Festivals & Events – Page 17 – Just An East Coast Girl

VBS sure is fun 🎵

…bring your friends in one by one 🎵🎵

Summertime is packed full of kids programs…soccer, swimming lessons, learn to sail, kids clubs, church camps and VBS ( Vacation Bible school)…SO MUCH for kids to do these days!!

This week I have been helping out in the kitchen during “Journey Off The Map” VBS. We’re making and providing fun and interesting snacks each night. 72 kids the first night and 90 by the end of the week. It was lots and lots of fun!!!

Thursday night was a real favorite…

Tomorrow night is the closing with a BBQ. What a great WEEK it’s been!!

The Carnival’s in TOWN

Who doesn’t love carnival rides, cotton candy, and candy apples?

Gee, I think just about everyone would agree it’s lots of fun, especially if you have children or grandchildren to enjoy it with. It even brings out “the child” in people as you recall days of excitement from childhood, waiting for that one week in the summer when the carnival would come to town.

We had hoped to get to “The Big Ex” in Bridgewater, however there was just too much happening this weekend! There’s always next year, right?

But this afternoon we did drive to Halifax to catch a couple acts of the International Buskers Festival down on the waterfront, see the newly painted Argyle Street, walk around the Carnival set up for Natal Day weekend and have fish & chips from a food truck. A great end to a wonderful weekend!

I still can’t believe we’re in to August!

Don’t rain on the Parade!

It’s Parade night in Bridgewater, if the rain holds off.

It’s South Shore Exhibition Week and the kick off is the Grand Street Parade tonight. Lots of fun.

In 1891 Bridgewater was the home to the first Exhibition. Records indicate that the Lunenburg County Exhibition was to be held in Bridgewater on the 5th & 6th days of October. Lots of changes since then!!

The name has changed from the Lunenburg County Exhibition (1891) to the Lunenburg County Exhibition Commission (1960) the Lunenburg County South Shore Exhibition (1967) and finally in 1973 the name was changed to and still remains The South Shore Exhibition “The Big Ex”

** UPDATE** Well…it doesn’t surprise me. Rain, rain, rain ALL day long… and so the parade is cancelled for today. I think it’s the first time it ever had to be postponed. And now because of a previous appointment out of town, we won’t get to see it.

I can’t help but share this cute little picture, seems fitting the last couple weeks.

I hope the sun is shining in your world!

Update*** Wednesday Night was perfect weather

And Bridgewater Open Bible Church’s float advertising VBS “Off the Map” won 1st place in the community category. Congratulations!

Just overnight…

It’s a short stay. L’Hermione the replica French frigate was in Lunenburg overnight and will sail out this morning to Saint-Pierre et Miquelon on her way back to France.

I love our Nova Scotia ambassador ship The Bluenose, she’s a beauty but to see this ship…up close…WOW!!!! She’s something else.

Saturday morning, one of the largest tall ship replicas ever built sailed into Lunenburg and lots of people were on the dock ready to greet her. The ship was led into the harbour by The Bluenose! I would have loved to been there ( totally forgot) A few photos( not mine) of her arrival…

L’Hermione is a replica of General Lafayette’s 18th century ship that carried him to the United States from France to announce his country’s support in the fight for independence in the War of 1812. The 65-metre long ship was completed in 2014, after 17 years of construction. The project cost $34 million dollars and was built using 18th century materials and tools.

Our youngest son James works at one of the restaurants at the Port of Lunenburg and got to serve the lunch, and dinner event on board the L’Hermione yesterday. This morning there is a brunch and then this beautiful French ship…one that you imagine from stories of old…will sail out of Lunenburg again ( it’s only stop this tour in Canada) and be just another wonderful memory for the people along the East Coast of Canada!

We did go see L’Hermione and Here are a few photos…

Safe journey L’Hermione. Thanks for stopping by!

A Festival of crafts

I LOVE Festivals and Special Events in the Summer. Picturesque Lunenburg has a few such events during the summer. This weekend was the Annual Lunenburg Festival of Crafts.

Nova Scotia’s most talented craft producers and local artisans. The festival includes traditional Lunenburg food and great entertainment. There are so many “crafty” people in this province. I especially love to see and talk to vendors that are recycling things or “young entrepreneurs” that are earning some “summer money”.

Haha and part of the fun of craft fairs is sampling all the tasty products! ( James and David love this part)If you’re driving in the area, you will notice a couple more local craftsman…crafting the colourful Adirondack chairs! I love them. We have one and I would really like to add a couple more to my collection along with a rocking chair. Hmm? So many choices and so many colors!!! Decisions.

Racing Dragons

Dragon boat racing is observed and celebrated in many areas of east Asia. They are traditionally held as part of the June Dragon Boat Festivals all over China. However, when we lived there we searched all over our area to find such a thing to observe, with no luck. They were mostly held in Southern China the years we lived there.

What I didn’t realize, is that for the last 18 years there has been Dragon Boat Races in our own backyard. Well, you know, close to us… in Dartmouth at Lake Banook.

This year July 11 is the 18th Annual Manlife Dragon Boat Races.

Dragon Boat Racing is the “ultimate” in team paddling races! The crew of a standard dragon boat is typically 22, comprising 20 paddlers in pairs facing toward the bow of the boat, 1 drummer or caller at the bow facing toward the paddlers, and 1 sweep (a steerer) standing at the rear of the boat. Dragon boats however vary in length and the crew size will change accordingly, from small dragon boats with 10 paddlers up to the traditional boats which have upwards of 50 paddlers, plus drummer and sweep.

It was a lot of fun to be at this event today and see the racing. There was even a small performance of Chinese culture…dragon dance, Chinese ladies dance, and a young guy playing the erhu with a bit of an east coast fiddling style!

After the races, we decided it would be fun to eat at “The Great Wall”, a Chinese restaurant in downtown Halifax. It was lovely authentic atmosphere and what made it perfect was that there was a family beside us visiting from Shanghai speaking Chinese and eating “the Chinese way”

The whole experience just made me smile! A great day.

Fireworks!

Canada Day or Independence Day?

Well today is July 4th and because it rained on July1st the Fireworks in Bridgewater got cancelled until tonight. So…I suppose it’s both Happy Canada Day… and Happy July 4th to our Family and Friends south of the border.

They were beautiful!

Our Home and Native Land! 🇨🇦

After being in foreign countries the last 4 years. We are HOME in Canada this year to celebrate Canada Day, how wonderful is that! So happy! It didn’t even matter that it rained and was overcast and fireworks got canceled.

We were in our Hometown Bridgewater for the Canada Day ceremony and festivities and that’s all that mattered.

Happy Canada Day!

Community

It’s not very often that there is a summer event, a fun thing you can do with your family, that is entirely free. Well today I was happy to be a part of a group that wants to encourage families but also show them that Jesus loves them and has a plan for their life if they let HIM.

Bridgewater Open Bible Church in Bridgewater, NS has been putting on a Community Fun Fair at Shipyards Landing for the last few years. It’s so much fun for the WHOLE family. Face painting, games, bouncy houses, music, entertainment, cotton candy, BBQ, and lots more and……….it’s ALL FREE!!!! Just come with your family and enjoy it. It’s a way to show LOVE in our community.

This year we are home and David & I helped a little. We manned the Bouncy House Obstacle Course haha. FUN!!

What a great day!

An Apple a Day…

The Apple Blossoms are in bloom this week as the 83rd Annual Annapolis Valley Apple Blossoms Festival kicks off the tourist season for another year in this area of Nova Scotia.

It’s been years since we’ve been to this. Actually I can’t recall if David and I ever went. It was something I looked forward to each year with my parents when I was a kid. We’d pack a picnic lunch ( egg sandwiches come to mind ) and find a perfect spot on the grass to watch the parade.

The Apple Blossom Festival is a springtime celebration of the Valley’s traditions and agricultural heritage from Digby to Windsor and all the little communities in between. Some of the highlights are the Grand Street Parade, and Children’s Parade, the pageant and crowning of Queen Annapolisa, musical performances, and fireworks.

The Annapolis Valley’s apple orchards are starting to bloom and we didn’t want to miss it. We wanted to go… BUT alas…it just didn’t work out!!! Oh well, guess I will plan on it for next year…

( not my photo but one that captures the beauty of a Valley Apple Orchard perfectly)

And even though we didn’t go, and even though it will be Fall until the apples are harvested…I just couldn’t resist making a homemade apple crisp to enjoy this weekend.