and vice-chancellor Deep Saini is leaving to take the helm at McGill. Saini is to part ways with Dalhousie, and its HoCo-related tomfoolery (McGill does not do that sort of thing) on Dec. 31. Saini began his tenure as Dalhousie’s president in January 2020, holding the position through…
Halifax planned to become “a cycling city” in 2022. How’s that coming?
There was a moment, about an hour into October’s HRM transportation standing committee meeting, when debate shifted from staff reports and cycling networks to the oft-repeated Field of Dreams dictum: “If you build it, they will come.” “I don’t always agree [with it],” District 11 councillor Patty Cuttell told her colleagues that afternoon. “I think…
Mattea Roach’s style icons are Bruce Springsteen, Kristen Stewart and Angela Merkel
Ahead of Mattea Roach’s run on the show’s annual Tournament of Champions, we sat down with Nova Scotia’s favourite Jeopardy! superchampion for a video chat to talk about fame, fortune and the future. We also asked Roach some of the burning questions sent in by our readers. If you’re wondering where the Halifax native gets…
Scene stars debut two ways to help the next generation of Halifax musicians
When Paul Murphy kept hearing albums-in-progress from friends and peers that didn’t have music industry backing, the solution became obvious: “I was like ‘Man if we just had a label, we could help out and put this out’,” the Wintersleep front person and musician behind the project Postdata explains, speaking with The Coast by phone.…
If you think there are fewer poppies in Halifax this year—you’re right
If you’ve been struggling to get your hands on a poppy this November, you’re not alone. After buying multiple Iced Capps and doing a fair amount of grocery shopping over the last few weeks, I’ve only come across one poppy donation box around the city—shout out to the Barrington Street Tim Hortons for both the…
Dal’s new hockey arena is nearly $15 million over budget
Update: On November 16, Dalhousie announced it has paused the Event Centre project, citing challenges in Halifax’s construction industry including “cost pressures” and a labour shortage. “While we had hoped to break ground on the Event Centre structure this fall, we have been unable to secure competitive pricing for some project elements. We will keep…
Halifax author Andre Fenton announces film adaptation of his novel Annaka
It’s a busy day for poet-author Andre Fenton when The Coast catches him between meetings: “Me and Cory”—that’s Bowles, director of the 2017 Halifax-shot film Black Cop— “just had a Zoom meeting on CBC,” Fenton says, speaking by phone. The Creative Nova Scotia Emerging Artist award-winner is about to find his schedule even more booked…
Let Terra Spencer take you on a time warp
Terra Spencer knows that, when it comes to eras, right now is all about Y2K—but you can keep your butterfly clips and baby tees. The singer-songwriter has spent most of her life hooked on the (arguably) golden decade of her chosen genre: The 1970s. The fixation, Spencer recalls, “came about really organically, because I hung…
Is the #Halitwitter exodus underway?
If you’ve been following the 280-character musings of the world’s richest man over the last two weeks, you’re likely aware of the following: Elon Musk owns Twitter now. And boy, people sure have thoughts about it. Times have been turbulent since the company’s takeover. Within a week of Musk completing his $44-billion purchase of the…
How to mark Remembrance Day 2022 in Halifax
If you’re looking for somewhere to commemorate Remembrance Day (which, for the record, is Friday, Nov 11), you’re not short on options. Here’s the deets on where to attend a service near you: Remembrance Day Service at Grand Parade After a pandemic pause, the (arguably) biggest memorial of November 11 has returned to Grand Parade…
Everything you need to know about the 2022 Atlantic Jewish Film Festival
Nine years strong, the Atlantic Jewish Film Festival is known for offering a feast of flicks from across the globe that highlight diverse Jewish stories. This year, the event is doing both an IRL event at Cineplex Park Lane and a remote option that lets you binge from your couch. Movie buffs know it’s the…
Nova Scotia’s big carbon problem
It is fitting—and in many ways, chilling—that on the first day many of the world’s leaders met in Egypt to discuss the ongoing perils of climate change, Halifax was experiencing its hottest November day on record. You felt it if you strolled the waterfront or lay in the grass at the Citadel or wandered the…
Jimmy Carr announces Halifax show for May 31, 2023
It’s the third time English funny guy Jimmy Carr has brought a new stack of material to Canada—and if past tours are anything to go by, it’s only a matter of time until his newest show, Jimmy Carr: Terribly Funny sells out. Halifax is getting in on the joke, too: It was announced today that…
Here’s your 2022 Nova Scotia Music Week recap
It was a jam-packed few days in Sydney, Cape Breton as the Nova Scotia music industry coalesced for the constellation of concerts and networking events that comprises Nova Scotia Music Week. Things capped off on Sunday, November 6, with the annual awards brunch—which, alongside doling out 23 awards, also celebrated the legacy of Halifax a…
Best Dancer
GOLD WINNER Cavell Holland, House of Eights Dance Studio 1533 Barrington Street, 2nd floor website SILVER WINNER Brittany Todd, Unleashed Studio 245 Waverley Road website BRONZE WINNER Jayla James, House of Eights Dance Studio 1533 Barrington Street, 2nd floor website Cavell Holland cannot believe the news when The Coast calls, announcing he’s won Best Dancer.…
Best Bartender
GOLD WINNER Nicki Brown, Good Robot Brewing Co. 2736 Robie Street website SILVER WINNER Lingjie Xue, Dear Friend Bar 67 Portland Street website BRONZE WINNER Patrick Fulgencio, Dear Friend Bar 67 Portland Street website Nicki Brown spends more time behind the scenes nowadays at Good Robot, running the social media for this year’s gold winner…
Best Cidery
GOLD WINNER Lake City Cider 35 Portland Street website SILVER WINNER Chain Yard Cider 2606 Agricola Street website BRONZE WINNER No Boats On Sunday website What makes the cider from this “living love letter to Dartmouth” stand out from the crowd? 100% local fruit, no concentrates. Apples from the Annapolis Valley, blueberries from Oxford—you get…
Best Nova Scotian Winery
GOLD WINNER Benjamin Bridge 1966 White Rock Road, Wolfville website SILVER WINNER Lightfoot & Wolfville 11143 Evangeline Trail, Wolfville website BRONZE WINNER Luckett Vineyards 1293 Grand Pre Road, Gaspereau Valley website The winery that created the beloved Nova 7 and its subsequent innovation, Nova 7 in a can, takes home the title of Best Nova…
Best Vegetarian / Vegan Restaurant
GOLD WINNER The Wooden Monkey 1707 Grafton Street website SILVER WINNER Real Fake Meats 2278 Gottingen Street website BRONZE WINNER enVie – A Vegan Kitchen 5775 Charles Street website Everyone is welcome at the dinner table when you’re dining at The Wooden Monkey. “We’ve had… a philosophy of the very first restaurant way back 18…
Best Solo Artist
GOLD WINNER Adam Baldwin website SILVER WINNER Jade Bennett website BRONZE WINNER John Snow website It’s the second year in a row that Adam Baldwin will take home gold for Best Solo Artist, proving that Halifax stopped thinking of him as simply a member of Matt Mays’ live band many years and three albums ago.…
Best Place To Volunteer
GOLD WINNER Nova Scotia SPCA 201 Brownlow Avenue, suite 9 website SILVER WINNER Out of the Cold Community Association 7 Church Street, Dartmouth website BRONZE WINNER Feed Nova Scotia 67 Wright Avenue website It’s no surprise this is the fifth time the NS SPCA has won gold for Best Place To Volunteer. What’s not to…
Best Comics Store
GOLD WINNER Cape & Cowl Comics & Collectibles 622 Sackville Drive website SILVER WINNER Giant Robot Comics 114 Woodlawn Road website BRONZE WINNER Lost World Games, Toys & Records 170 Portland Street website HALL OF FAME Strange Adventures, Halifax 5110 Prince Street website Inducted in 2017 Jay Aaron Roy is cementing Cape & Cowl’s legacy…
Best Shoe Store
GOLD WINNER EastCoast Kicks 1658 Bedford Highway website SILVER WINNER John David Shoes Park Lane Mall, 5657 Spring Garden Road website BRONZE WINNER Pro Skateboards & Snowboards 6451 Quinpool Road website When John Connors started selling sneakers in 2017, it was out of the back of his truck—so to have expanded to his own retail…
Best Mechanic Shop
GOLD WINNER Mighty Auto 6437 Lady Hammond Road website SILVER WINNER Cheapy Tire 302 Windmill Road website BRONZE WINNER Harrington’s VW Parts and Service 604 Stairs Street website Jim Rogers has a simple guiding rule when dealing with his customers: “Don’t bullshit.” In his 44 years as an auto mechanic, those two words have made…
Best Drag Performer
GOLD WINNER Elle Noir website SILVER WINNER Anna Mona-Pia website BRONZE WINNER Zara Matrix website HALL OF FAME Rouge Fatale website Inducted in 2017 Chris Cochrane might be in the middle of an errand run when The Coast reaches her by phone, but the drag artist who performs under the name Elle Noir is as…
Best BBQ
GOLD WINNER CHKN CHOP 6141 North Street website SILVER WINNER Boneheads BBQ 1014 Barrington Street website BRONZE WINNER Upstreet BBQ Brewhouse 612 Windmill Road website When you’re in the business of chicken, it’s easy to be a crowd-pleaser. “Everybody likes chicken,” says Jenna Mooers, owner of CHKN CHOP. What’s less easy is winning the hearts…
Best Clayton Park Area Restaurant
GOLD WINNER Tako Sushi & Ramen 480 Parkland Drive website SILVER WINNER Mezza Lebanese Kitchen 278 Lacewood Drive website BRONZE WINNER The Lower Deck 278 Lacewood Drive website Tako Sushi & Ramen has taken the gold for best Clayton Park Area Restaurant. Since 2013, this Japanese restaurant has been serving authentic dishes to the Halifax…
Best Oyster Bar
GOLD WINNER Dear Friend Bar 67 Portland Street website SILVER WINNER Lot Six Bar & Restaurant 1685 Argyle Street website BRONZE WINNER The Press Gang Restaurant & Oyster Bar 5218 Prince Street website There’s two firsts with this award—the first oyster gold for Dear Friend and the debut of our Best Oyster Bar category. For…
Best Wine List
GOLD WINNER Obladee, A Wine Bar 1600 Barrington Street website SILVER WINNER The Bicycle Thief Bishop’s Landing, 1475 Lower Water Street website BRONZE WINNER Bar Kismet 2722 Agricola Street website Siblings Heather and Christian Rankin opened Obladee in 2010 with a vision to create a small, smart and intimate space to enjoy thoughtful wine, food,…
Best Songwriter
GOLD WINNER Joel Plaskett website SILVER WINNER Mo Kenney website BRONZE WINNER Adam Baldwin website Singer-songwriter Joel Plaskett is the type of local luminary who shines so bright, introductions feel redundant. After all, even people who’ve never been to this side of the country have, odds are, tapped their toes to a tune of his.…
Best Public Art Or Mural
GOLD WINNER John Dunsworth 6451 Quinpool Road website SILVER WINNER The Way Things Are (drunken lamp posts) Behind Bishop’s Landing, 1475 Lower Water Street website BRONZE WINNER Neon Mural 161 Portland Street website John Dunsworth was, and is, beloved in Halifax. If you watched even a single episode of The Trailer Park Boys, you’ll remember…
Best Corner Store
GOLD WINNER Flynn’s Dairy Bar & Convenience 1365 Hollis Street website SILVER WINNER Jubilee Junction Convenience and Takeout 6273 Jubilee Road website BRONZE WINNER Triple A Convenience & Pizzeria 6279 Jubilee Road website The first thing you need to know about Flynn’s is that it’s serious about candy. Craving DunkAroos pancake mix? Cinnamon Toast Crunch…
Best Second-hand Clothing Store
GOLD WINNER Guy’s Frenchy’s Sackville 12 Murdock MacKay Court, Lower Sackville website SILVER WINNER Mission Mart 265 Susie Lake Crescent website BRONZE WINNER The Loot Vintage 1711 Barrington Street website Melissa Crowell knew Guy’s Frenchy’s was popular with its regulars, but perhaps never more so than when the Lower Sackville business reopened from COVID-19 closures.…
Best New Business
GOLD WINNER Pride Beauty Lounge 281 Sackville Drive website SILVER WINNER Dream Dog 27 Dellridge Lane website BRONZE WINNER Vaughan’s General Store 5553 Bloomfield Street website Tori Yeomans always wanted Pride Beauty Lounge to be different. As a mental-health worker turned esthetician and a self-identified person with a disability, Yeomans knew she wanted a space…
Best Festival
GOLD WINNER Halifax Pride website SILVER WINNER Halifax Jazz Festival website BRONZE WINNER Nocturne website Halifax Pride saw a return to fully scheduled programming in the summer of 2022, something that felt like a much-needed harbinger of normalcy after two sunny seasons of a version of the event that required reduced capacity and lightened event…
Best Bedford Restaurant
GOLD WINNER il Mercato Trattoria Sunnyside Mall, 1595 Bedford Highway website SILVER WINNER Birch & Anchor 367 Bedford Highway website BRONZE WINNER Cha Baa Thai Restaurant 1511 Bedford Highway website For the seventh time in a row, il Mercato Trattoria has taken home the gold for Best Bedford Restaurant. This warm, lively Italian joint has…
Best Cocktails
GOLD WINNER Dear Friend Bar 67 Portland Street website SILVER WINNER Lot Six Bar & Restaurant 1685 Argyle Street website BRONZE WINNER Julep Kitchen & Cocktails 1688 Barrington Street website The cocktail menu at Dear Friend changes more often than the seasons, reinventing itself about five times a year so the ingredients are always local…
Best Patio
GOLD WINNER Birch & Anchor 367 Bedford Highway website SILVER WINNER Pickford & Black Historic Properties, 1869 Upper Water Street website BRONZE WINNER Good Robot Brewing Co. 2736 Robie Street website HALL OF FAME Your Father’s Moustache 5686 Spring Garden Road website Inducted in 2016 Jennifer Swain, the chief operations officer at Birch & Anchor,…
Best Blues Artist / Band
GOLD WINNER Garrett Mason website SILVER WINNER Charlie A’Court website BRONZE WINNER Willie Stratton website A tradition turned siren song, every Tuesday at Bearly’s House of Blues & Ribs is blissfully dependable: Garrett Mason will noodle on his guitar, making it by turns wail and gently weep from the bar’s petite corner stage. Another tradition?…
Best Activist
GOLD WINNER El Jones website SILVER WINNER Kate MacDonald website BRONZE WINNER Trayvone Clayton website El Jones is once again named the city’s best activist. Jones said she’s happy to be recognized by the community for the work she’s doing, but wonders about the category in which she’s won. “Best Musician means they made good…
Best Public Space
GOLD WINNER Halifax waterfront 1600 Lower Water Street website SILVER WINNER Halifax Public Gardens 5665 Spring Garden Road website BRONZE WINNER Point Pleasant Park 5530 Point Pleasant Drive website The Halifax waterfront is a four kilometre-long boardwalk with lots to see and do. Home to the city’s more notable pieces of public art like the…
Best Dog Groomer
GOLD WINNER Jollytails 6390 Lady Hammond Road website SILVER WINNER Dapper Dogs 1658 Bedford Highway website BRONZE WINNER Prim & Pupper 2310 Gottingen Street website The biggest thing that makes Jollytails grooming appointments different, according to senior manager Bronwyn Brent, is they’re “not in a rush.” Every groomer at the Lady Hammond Road pet store…
Best Makeup Artist
GOLD WINNER Selena Marchand, Selena Marchand Makeup Artistry website SILVER WINNER Elle Munster, Daydreamers Beauty Studio 6132 Quinpool Road, suite 201 website BRONZE WINNER Vicky Mina, Vicky Mina Makeup website Selena Marchand lives for the moments of transformation. A makeup artist for 16 years and counting, Marchand prides herself on bringing a boost of confidence…
Best Pet Supply Store
GOLD WINNER Jollytails 6390 Lady Hammond Road website SILVER WINNER Planet Paws 95 Montebello Drive website BRONZE WINNER Best Friends Pet Supplies 287 Lacewood Drive website Bronwyn Brent has always had a love for pets—whether it was her first Bernese mountain dog, Wiley, or her current furry flock of five (Australian shepherds Lennox and Suri,…
Best Film / TV Actor
GOLD WINNER Elliot Page website SILVER WINNER Jonathan Torrens website BRONZE WINNER Koumbie website He is, really, the best of us—so it’s no wonder that year after year, Halifax tries to remind Page how his humble roots still have his back by awarding him a Best of Halifax Readers’ Choice Award. While it’s often been…
Best Beer Garden
GOLD WINNER Stillwell Beergarden 5688 Spring Garden Road website SILVER WINNER The BG Summit Plaza, 1599 Lower Water Street website BRONZE WINNER Brightwood Brewery Beer Garden 2 Ochterloney Street website Raise a glass if this has ever happened to you: It’s a summer evening and you roll up to Stillwell Beergarden on Spring Garden Road,…
Best Coffee
GOLD WINNER Java Blend 6027 North Street website SILVER WINNER Selby’s Bunker Coffee & Gifts 1090 Cole Harbour Road website BRONZE WINNER Dilly Dally Coffee Cafe 6100 Quinpool Road website Halifax’s most iconic cup of joe unquestionably belongs to Java Blend. The north end just wouldn’t be the same without it—JB has been roasting beans…
Best Pizza Pie
GOLD WINNER Yeah Yeahs Pizza 66 Ochterloney Street website SILVER WINNER Morris East 620 Nine Mile Drive website BRONZE WINNER Rinaldo’s Italian American Specialities 2186 Windsor Street website HALL OF FAME Salvatore’s Pizzaiolo Trattoria 5541 Young Street website Inducted in 2016 Sal Mosca, the head dough maker at Yeah Yeahs Pizza, is credited as the…
Best Country Artist / Band
GOLD WINNER Willie Stratton website SILVER WINNER Jodi Guthro website BRONZE WINNER Brooklyn Blackmore website Willie Stratton’s newest album, Drugstore Dreamin’, undoubtedly shaped voters’ minds in the Best Country category since its April 2022 release. After a career of genre-hopping, the eight-track effort saw Stratton doubling down on what he does best, the type of…
Best Activist Organization
GOLD WINNER Out of the Cold Community Association 7 Church Street, Dartmouth website SILVER WINNER Halifax Mutual Aid website BRONZE WINNER Gamechangers902 website HALL OF FAME Ecology Action Centre 2705 Fern Lane website Inducted in 2017 Housing affects each of us in Halifax—and in the last several years, a region-wide housing crisis has led to…
Best Staycation Spot
GOLD WINNER Sensea Nordic Spa 40 Sensea Road, Chester website SILVER WINNER White Point Beach Resort 75 White Point Beach Resort Road, White Point website BRONZE WINNER Lawrencetown Lodge 1232 West Porters Lake Road, West Porters Lake website A steamy oasis on the outskirts of charming Chester, NS invites visitors to immerse themselves in nature…
Best Esthetician
GOLD WINNER Julien Grey, greyarea waxing & brows 91 Sackville Drive website SILVER WINNER Andrea Bowness, The Ten Spot 5165 South Street website BRONZE WINNER Natalie MacDonald, Blair Beauty Bar 6427 Quinpool Road website Julien Grey is on a mission to turn the beauty industry inside out. An openly trans esthetician, Grey has built a…
Best Fish & Chips
GOLD WINNER John’s Lunch 352 Pleasant Street website SILVER WINNER Evan’s Fresh Seafoods Alderney Landing, 2 Ochterloney Street website BRONZE WINNER Pleasant Street Diner 205 Pleasant Street website In case you were wondering: Winning gold never gets old, according to John’s Lunch co-owner Katherine Hilchey, who has been winning Best of Halifax awards for 12…
Best Real Estate Agent
GOLD WINNER Robert Scanlan, Royal LePage Atlantic 610 Wright Avenue website SILVER WINNER Jessica Naugler, Royal LePage Atlantic The Village at Bayers Road, 7071 Bayers Road, suite 102 website BRONZE WINNER Sam Bianchini, Keller Williams Select Realty 222 Waterfront Drive website Robert Scanlan doesn’t forget a client’s name. He’s sent birthday cards, Christmas ornaments, Halloween…
Best Filmmaker
GOLD WINNER Ben Proudfoot website SILVER WINNER Tyler Simmonds website BRONZE WINNER Taylor Olson website This is proving to be a good year for Ben Proudfoot. In 2022 the Halifax-born, LA-based documentary filmmaker has netted both an Oscar and a gold Best of Halifax Readers’ Choice Award. The former prize was for his short doc…
Best Breakfast
GOLD WINNER Ardmore Tea Room 6499 Quinpool Road website SILVER WINNER Armview Restaurant & Lounge 7156 Chebucto Road website BRONZE WINNER Portland Street Crêperie 55 Portland Street website After a particularly wild night out, Ardmore Tea Room is always there to revive you. This comforting classic diner has been an institution on Quinpool for over…
Best Craft Brewery
GOLD WINNER Good Robot Brewing Co. 2736 Robie Street website SILVER WINNER Propeller Brewing Company 2015 Gottingen Street website BRONZE WINNER North Brewing 899 Portland Street website Good Robot Brewing Co. was not born out of a love for alcohol, or even brewing beer, says marketing manager Lindsey Davidson. “It was started because the co-founders…
Best Pizza Slice
GOLD WINNER Yeah Yeahs Pizza 66 Ochterloney Street website SILVER WINNER Salvatore’s Pizzaiolo Trattoria 5541 Young Street website BRONZE WINNER Sicilian Pizza, Donairs & Subs 5245 Blowers Street website Yeah Yeahs Pizza, located on Ochterloney Street in Dartmouth and on Barrington Street in Halifax, is committed to “high quality ingredients done simple and well,” according…
Best Cover Artist / Band
GOLD WINNER The Mellotones website SILVER WINNER Signal Hill website BRONZE WINNER Dancing Queen website For over two decades, dance floors all over town have gotten just a little hotter when The Mellotones are in charge of a party. The sprawling, eight-person cover act is known for delivering live renditions of hits both classic and…
Best Athlete
GOLD WINNER Nathan MacKinnon website SILVER WINNER Sidney Crosby website BRONZE WINNER Ellie Black website Bringing home a Stanley Cup would be enough to top most hockey players’ resumes—but finishing the Colorado Avalanche’s six-game Cup series with two goals and four assists, all while taking down the two-time reigning champion Tampa Bay Lightning? That’s Nathan…
Best TikTok Account
GOLD WINNER @AliciaMccarvell website SILVER WINNER @colinjmuise website BRONZE WINNER @nottheworstcleaner website Alicia Mccarvell was between jobs, bartending part-time, when she first started posting on TikTok. Her third video on the platform blew up, and within a few days she had 50,000 followers. “I was just mind-blown that anybody would want to listen to the…
Best Fashion Designer
GOLD WINNER ANA + ZAC 2576 Agricola Street website SILVER WINNER tREv Clothing EastCoast Kicks, 1658 Bedford Highway website BRONZE WINNER Thief & Bandit 1668 Barrington Street website Once you make it past the ferociously adorable pup guarding the stairs to Anna Gilkerson and Zac Barkhouse’s north end apartment, you’re greeted by swatches of colours…
Best Fish Cakes
GOLD WINNER Mic Mac Bar & Grill 219 Waverley Road website SILVER WINNER Evan’s Fresh Seafoods Alderney Landing, 2 Ochterloney Street website BRONZE WINNER Black Sheep Restaurant 1496 Lower Water Street website The secret fish cake recipe at Mic Mac has been coveted for years, and although there’s no indication the recipe could be made…
Best Record Store
GOLD WINNER & HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE Taz Records, Halifax 1521 Grafton Street website SILVER WINNER Taz Records, Dartmouth 45 Portland Street website BRONZE WINNER Obsolete Records 2855 Agricola Street website Jimmy Donnelly is loath to accept any credit for his record store’s continued success. Since 2010, his Halifax shop has won gold for Best…
Best Gallery
GOLD WINNER Art Gallery of Nova Scotia 1723 Hollis Street website SILVER WINNER Argyle Fine Art 1559 Barrington Street website BRONZE WINNER The Dart Gallery 127 Portland Street website While the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia takes home the top prize for Best Gallery in 2022, it’s doubtless that this year hasn’t been strictly golden…
Best Brunch
GOLD WINNER The Canteen 22 Portland Street website SILVER WINNER Black Sheep Restaurant 1496 Lower Water Street website BRONZE WINNER Cheeky Neighbour Diner 6024 Quinpool Road website What does it take to serve up the Best Brunch in town? The Canteen’s Renée Lavallée (who is also this year’s gold-winning Best Chef) says the key is…
Best Dartmouth Restaurant
GOLD WINNER Mic Mac Bar & Grill 219 Waverley Road website SILVER WINNER The Canteen 22 Portland Street website BRONZE WINNER The Wooden Monkey Alderney Ferry Terminal, 40 Alderney Drive, suite 305 website Whether it’s the Mic Mac Bar & Grill’s menu or family-owned tavern vibes that bring you back for more, the restaurant has…
Best Poutine
GOLD WINNER Smoke’s Poutinerie 1707 Lower Water Street website SILVER WINNER Cheese Curds Gourmet Burgers + Poutinerie 380 Pleasant Street website BRONZE WINNER CHKN CHOP 6141 North Street website The readers voted Smoke’s Poutinerie, specifically its Halifax waterfront location, as the top spot for Best Poutine. This beloved Canadian franchise, which opened its first location…
Best DJ
GOLD WINNER KittyBass website SILVER WINNER DJ IV website BRONZE WINNER Karate Kactus website The road to gold for DJ KittyBass (AKA Katie Thomas) has been long—and paved in dubstep. To hear her tell it, after recording arts college and a stint in Toronto, “I got my first bar gig in Halifax at the Argyle—well,…
Best Beach
GOLD WINNER Crystal Crescent Beach 223 Sambro Creek Road website SILVER WINNER Carters Beach 89 Carters Beach Road, Port Mouton website BRONZE WINNER Martinique Beach 2389 East Petpeswick Road website The white sands and turquoise water at Crystal Crescent beach in Sambro will trick you into thinking you’ve landed in a tropical paradise, right up…
Best Twitterer
GOLD WINNER @HalifaxReTales website SILVER WINNER @EvilPez4 website BRONZE WINNER @Brett_CBC website Halifax ReTales, AKA Arthur Gaudreau, has won the gold for Best Twitterer again. He feels good about winning, telling The Coast he didn’t even campaign this year—which is perhaps the best indication that a BOH award is truly deserved. Gaudreau started his Twitter…
Best Fitness Instructor
GOLD WINNER Demetrius Ferguson, Evolve Fitness 3667 Strawberry Hill Street, suite 220 website SILVER WINNER Bangs Carey-Campbell, R Studios 2470 Maynard Street website BRONZE WINNER Brittany Burke, JUST Cycle 5536 Sackville Street, suite 150 website Demetrius Ferguson has taken a long and winding path to training clients at Halifax’s Evolve Fitness—from a childhood playing baseball…
Best Fries
GOLD WINNER Bud The Spud Food truck often found on Spring Garden Road at Grafton Street website SILVER WINNER Willy’s Fresh Cut Fries & Burgers 5239 Blowers Street website BRONZE WINNER Battery Park Beerbar & Eatery 62 Ochterloney Street website Kyle Conrod and his partner Kathleen jumped at the opportunity to purchase the Bud the…
Best of Halifax 2022 Readers’ Choice Awards results
Halifax is back! Not necessarily back to normal—if you can even remember, three years into the pandemic, what normal used to be. But as Nova Scotia ended mask mandates and gathering restrictions in 2022, Halifax got back to being itself. That unique sweet spot between small city and big town, with a great mix of…
Best Karaoke Night
GOLD WINNER Karoake Night, Oasis 5661 Spring Garden Road website SILVER WINNER I Don’t Karaoke, Gus’ Pub & Grill 2605 Agricola Street website BRONZE WINNER Laurie The Guy Multiple venues website There is a place, nearly hidden in plain sightThat is a subterranean delightIt feels like the basement for all of Spring Garden RoadA snaking…
Best Burger
GOLD WINNER Darrell’s Restaurant 5576 Fenwick Street website SILVER WINNER Battery Park Beerbar & Eatery 62 Ochterloney Street website BRONZE WINNER 2 Doors Down Food + Wine 1533 Barrington Street website This feels like the zillionth time Darrell’s Restaurant has taken home the gold for Best Burger. If that doesn’t convince you to get out…
Best Desserts
GOLD WINNER Antoinette’s Cheesecakes 250 Baker Drive website SILVER WINNER The Middle Spoon Desserterie & Bar 1563 Barrington Street website BRONZE WINNER Sweet Hereafter Cheesecakery 6148 Quinpool Road website Cheesecake queen Antoinette Abboud has been making cheesecake for over 20 years. Her son and business partner, Migel Abboud, recalls having cheesecake at nearly every family…
Best Pub Food
GOLD WINNER Mic Mac Bar & Grill 219 Waverley Road website SILVER WINNER Durty Nelly’s Authentic Irish Pub 1645 Argyle Street website BRONZE WINNER Battery Park Beerbar & Eatery 62 Ochterloney Street website The Mic Mac Bar & Grill has been around for almost 60 years, so it’s safe to say the staff know a…
Best Electronic Artist / Band
GOLD WINNER Neon Dreams website SILVER WINNER Rich Aucoin website BRONZE WINNER KittyBass website It’s the kind of origin story that will one day make a great movie (and, given the band’s success, a movie only feels inevitable). After starting a band as students at Sackville High, Neon Dreams would go on to hit the…
Best Bus Driver
GOLD WINNER Janet Boutilier SILVER WINNER Matthew Faulkner BRONZE WINNER Darrold Johnson Janet Boutilier is still a little bit in shock about the whole Best Bus Driver recognition. So low-key is the longtime Halifax school bus driver, she didn’t get the news of her Best of Halifax gold award until three days before we were…
Best Up-and-coming Community Leader
GOLD WINNER Claudia Chender website SILVER WINNER Lindell Smith website BRONZE WINNER Kate MacDonald website This new-ish category has a new-ish winner this year. The Nova Scotia NDP’s new leader Claudia Chender was voted by Halifax as the Best Up-and-coming Community Leader. “I’m obviously humbled and honoured to be recognized by folks in such a…
Best Flower Shop
GOLD WINNER My Mother’s Bloomers 2086 Creighton Street website SILVER WINNER Janet’s Flower Shop 69 Portland Street website BRONZE WINNER The Flower Shop 1705 Barrington Street website Some days, My Mother’s Bloomers owner Neville MacKay feels like a fiddlehead; other times, he fancies himself a dandelion—“because I just want to sit and blow in the…
Best Hotel Restaurant
GOLD WINNER Chop Steakhouse & Bar Nova Centre, 1680 Grafton Street, at The Sutton Place Hotel website SILVER WINNER Drift Queen’s Marque, 1709 Lower Water Street, suite 102, at Muir Hotel website BRONZE WINNER Gio 1725 Market Street at The Prince George Hotel website Nestled below The Sutton Place Hotel is Chop Steakhouse & Bar,…
Best Museum
GOLD WINNER Museum of Natural History 1747 Summer Street website SILVER WINNER The Discovery Centre 1215 Lower Water Street website BRONZE WINNER Maritime Museum of the Atlantic 1675 Lower Water Street website In the year that Gus the Gopher Tortoise, Halifax’s unofficial mascot, turns 100, it feels only fitting that the museum he’s long called…
Best Burrito
GOLD WINNER Habaneros Modern Taco Bar 600 Windmill Road website SILVER WINNER Antojo Tacos + Tequila 1667 Argyle Street website BRONZE WINNER Burrito Jax 5215 Blowers Street website “We’re not authentic Mexican cuisine,” Habaneros proudly declares, “we’re modern with a twist.” That means putting a spin on classic faves. There’s no way your mouth won’t…
Best Diner
GOLD WINNER Ardmore Tea Room 6499 Quinpool Road website SILVER WINNER Pleasant Street Diner 205 Pleasant Street website BRONZE WINNER Armview Restaurant & Lounge 7156 Chebucto Road website This multiple-gold-winning institution has been serving affordable breakfast classics to the masses for 70 years, 64 of them from its Quinpool location that the street simply wouldn’t…
Best Ramen
GOLD WINNER Buta Ramen 5190 Morris Street website SILVER WINNER Truly Tasty 6210 Quinpool Road website BRONZE WINNER Tako Sushi & Ramen 480 Parkland Drive website Soup season is upon us, and ramen should be high up on your list of brothy delights to slurp as the colder months quickly approach. If by any chance…
Best Folk Artist / Band
GOLD WINNER Willie Stratton website SILVER WINNER Hillsburn website BRONZE WINNER Laura Rae website Willie Stratton first began unconscious designs for a gold win in the Best Folk Artist category about a decade ago—an accidental MacBeth moment thanks to the immediate word-of-mouth success that saw him filling open mic nights to capacity with his Woody…
Best Community Project
GOLD WINNER Hope Blooms 2346 Brunswick Street website SILVER WINNER Dartmouth Community Fridge 61 Dundas Street website BRONZE WINNER The Youth Project 2281 Brunswick Street website Hope Blooms’ mission is to support and make a positive impact in the community of north end Halifax around food security; community confidence and inclusion; and education. Since its…
Most Important Local Issue
HIGHEST PRIORITY Affordable housing crisis website SECOND-HIGHEST PRIORITY Healthcare website THIRD-HIGHEST PRIORITY Homelessness website Affordable housing ranks at the top of the list for being the worst thing facing this city. This will come as no surprise to the growing number of Haligonians who are being driven from their homes and being forced to sleep…
Best Gym
GOLD WINNER Evolve Fitness 3667 Strawberry Hill Street, suite 220 website SILVER WINNER R Studios 2470 Maynard Street website BRONZE WINNER O2 Wellness Sunnyside Mall, 1595 Bedford Highway, suite 210 website Ask twin brothers Matt and Mitchell Benvie to tell the story of how Evolve Fitness came to be, and you’ll get differing answers. Matt,…
Best Ice Cream / Gelato / Frozen Yogurt
GOLD WINNER Cows Historic Properties, 1891 Upper Water Street website SILVER WINNER Dee Dee’s Ice Cream 5668 Cornwallis Street website BRONZE WINNER Dairy Bar 1489 South Park Street website Caramel Moochiato? Cowamel Apple? Cookie Moonster? Epic. Besides the legend behind Cows’ puns deserving all the awards, this go-to spot is a perfect post-dinner stop while…
Best Podcast
GOLD WINNER Nighttime website SILVER WINNER Momicide website BRONZE WINNER The Weekend Roundup website Halifax’s appetite for true crime is ravenous, as indicated by Nighttime podcast’s second-year-running win. A series that’s over 100 episodes deep and covers everything from potential UFO sightings to missing persons cases, when you want to binge on something ghastly, gory…
Best Butcher Shop
GOLD WINNER Gateway Meat Market 667 Main Street website SILVER WINNER 2 Boys Smokehouse & Deli 984 Cole Harbour Road website BRONZE WINNER Brothers Meats and Delicatessen 2665 Agricola Street website This independent Dartmouth butcher, deli and grocery shop has been providing quality meat at affordable prices to the people of Halifax since 2008. It…
Best Donair
GOLD WINNER Tony’s Famous Donairs & Pizza 2390 Robie Street website SILVER WINNER Randy’s Pizza & Donair 2380 Agricola Street website BRONZE WINNER Alexandra’s Pizza 1735 Grafton Street website HALL OF FAME King of Donair, Halifax 6422 Quinpool Road website Inducted in 2016 Leo Salloum, the manager at Tony’s Donair, is a part of a…
Best Restaurant
GOLD WINNER The Bicycle Thief Bishop’s Landing, 1475 Lower Water Street website SILVER WINNER The Canteen 22 Portland Street website BRONZE WINNER Bar Kismet 2722 Agricola Street website The Bertossi Group’s literal golden child, The Bicycle Thief, scores the top spot for Best Restaurant this year. This resto is just as much a staple in…
Best Hip Hop Artist / Band
GOLD WINNER Classified website SILVER WINNER Aquakulture website BRONZE WINNER Quake Matthews website The King of Enfield retains the throne he’s had an iron grip over since 2016 with yet another gold win (aside from the 2019 upset that saw his frequent collaborator Quake Matthews win, Classified—née Luke Boyd—has long had a stronghold on this…
Best Councillor
GOLD WINNER Lindell Smith, District 8 website SILVER WINNER Tony Mancini, District 6 website BRONZE WINNER Sam Austin, District 5 website Lindell Smith is a man of multitudes. The co-founder of Centre Line Studio, a non-profit recording space for youth, and co-creator of the “One North End Project,” a community-wide initiative to build bridges within…
Best Barber
GOLD WINNER Cedric DeChamp AKA Ceddy The Barber, Legends Barbershop 1187 Cole Harbour Road website SILVER WINNER Robyn Ingraham, Devoted Barbers & Co. 60 Queen Street, Dartmouth website BRONZE WINNER Joel Martell, Oddfellows Barbershop 6451 Quinpool Road website Cedric DeChamp has held a pair of clippers for most of his life. The 38-year-old Cole Harbour-based…
Best Hair Salon
GOLD WINNER Tidal Hair Lounge 3136 Isleville Street, suite 201 website SILVER WINNER Vitality Medi-Spa 5424 Doyle Street website BRONZE WINNER Ivy. 936 Bedford Highway website Lindsay Algee has always had a love for hair fashion. “I was probably five years old with rollers in my hair,” she jokes. Since 2016, the co-owner, along with…
Best Indian Restaurant
GOLD WINNER Naan n Curry 6386 Quinpool Road website SILVER WINNER Rasa: Flavours of India City Centre Atlantic, 1542 Birmingham Street website BRONZE WINNER Dhaba Casual Fine Dining 8 Oland Crescent website Quinpool’s Naan n Curry is fairly new to the Halifax food scene, having opened its doors right before the pandemic in 2019. However,…
Best Radio Show
GOLD WINNER Turk, Megan and Amateur Alex, Virgin Radio website SILVER WINNER Information Morning, CBC Radio website BRONZE WINNER BJ and the Q Morning Crew, Q104 website When The Coast calls the morning crew at Virgin Radio—about 15 minutes after their eponymous weekday show, which runs from 5am-10am, has wrapped—we ask for Turk, Megan and…
Best Caesar
GOLD WINNER Stubborn Goat Gastropub 1579 Grafton Street website SILVER WINNER The Canteen 22 Portland Street website BRONZE WINNER Black Sheep Restaurant 1496 Lower Water Street website Here in Canada, we’re serious about our unofficial national cocktail, the caesar. According to a widely cited statistic, for which I cannot find the source, we down 400…
Best Cookie / Cupcake / Doughnut
GOLD WINNER Vandal Doughnuts 2150 Gottingen Street website SILVER WINNER Fortune Doughnut 2306 Gottingen Street website BRONZE WINNER Ol’ School Donuts Food truck with many locations website Vandal Doughnuts has come a long way since running out of Gus’ Pub back in 2017. Now, it lights up the north end with its array of gourmet…
Best Sackville Restaurant
GOLD WINNER Kaiser’s Sub & Sandwich Shoppes 799 Sackville Drive website SILVER WINNER Tom’s Family Restaurant 585 Sackville Drive website BRONZE WINNER Beaver Bank Station 991 Windgate Drive website Despite having to close its dining room due to COVID lockdown restrictions, Kaiser’s Sub & Sandwich Shoppes remains committed to serving the good people of Lower…
Best Jazz Artist / Band
GOLD WINNER The Mellotones website SILVER WINNER The G Street Band website BRONZE WINNER Mike Cowie website Cover band The Mellotones has, over 20-plus years on the scene, become the type of certified party-starter we all long to be. The band focuses on funk, R&B and jazz—and Halifax says its eight members hit within the…
Best Halifamous Person
GOLD WINNER Alicia Mccarvell website SILVER WINNER Doctor Strang website BRONZE WINNER Mattea Roach website “It means more to me than any other type of fame, to be honest, being recognized from the place that you grew up,” says Alicia Mccarvell, this year’s Best Halifamous Person gold winner. The content creator (see also a variety…
Best Barbershop
GOLD WINNER Legends Barbershop 1187 Cole Harbour Road website SILVER WINNER Oddfellows Barbershop 6451 Quinpool Road website BRONZE WINNER Lucky Cat Barbershop King’s Wharf, 49 King’s Wharf Place, suite 102 website #REF!The moment you walk into Legends Barbershop on Cole Harbour Road, you feel at home: There’s coffee on tap, old-school on the radio and…
Best Hairstylist
GOLD WINNER Malyssa Burns Interlude Spa Dartmouth, 58 Ochterloney Street salon website SILVER WINNER Brittany Aucoin Cabaret Hair and Esthetics, 578 Sackville Drive personal website, salon website BRONZE WINNER Robyn Boutilier Lakehouse Salon & Wellness, 300 Prince Albert Road, suite 118 personal website, salon website The first time Malyssa Burns took a pair of scissors…
Best International Grocer
GOLD WINNER Pete’s Frootique & Fine Foods 1515 Dresden Row website SILVER WINNER Tian Phat Asian Grocery 209 Bedford Highway website BRONZE WINNER Mid-East Food Centre & Café Currently closed Pete’s Frootique & Fine Foods has been around for 30 years now, with a lot of Haligonians growing up shopping there, something Lainey Darlison, Pete’s…
Best Theatre Actor
GOLD WINNER Allister MacDonald website SILVER WINNER Nathan Simmons website BRONZE WINNER Jade Douris-O’Hara website While seeing a supernova with the naked eye is the sort of rare experience that stargazers could wait a century for, Halifax was lucky enough to be able to witness one nightly in the summer of 2022 as Allister MacDonald…
Best Cafe
GOLD WINNER Two If By Sea Cafe 66 Ochterloney Street website SILVER WINNER Dilly Dally Coffee Cafe 6100 Quinpool Road website BRONZE WINNER Selby’s Bunker Coffee & Gifts 1090 Cole Harbour Road website Two if By Sea has been a staple of downtown Dartmouth for 13 years, and has taken home the gold for Best…
Best Fine Dining
GOLD WINNER The Bicycle Thief Bishop’s Landing, 1475 Lower Water Street website SILVER WINNER Bar Kismet 2722 Agricola Street website BRONZE WINNER daMaurizio Fine Dining Brewery Market, 1496 Lower Water Street website This was a stellar Best Of year for The Bicycle Thief, which also won gold for Best Restaurant and silver for Best Wine…
Best Sandwich
GOLD WINNER Kaiser’s Sub & Sandwich Shoppes 799 Sackville Drive website SILVER WINNER Salvatore’s Pizzaiolo Trattoria 5541 Young Street website BRONZE WINNER Hali Deli Old World Delicatessen 2389 Agricola Street website Gold for Best Sandwich is a real honour for Rick Baker, 73, the owner of Kaiser’s Sub & Sandwich Shoppes in Lower Sackville. This…
Best Music Video
GOLD WINNER “Best Friends” by Atay & JAX website SILVER WINNER “Almost Home” by Gizelle de Guzman website BRONZE WINNER “40/40” by Wave Lord website When The Coast calls Atay & JAX—born Adam Taylor and Jaxon Booth, they’ve been making music that’s equal parts pop and hip hop since just before the pandemic—to announce the…
Best Instagram Account
GOLD WINNER @halifaxnoise website SILVER WINNER @aliciamccarvell website BRONZE WINNER @dal_memes website Kate Ross has one hell of an Instagram following: 174,000 users and counting—and that’s just on her main @halifaxnoise platform, not including spin-offs @halifaxnoiseathome (41.5K followers), @halifaxnoisefood (43K followers), @halifaxnoisejobs (25.3K followers) and @halifaxnoisesports (13.9K followers). Voted Best Instagram Account for the fifth…
Best Bike Store
GOLD WINNER & HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE Cyclesmith 2553 Agricola Street website SILVER WINNER Bike & Bean 5401 St Margarets Bay Road website BRONZE WINNER Halifax Cycles 3600 Kempt Road website Andrew Feenstra has seen it all at Cyclesmith—from starting as a bike mechanic in 1994, to becoming a partner six years later, to taking…
Best Home Decor Store
GOLD WINNER The Posh Pearl 171 Main Street website SILVER WINNER The Independent Mercantile Co. 2091 Gottingen Street website BRONZE WINNER Thornbloom 1459 South Park Street website The moment you walk in the double doors at The Posh Pearl, Ryan Baker wants to surprise you. “It’s not the generic stuff that you find at three…
Best Italian Restaurant
GOLD WINNER Ristorante a Mano 1477 Lower Water Street website SILVER WINNER The Bicycle Thief Bishop’s Landing, 1475 Lower Water Street website BRONZE WINNER Rinaldo’s Italian American Specialities 2186 Windsor Street website Ristorante a Mano has placed in Best of Halifax’s top three since 2011, and this latest award for Best Italian Restaurant is its…
Best Trivia Night
GOLD WINNER Lion’s Head Tavern 3085 Robie Street website SILVER WINNER The Board Room Game Cafe 1256 Barrington Street website BRONZE WINNER Gus’ Pub & Grill 2605 Agricola Street website In the search for life’s answers, seekers will take many paths—to ivory towers and religious spires, and even sometimes trails through the forest. What they…
Best Caribbean Restaurant
GOLD WINNER R&B Kitchen 760A Main Street website SILVER WINNER Jamaica Vibes Express 5527 Cornwallis Street website BRONZE WINNER Caribbean Bliss 3619 Novalea Drive website R&B Kitchen has a simple way to keep customers coming back—the menu changes every day. With a “daily meal,” the chefs can experiment with new dishes and the masses are…
Best Milkshake
GOLD WINNER Flynn’s Dairy Bar & Convenience 1365 Hollis Street website SILVER WINNER The Chickenburger 1531 Bedford Highway website BRONZE WINNER Armview Restaurant & Lounge 7156 Chebucto Road website HALL OF FAME Darrell’s Restaurant 5576 Fenwick Street website Inducted in 2019 Flynn’s milkshakes bring everyone to Hollis Street! Flynn’s Dairy Bar & Convenience has won…
Best Sushi Restaurant
GOLD WINNER Sushi Nami Royale 1458 Queen Street, Halifax website SILVER WINNER Wasabi House 6403 Quinpool Road website BRONZE WINNER Doraku Dartmouth 44 Ochterloney Street website With four locations in the city, Sushi Nami’s downtown spot on Queen Street wins top place for Best Sushi this year. This trendy spot, across from the iconic Halifax…
Best New Artist / Band
GOLD WINNER Steel Cut Oats website SILVER WINNER Pillow Fite website BRONZE WINNER John Snow website It all started as a bit of an in-joke, Sarah Roberts recalls. She and two fellow music-obsessed pals (Sophie Janke and Emma Laffoley) were on a camping trip fuelled by endless bowls of porridge when “we were just canoeing…
Best Lake
GOLD WINNER Long Lake 10 Dunbrack Street website SILVER WINNER Lake Banook 228 Prince Albert Road website BRONZE WINNER Dollar Lake 5265 Old Guysborough Road website In 1981, then-premier John Buchanan decided to protect Long Lake when it was no longer going to be used as Halifax’s water supply. It’s no surprise that Long Lake…
Best Clothing Store
GOLD WINNER Sweet Pea Boutique 1542 Queen Street, Halifax website SILVER WINNER Biscuit General Store 2050 Gottingen Street website BRONZE WINNER The Loot Vintage 1711 Barrington Street website If you feel like you’ve wandered into your best friend’s closet when you enter Sweet Pea Boutique, then Johanna Galipeau’s job is done. The founder and owner…
Best Independent Bookstore
GOLD WINNER Woozles 6013 Shirley Street website SILVER WINNER Venus Envy 1727 Barrington Street website BRONZE WINNER Bookmark 5686 Spring Garden Road website Spend any length of time with Suzy MacLean and one thing becomes obvious: She adores books. The manager of Woozles, a family-run children’s bookstore tucked two blocks in from Quinpool and the…
Best Korean Restaurant
GOLD WINNER Backoos Korean Food 1358 Birmingham Street website SILVER WINNER Kor-B-Q Korean Grill 278 Lacewood Drive website BRONZE WINNER Busan Korean BBQ 6311 Quinpool Road website Part-owner and manager Joungmin Kim had the idea to make Korean food mainstream in Halifax when he opened Backoos in 2015. And while Korean joints have been popping…
Best Visual Artist
GOLD WINNER Anisa Francoeur website SILVER WINNER Kristen Herrington website BRONZE WINNER Kristen De Palma website If we wanted to get technical, Anisa Francouer calls herself a “creative” more often than she says “artist.” Between design work (including the branding for BOH-awarded Dartmouth cocktail destination Dear Friend and its satellite ventures), painting murals and making…
Best Chef
GOLD WINNER Renée Lavallée, The Canteen 22 Portland Street website SILVER WINNER Annie Brace-Lavoie, Bar Kismet 2722 Agricola Street website BRONZE WINNER Andrew Prince, Battery Park Beerbar & Eatery 62 Ochterloney Street website 2022 is a big year for The Canteen’s Renée Lavallée. It’s her 30th year of cooking, and the fifth year in a…
Best Nachos
GOLD WINNER Battery Park Beerbar & Eatery 62 Ochterloney Street website SILVER WINNER The Lower Deck Historic Properties, 1887 Upper Water Street website BRONZE WINNER Finbar’s Irish Pub Sunnyside Mall, 1595 Bedford Highway website HALL OF FAME Economy Shoe Shop 1663 Argyle Street website Inducted in 2009 Chips, cheese, guac. Who doesn’t love a good…
Best Taproom
GOLD WINNER Battery Park Beerbar & Eatery 62 Ochterloney Street website SILVER WINNER Good Robot Brewing Co 2736 Robie Street website BRONZE WINNER Stillwell Beer Bar 1672 Barrington Street website It’s hard not to find a beer you’ll love at Battery Park, downtown Dartmouth’s hottest taproom that features 20 rotating taps of the finest Nova…
Best Pop Artist / Band
GOLD WINNER Neon Dreams website SILVER WINNER Ria Mae website BRONZE WINNER Good Dear Good website It’s now officially four in a row for Neon Dreams as the band takes home Best Pop Artist/Band again in 2022. The group-turned-duo has always avoided genre pigeonholeing, proving to be the ultimate modern pop act by building a…
Best Local Character
GOLD WINNER Woody the Talking Christmas Tree Mic Mac Mall, 21 Micmac Boulevard website SILVER WINNER Gus the Tortoise Museum of Natural History, 1747 Summer Street website BRONZE WINNER Black rocks at Peggys Cove 72 Peggys Point Road, Peggys Cove website Woody the Talking Christmas Tree resurfaced last year to the delight and horror of…
Best Yoga Studio
GOLD WINNER Shanti Yoga 114 Woodlawn Road website SILVER WINNER R Studios 2470 Maynard Street website BRONZE WINNER On The Mat Yoga 2985 Oxford Street website Peace. Something a lot of people who practice yoga are trying to achieve. It’s also the meaning behind the name Shanti Halifax, as studio manager and teacher Annette Opas…
Best Jewellery Store
GOLD WINNER Black Market Boutique 1545 Grafton Street website SILVER WINNER Fireworks Gallery 1569 Barrington Street website BRONZE WINNER House of Moda The Doyle, 5431 Spring Garden Road, suite 201 website You’ll know you’ve arrived at the Black Market Boutique well before you walk through its front door. Whether it’s the full-storey purple and teal…
Best Late-night Food
GOLD WINNER Willy’s Fresh Cut Fries & Burgers 5239 Blowers Street website SILVER WINNER Freeman’s Little New York 1726 Grafton Street website BRONZE WINNER Mezza Lebanese Kitchen 1558 Barrington Street website Willy’s Fresh Cut is a staple in Halifax, and it’s Pizza Corner royalty. There’s just something about late-night poutine that hits different. Fifteen years…
Best Book
GOLD WINNER The Summer Between Us, Andre Fenton website SILVER WINNER Love in the Age of Quarantine, Katie Feltmate website BRONZE WINNER You and Me: Travel, Misadventures, and Love Around the World, Mike Ryan and Kristen Herrington website Four-time-published author-poet Andre Fenton isn’t, by professional necessity, often at a loss for words—but he is when…
Best Bakery
GOLD WINNER LF Bakery 2063 Gottingen Street website SILVER WINNER Bliss Caffeine Bar 1451 South Park Street website BRONZE WINNER Birdies Bread Co. 380 Pleasant Stree website There are a lot of things that make this French bakery an absolute Gottingen Street gem: The traditional croissants, the decades-old sourdough starter brought over from France that…
Best Chicken Wings
GOLD WINNER Lion’s Head Tavern 3085 Robie Street website SILVER WINNER Freeman’s Little New York 1726 Grafton Street website BRONZE WINNER Old Port Pub 900 Windmill Road website “It’s all about the breading,” says Joseph Mackinnon, manager of Halifax’s pick for Best Chicken Wings. He won’t say what exactly the Hydrostone pub does to make…
Best New Bar
GOLD WINNER Bar Sofia Queen’s Marque, 1709 Lower Water Street, suite 104 website SILVER WINNER The Narrows Public House 2720 Gottingen Street website BRONZE WINNER Tusket Falls Beer Project 2220 Gottingen Street website Bar Sofia opened its doors in the Queen’s Marque in February 2022, and has been turning heads ever since. “Overall, we wanted…
Best Tea
GOLD WINNER World Tea House 1592 Argyle Street website SILVER WINNER Chatime 1480 Brenton Street website BRONZE WINNER Holy Moly Milk Tea 114 Woodlawn Road website A carefully imported selection of teas from small independent farms across 20 countries is what Philip Holmans says makes World Tea House on Argyle Street deserving of the Best…
Best Punk Artist / Band
GOLD WINNER Atay & JAX website SILVER WINNER Like A Motorcycle website BRONZE WINNER Botfly website Atay & JAX (or Adam Taylor and Jaxon Booth, as they’re known offstage) are the first to admit they mightn’t be the typical punk stereotype. Students of the type of pop-meets-hip hop, post-BROCKHAMPTON school of sound that raps more…
Best Place For A First Date
GOLD WINNER Halifax waterfront 1600 Lower Water Street website SILVER WINNER The Board Room Game Cafe 1256 Barrington Street website BRONZE WINNER Halifax Public Gardens 5665 Spring Garden Road website There are a lot of romantic reasons to take a first date to the waterfront. A stroll on the water at sunset, looking at some…
Best Yoga Instructor
GOLD WINNER Stefanie Winters On The Mat Yoga, 2985 Oxford Street website SILVER WINNER Vero Trudel R Studios, 2470 Maynard Street website BRONZE WINNER Estelle Thomson The Practice, 300 Prince Albert Road website When speaking with The Coast about her latest gold win, Stefanie Winters admits winning a Best of Halifax award never gets old.…
Best Tattoo / Piercing Joint
GOLD WINNER Darling Tattoos 2590 Oxford Street website SILVER WINNER Adept Tattoos & Body Piercing Studio 5525 Cornwallis Street website BRONZE WINNER Heirloom Tattoo 2778 Gottingen Street website In August of 2018, Helena Darling and Lacey Cormier said goodbye to their respective jobs at local tattoo studios, and decided to open up their owns ‘50s-inspired…
Best Lobster Roll
GOLD WINNER The Canteen 22 Portland Street website SILVER WINNER Evan’s Fresh Seafoods Alderney Landing, 2 Ochterloney Street website BRONZE WINNER Tom’s Lobster Shack 110 Peggys Point Road website This year’s gold winner for Best Lobster Roll isn’t technically a lobster roll—it’s a crobster roll. An invention by five-time Best Chef winner Renée Lavallée, the…
Best Comedian
GOLD WINNER Durham Laporte website SILVER WINNER Alicia Mccarvell website BRONZE WINNER Travis Lindsay website During the voting process for Best Comedian, things took a turn for the meta: Competing comics banded together in an act of organic togetherness, asking their respective fan bases to vote for the late Durham Laporte. It was the exact…
Best Bar
GOLD WINNER Durty Nelly’s Authentic Irish Pub 1645 Argyle Street website SILVER WINNER Battery Park Beerbar & Eatery 62 Ochterloney Street website BRONZE WINNER Dear Friend Bar 67 Portland Street website Just as the citadel gun goes off every day at noon, there’s a lineup outside Durty Nelly’s every weekend night. And it’s no surprise…
Best Chinese Restaurant
GOLD WINNER Look Ho Ho Restaurant 6420 Bayers Road website SILVER WINNER May Garden Chinese Restaurant 136 Portland Street website BRONZE WINNER Jean’s Chinese Restaurant 5972 Spring Garden Road website HALL OF FAME The Great Wall 1649 Bedford Row website Inducted in 2016 Bayers Road would simply not be the same without Look Hoho’s iconic…
Best New Restaurant
GOLD WINNER Café Lunette Queen’s Marque, 1741 Lower Water Street, suite 160 website SILVER WINNER Drift Queen’s Marque, 1709 Lower Water Street, suite 102 website BRONZE WINNER Oxalis Restaurant 22 Wentworth Street website One of the city’s newest additions, the Parisian-inspired Café Lunette’s website reads: “Café by Day, French Bistro by Night.” It’s the best…
Best Thai Restaurant
GOLD WINNER Cha Baa Thai Restaurant 1546 Queen Street, Halifax website SILVER WINNER Talay Thai 5164 Morris Street website BRONZE WINNER Blue Elephant 81 Peakview Way, suite 100 website Wen Pratsumma, the owner and head chef at Cha Baa Thai, approaches his cooking with great bravery and care. Since 2007, he’s been serving authentic Thai…
Best R&B Artist / Band
GOLD WINNER JRDN website SILVER WINNER Reeny Smith website BRONZE WINNER Aquakulture website From the golden-era opening tones of JRDN’s latest Red Eye, the five-track EP he dropped in spring 2022, it’s clear that the Juno-winning R&B titan hasn’t lost his sharp-as-a-knife sense for what’ll make the perfectly soft, unfurling slow-jam. No one knows it…
Best Place To Dance
GOLD WINNER The Seahorse Tavern 2037 Gottingen Street website SILVER WINNER Midtown-Boomers Tavern & Lounge 1744 Grafton Street website BRONZE WINNER The Dome 1739 Grafton Street website For the fourth year in a row (if we aren’t counting 2020 and 2021, when this category and the places to dance were in quarantine) Seahorse Tavern takes…
Best Personal Trainer
GOLD WINNER Mitchell Benvie, Evolve Fitness 3667 Strawberry Hill Street, suite 220 website SILVER WINNER Emily Herman, Emily Herman Fitness MOVE EAST Studios, 6130 Quinpool Road website BRONZE WINNER Alan Dalton, Evolve Fitness 3667 Strawberry Hill Street, suite 220 website Mitchell Benvie is wired differently. For one, he doesn’t mind his alarm clock ringing at…
Best Tailor
GOLD WINNER Mic Mac Tailors Mic Mac Mall, 21 Micmac Boulevard website SILVER WINNER Sherzad’s Tailoring Shop Brewery Market, 1496 Lower Water Street website BRONZE WINNER Alter Ego Tailoring The Doyle, 5431 Spring Garden Road, 2nd floor website Rezan Iso has ruled two words out of his vocabulary: “I can’t.” The co-owner of Mic Mac…
Best Middle Eastern / Persian Restaurant
GOLD WINNER Mezza Lebanese Kitchen 1558 Barrington Street website SILVER WINNER Tarek’s Cafe 3045 Robie Street website BRONZE WINNER Ray’s Lebanese Cuisine 120 Susie Lake Crescent, suite 20 website Mezza Lebanese Kitchen has come a long way since opening its first restaurant in the ’90s in the Halifax Shopping Centre food court, although it wasn’t…
Best Dance Company / Group
GOLD WINNER House of Eights Dance Studio 1533 Barrington Street, 2nd floor website SILVER WINNER Unleashed Studio 245 Waverley Road website BRONZE WINNER Haliente Dance Studio 1678 Barrington Street, upper floors website “I got into dance a little late, technically,” Abady Alzahrani, owner of House of Eights, told The Coast in 2019, “because most people…
Best Barista
GOLD WINNER Ellie Leblanc, Selby’s Bunker Coffee & Gifts 1090 Cole Harbour Road website SILVER WINNER Sarah Jupp, Dilly Dally Coffee Cafe 6100 Quinpool Road website BRONZE WINNER Keegan Blue, Weird Harbour Espresso Bar 1656 Barrington Street website When we reach this year’s gold-winning Best Barista, she’s in the middle of a busy shift at…
Best Chowder
GOLD WINNER The Canteen 22 Portland Street website SILVER WINNER Evan’s Fresh Seafoods Alderney Landing, 2 Ochterloney Street website BRONZE WINNER Esquire Restaurant 772 Bedford Highway website For this year’s Best Chef, Renée Lavallée, making a bowl of the city’s gold-winning Best Chowder all comes down to the ingredients. The key ones being smoked haddock…
Best Nova Scotian Distillery
GOLD WINNER Coldstream Clear Distillery Dartmouth Crossing, 37 Logiealmond Close website SILVER WINNER Nova Scotia Spirit Co. 61 Provost Street, New Glasgow website BRONZE WINNER Compass Distillers 2533 Agricola Street website Riley Giffen, co-founder of Coldstream Clear Distillery, has an education and family background that make for the perfect pair when it comes to running…
Best Use Of Local Ingredients
GOLD WINNER The Canteen 22 Portland Street website SILVER WINNER The Wooden Monkey 1707 Grafton Street website BRONZE WINNER Bar Kismet 2722 Agricola Street website If you visit the Alderney Landing Farmers’ Market on a Saturday morning, you’re likely to spot The Canteen’s Renée Lavallée. The chef’s devotion to local, seasonal ingredients earned her restaurant…
Best Rock Artist / Band
GOLD WINNER Matt Mays website SILVER WINNER Adam Baldwin website BRONZE WINNER The Town Heroes website It’s a second-year-in-a-row win for Mr. Mays in the Best Rock Artist category, which is surprising news to exactly no one who loves his music. The duke of Dartmouth gifted live music to his home province often during the…
Best Place To Go Swimming
GOLD WINNER Rainbow Haven Beach 2249 Cow Bay Road website SILVER WINNER Queensland Beach 9600 Highway 3 website BRONZE WINNER Long Lake 10 Dunbrack Street website Perhaps it is the fact that this beach is in a cove, so the sea water is fractions of a degree warmer than other beaches. Perhaps it’s the family…
Best Tattoo Artist
GOLD WINNER Helena Darling Darling Tattoos, 2590 Oxford Street personal website, studio website SILVER WINNER Jillian Dawn Morris Black Eleven Tattoo Inc., 2411 Agricola Street personal website, studio website BRONZE WINNER Nadia Katherine Darling Tattoos, 2590 Oxford Street personal website, studio website One scroll through Helena Darling’s Instagram will tell you all you need to…
Best Spa
GOLD WINNER Spirit Spa 5150 Salter Street, suite 200 website SILVER WINNER Interlude Spa Queen’s Marque, 1715 Lower Water Street website BRONZE WINNER Pride Beauty Lounge 281 Sackville Drive website Ask Samantha Bellefontaine what keeps Spirit Spa ticking after 20 years, and she’ll tell you it’s the people. “That comes through in all of the…
Best Manicure / Pedicure
GOLD WINNER Spirit Spa 5540 Kaye Street website SILVER WINNER The Ten Spot 5165 South Street website BRONZE WINNER Pride Beauty Lounge 281 Sackville Drive website The first thing you’ll notice about Spirit Spa, according to manager Samantha Bellefontaine, is that “everyone is really passionate about what they do.” When you arrive at Spirit’s Hydrostone…