CATCH: The Nova Scotia Seafood Festival
June 27
Get those culinary taste buds ready for a weekend of seafood: CATCH will be working overtime. The festival promises to be a weekend of
tasting, learning, shopping and just generally loving all things fishy.
Presented by the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, the
festival’s focus is to provide those in Halifax with access to local
seafood products, restaurants and wineries. Chef Ray Bear from Bear
Restaurant is hosting the GREAT CATCH Chef Competition, Seafood
Sensations Culinary Theatre will teach you some tasty recipes and Kids’
Cove is returning to show those kiddies what daily life in the fishing
industry is really like. There will even be a celebrity appearance by
chef Anna Olson, of the Food Network Canada’s Fresh with Anna
Olson. General admission tickets are $10 for adults, $8 for
students and seniors, and children under 12 are free. If you buy your
ticket online via CATCH’s website, you’ll save two bucks. (HG)
Multicultural Festival
June 27 and 28
When the last weekend of June rolls around, your tummy will be
rumbling for all the delectable and international dishes at the
Multicultural Festival. Head over to Alderney Landing June 27 (10am to
midnight) and 28 (10am to 7pm) to satiate that appetite, and stay to
enjoy the music and dance performances, children’s activities,
workshops, arts and crafts and cultural displays. Festival day passes
for the weekend are $6 per adult, $5 for youth, students and seniors,
and $2 for children from six to 12 years old; children under five are
free. This year’s festival gets off to a singing start with singers
Sarah Slean, Paula Cole and Divine Brown headlining a kick-off concert
June 26 at Alderney Landing. Hosted by MIR, the night of music costs
$32 beforehand and $40 at the gate. Concert prices include a festival
weekend pass for both an adult and child (under the age of 12).
(HG)
Tall Ships Nova Scotia Festival
Never does our little metropolis look more like its Maritime self
than when tall ship sails take over the harbour. From July 16 to 20,
Halifax will be transformed when 40 to 50 tall ships dock for an
international gathering. They’ll be moored all weekend, with public
boardings from 10am to 5pm, Friday to Sunday, so you can take a peek at
what’s inside. While not nosing around on the ships, you can also enjoy
historical re-enactments, arts and crafts displays, musicians, vendors
and an open-air cafe along the waterfront. The ships will leave for
Cape Breton with a showy Parade of Sail Monday, July 20. If you want to
follow their route, some tall ships will stop in Port Hawkesbury (July
22-23), Louisbourg (July 22-23) and Sydney (July 25-26), while yet
another group will sail to Lunenburg (July 22-23), Pictou (July 28-29)
and Pugwash (July 31-August 1). (HG)
Canada Day 2009
July 1
The country is 142 this summer, though she doesn’t look a day over
115. The first of July is a Wednesday this year, which should break up
the week nicely. The Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo will be on
parade starting at 10:30am, if pa-rum-pum-pums are your thing, from
Royal Artillery Park on Sackville down Brunswick to Spring Garden, and
looping around back to the Metro Centre. The specifics of pancake
breakfasts and Citadel Hill ceremonies are still in flux right now, but
you can bet they’ll be happening, along with the 10pm fireworks over
the harbour (weather allowing). Also FYI, the annual Fort Needham
Canada Day Picnic put together by CKDU actually happens July 26 this
year. (CK)
Canada’s Parks Day
July 18
This year marks the 20th anniversary of Canada’s Parks Day, meaning a variety of community volunteer organizations and Department of Natural Resources staff are working their butt off planning a day you’ll not soon
forget. Festivities range from a moonlight tour of Shubenacadie
Wildlife Park, to a scavenger hunt on Graves Island, art on the beach
at Taylor Head Provincial Park, a family fun day and barbecue at
Porters Lake and a lifeguard competition at Rissers Beach—no
Baywatch cracks allowed. Whycocomagh Provincial Park is
celebrating its 50th anniversary on the same day and is making the most
of it with a rockin’ outdoor birthday party, including guided hikes and
tug-of-war games. As if all that wasn’t enough to knock your socks off
(you might need them for hiking, so don’t knock them too far), Canada’s
Parks Day is partnering with the International year of Astronomy to
plan special, astronomy-related events. I’d expect some telescopic
equipment. (HG)
St. Antonio’s Lebanese Festival
July 9-12
Did you love the Lebanese food at the Multicultural Festival? Good,
because there’s an entire festival dedicated to its scrumptiousness two
weekends later! St. Antonio’s Lebanese Festival celebrates its eighth
anniversary this year, giving you a chance to chow down on kibbi,
tabouleh, hummus, falafel, fatayer, kafta and various other dishes, all
in one big weekend of celebration. There will also be performances of
Lebanese folk dances, singers, a band and an exhibit of all things
Lebanon. So spend your weekend meandering in and out of the tents, and
take in the sights and smells of Lebanon—while still in Halifax. Be
sure to drop in during the evenings, as a day full of friendliness and
food can’t help but end in dancing circles around the community centre.
(HG)
Natal Day Festival
July 30-August 3
Believe it or not, this year will be the 114th edition of the
Alexander Keith’s Natal Day Festival, inaugurated way back in 1895. On
Monday, August 3, you can watch the requisite parade downtown from
10am, crossing over to Dartmouth via the Macdonald Bridge, ending at
Sullivan Pond. And you can expect fireworks off the Macdonald Bridge on
Saturday evening and at Lake Banook on Monday. There’ll be concerts at
the Dartmouth and Halifax waterfronts, the big Chickenfoot show at
Citadel Hill (see the concert listings on page 18 for more detail) road
races, talent shows and free pancake breakfasts. On paper it sounds a
lot like Canada Day, except it’s over a long weekend. With more beer.
(CK)
Halifax Pride Festival
July 19-23
Celebrate 21 years of the proverbial rainbow at this year’s Halifax
Pride Festival. Catch the songwriter’s showcase featuring Christina
Martin, Kim Wempe, Rae Spoon, Rich Aucoin and a surprise guest (July
24). “I love pride celebrations in general,” says Spoon. “It is such a
great thing to see all of the queer people out celebrating diversity.
It’s also a good way to accidentally run into people who you know.”
Fresh off his European tour, Spoon will be in town hosting a two-week
long songwriter’s workshop with the Youth Project, as well as
performing at various pride events. Be sure to head to the Garrison
Grounds after the parade on Saturday, July 25 for Under the Big Top,
featuring explosive performances by The Cliks and Hidden Cameras. Also
check out WetSpot’s 5th Anniversary bash (July 25, venue TBA) and
SheDog’s Pussy Playhouse (July 23, SeaDogs Bathhouse). (SWC)
Halifax Seaport BeerFest
August 8
Having so many food-related festivals every summer, it’s only
fitting that Halifax would host an entire fest for tasting—and
toasting—beer. The Halifax Seaport Beerfest saw more than 1,500
people come out last summer—on a stormy day, no less—and this year
the event’s organizers are hoping for more than 2,000 beer-lovers to
head out and wet their whistles. There are two beer-tasting sessions:
the first from 2pm to 5pm, and the second from 7pm to 10pm. You can
find the festival at the Halifax Seaport, sandwiched between Pier
20/21’s building and the Immigration Annex on Marginal Road. A canopy
of tents will keep beer drinkers dry no matter the weather, and tickets
are $35 in advance and $40 at the door. Each ticket includes a souvenir
glass with which to taste-test beer from more than 45 brewers.
Sociable! (HG)
Alfresco Filmfesto
July 24-August 28
With the destruction/reconstruction of the Electropolis building,
this year the the outdoor summer movie festival has been forced to move
down the harbourfront. With a new 30-foot inflatable, transportable
screen—you can get a first look at it when they set it up at Bedford
Days and Sackville Days, June 25-28—the ninth Festo will actually be
happening indoors this year, at Pier 20. Festival representative
Cristin Fraser points out the space has big windows facing Georges
Island, so it still feels like you’re outside, the benefit being that
you won’t have to miss your favourite film if the weather
inevitably turns ugly. Schedule is as follows: July 24: Mamma
Mia, July 31: Harold & Maude, August 7: Dead Poets
Society, August 14: The Breakfast Club, August 21: Walt
Disney’s Peter Pan and August 28: Pulp Fiction. (CK)
Mad Hatter’s Tea Party/Home is Where You Hang Your Hat
August 13
As the great Bruce Frisko said once on Live at 5: “Hats
really are quite the fashion accessory, if you think about it.”
Assuming the newsman meant what he said, this summer at the Fisherman’s
Life Museum, everything’s coming up Frisko. On August 13, the museum
will be hosting a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party—yep, that’s a tea party
that’s based around wearing hats. Show up at the FLM (58 Navy Pool
Loop) wearing your fanciest head-covering finery (be it beanie, bonnet
or ball cap), and the folks there will serve you sandwiches, blueberry
grunt, blueberry buckle, rhubarb juice, tea and coffee. The museum only
fits 20 to 25 people, but if weather’s good, the shindig will move
outside to accommodate more. Plus, for the entire month of August, the
museum will also be hosting Home is Where You Hang Your Hat, an
exhibit featuring vintage and antique hats gathered from the Jeddore
Harbour community, including a top hat made out of beaver, and five
hats that once belonged to Bertha Myers, whose husband Edward was born
in the museum back in the 1800s, when it was still a typical inshore
fisherman’s home. (LM)
Halifax Zombie Walk 2009
August 15
Call it performance art, call it a gory nerdfest, call it what you
will—the zombie walk is a phenomenon. It’s taken place in cities
around the world for years now, including Pittsburgh, Brisbane, London
and Toronto, with people dressing up as ambulatory cadavers and
wandering through town. There’s even something called World Zombie Day,
which was October 26, 2008, though it appears that this year it might
be happening on October 11. (Reports vary, and zombies aren’t always
the most organized.) However, we can reliably report that on Saturday,
August 15, Halifax will be lousy with zombies. According to the
Facebook Group page, the route isn’t finalized, but it should go
something like this: “We’ll be starting at 1pm in the graveyard at Camp
Hill, then off through the gardens, down Spring Garden, to the
boardwalk (but probably not on it), then end up back at the Old Burying
Ground on Barrington (St. Paul’s Cemetary) for a sweet zombified
gathering.” A series of zombie rules are posted as well, including no
jaywalking, no violence, no actual brain-eating (boo!), no
blood-smearing and no scaring of kids or old ladies. With over 800
committed zombies (well, as committed as anyone who clicks “attending”
on Facebook) it should be a good, hideous crowd. (CK)
Clam Harbour Beach Sandcastle & Sand sculpture Contest
August 16
Clam Harbour beach is giving you the best excuse ever to barefoot it
in the sand and act like a kid again. The annual Sandcastle Contest
draws hundreds of participants and thousands of spectators, and
everyone’s welcome to build their dreamscape, be it Gollum from Lord
of the Rings or a replica of Paul McCartney—a dedication for
visiting us, of course. Sculptors arrive at 8am to begin their
masterpieces, and there will be activities for family and friends to
enjoy while the art making takes place. You can build as a team, or fly
solo; whichever suits your sand-sculpting fancy. I’m told real
sandcastles are actually pretty rare entries in this contest—go check
it out yourself to find out. (HG)
Select Nova Scotia’s Incredible Picnic
August 23
Shake out your picnic blanket and grab that basket—Nova Scotia’s
Incredible Picnic is coming back this summer. It’s the signature event
of the Department of Agriculture’s Select Nova Scotia program, which is
the province’s “buy local” campaign to promote local produce and
products. Event organizer Jennifer Reynolds had the idea planted in her
head when she was in France for Bastille Day and saw that the French
celebrated with a country-wide picnic. Back on this side of the
Atlantic, the event takes place all over the province, and Nova
Scotians are encouraged to bring a picnic basket from home carrying
produce from their local areas. Producers and chefs will also be on
site with their own delicious goodies, while local musicians and family
activities are being planned for the big day. Halifax’s picnic will be
at the Garrison Grounds, but other locations are still being
determined. Check Select Nova Scotia’s website for details, as events
tend to be organized just a few weeks beforehand. (HG)
This article appears in Jun 18-24, 2009.