Restaurant News
The Parrot's Pins and the Bayman are open as usual. Thank God for them both. And for Sophia's, Scotia Lunch, the Bean Dock and Luongs who carry on almost all year long.
The Chef's Table in Sable River is now open 6 days/week - Tuesday through Thursday Zaari is serving lunch only and Friday to Sunday he's doing both lunch and supper.
Seaside Seafoods in Hunt's Point has been open about 5 weeks - they are always the first to reopen and stay open the latest in the fall. We stopped for their amazing milkshakes and a few shrimp and scallops a couple of weeks ago.
The Quarterdeck is opening May 8th.
The White Gull is hiring - date of opening unknown but soon.
The Town & Country has not been sold but is being leased by A1 Pizza (in Shelburne) for the summer. They are opening in June and supposedly will serve the same menu as Vonda did - not just pizza.
The Lockeport Legion is having monthly breakfasts.
Friday, the Canada Day Committee held a fundraiser luncheon of corn chowder, chili, drinks and dessert in the Rec Centre.
In Shelburne, Charlotte Lane catered the Osprey fundraising dinner on April 10th and will reopen for the year on May 7th (including Mother's Day).
Lothar catered a fundraiser for his daughter's nursing volunteer trip to Africa this summer - a great meal. Still don't know when he will be opening again though.
The Loyalist Inn is open for breakfast 7-11 with their lovely renovated premises. They are still fighting their way through Nova Scotia bureaucracy to get their liquor license, before opening for the rest of the day. A welcome addition however.
Construction Projects
The new stage is coming along. It appears to be a massive space - a really good government grant I guess.
The new stage from our kitchen window
The stage from the back yard
The stage from the park
Boardwalk along edge of Back Harbour - against the playing fields fences.
Closeup of entrance to new section of boardwalkThe widening of Brighton Road into town is complete - there is now a good 5-6 feet wide path on the outside of new barriers almost all the way along the walking trail section of the road. Now it would be nice if the town would add 2 or 3 benches for walkers to pause and enjoy the views across the Back Harbour and out to Carter's Island Lighthouse.
More pictures of Lockeport in the 1800's/early 1900's have been posted as murals on many town buildings. They look very nice and are a good tribute to the local heritage.
Several board fences have appeared around town, improving some of the not-so-interesting views like the Clearwater parking lot. There are also new planters at the corner of Hall and Beech along the edge of the parking lot - lots of nice dirt was sitting there yesterday waiting to be shovelled into them.
The museum is supposed to be being moved to the corner of North and Spruce - no preparation on the lot yet. Hopefully this will happen before any more rogue storms or hurricanes inundate it again. The annex is not going to be moved apparently so its expected lifespan must be very short at this point.
Atlantic Waves has become the Beech Street Studio and Cafe - there have been many renovations to the 2 buildings, roofs, doors, siding, interior - very nicely cleaned up.
A few other areas in town have been cleaned up too - the town sent out notices of unsightly properties and if the owner doesn't fix them up the town will or tear them down. It's worked in several cases so far. The old bank building is still a major eyesore.
In other news, the silly piping plover signs are back on the beach. In the last 5 years the plover habitat has been completely washed away by storms, the beach is much narrower than it was at high tide, the dunes are almost gone and likely this year our road into town will be completely breached by a storm and we will truly be an island again. This is the result of Natural Resources refusing to let the town do any work on shoring up the dunes along the road because of the plovers - they were wiped out last year by Hurricane Bill (the one pair which was nesting there) and the habitat reduced by about 75% in one day. No sign of any birds (or anywhere for them to nest either) but the signs are back "just in case" and in the meantime the museums flood, the road floods, the schoolyard floods, the playing fields flood, and the local economy is 1 storm away from devastation - the waves break over the dunes now when there is simply a high-tide at a full moon.
Harmony Bazaar has been sponsoring a lot of concerts - small local ones and some in Yarmouth and at the Osprey in Shelburne - last night it was a female comedy lineup called Hot Mess. They are providing lots of opportunities for an assortment of performers to be seen and heard, growing the Festival and its reputation.
The Farmers' Market is returning in Sable River at the end of May - this year the meat, produce etc will be sold on Thursdays at Deckers and the yard sale, baking etc will be sold Saturdays at the Irving. Hope the Thursday works out since it conflicts with those who still work for a living, but it was the only day Meadowbrook Farms could come and they were the cornerstone of the market last year. We'll definitely go - fresh meat, honey, produce, homemade pasta, freshly caught fish, baking, jams, jellies, plants, hot soup, BBQ - lots of good things and a great social event every week. Looking forward to it.
There is actually a NEW store in Shelburne - Bev's Cakes and Sweets - in the Loyalist Plaza by the Home Furniture Store. I'm assuming it's the lady from Sandy Point who makes the fabulous cakes - Cindy brought one to our Thanksgiving dinner last year. This fills a void left when Shelburne pastry closed 2-3 years ago.
Lobster news- the price is still depressed, around $4.00/lb or less to the lobstermen. This is just when the local season moves back into high gear usually as the weather and water are warmer and the lobster are moving again.
That's all for now - talk to you again in a few weeks when we get back (unless I flood my blog with grandkid news from Ottawa) - :)
Just doing a bit of blog hopping and landed on your site. What first grabbed my attention was the name Shelburne... I used to live in a Shelburne, but then realized that your Shelburne is in a different province. Yours does look awfully pretty though. Ours doesn't have a boardwalk :(
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