Min Smale is the chairwoman of the Privateer Days organizing committee. This year’s event is scheduled for June 28 and 29 in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad)

The organizers of this year’s Privateer Days festival in Liverpool are promising a bigger and better celebration even as they cope with less funding and fewer volunteers. Entering its 39th year, Privateer Days has become the biggest event of the year in... Read More...

Debris from the fish farm near Coffin Island on Beach Meadows Beach in 2021. (Rick Conrad photo)

It’s been a little over a month since Nova Scotia’s aquaculture review board indefinitely adjourned hearings into a fish farm application in Liverpool Bay. And there’s still no indication if the hearings will ever begin. Jamie Simpson with Juniper Law... Read More...

The emergency department at Queens General Hospital in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad photo)

The emergency department at Queens General Hospital in Liverpool closed on Thursday at 5 a.m. and will reopen on Friday at 8 a.m. It will close again at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday and reopen Monday at 6 p.m. The ER at South Shore Regional Hospital in Bridgewater... Read More...

Velta Vikmanis’s art exhibit, Chaos to Calm, is on now at the Astor Theatre in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad)

As many others did during the pandemic, Velta Vikmanis and her husband were looking to move from the crush of the city to the calm of the country. “With the pandemic I think everybody kind of did an inventory and reprioritizing of life,” the Liverpool... Read More...

The Port Medway Readers Festival has announced its 2024 lineup.

The Port Medway Readers Festival has announced its lineup of guest authors for their 2024 season. The annual literary event began in 2002 and allows literature lovers to meet writers in an intimate, friendly setting in the village of Port Medway. Past... Read More...

Barb Hill-Taylor of East Port L’Hebert was at a community wildfire preparedness day on Tuesday, organized by Parks Canada. (Rick Conrad)

When last spring’s wildfires were consuming thousands of hectares around Barrington in southwestern Nova Scotia, Barb Hill-Taylor was about 90 kilometres away at her home in East Port L’Hebert. “We have only one exit from our peninsula,” she said... Read More...

The front entrance of the Town Hall Arts and Cultural Centre, home of the Astor Theatre, will be closed for the next two weeks. (Rick Conrad)

The front entrance of the Town Hall Arts and Cultural Centre, home of the Astor Theatre, on Main Street in Liverpool will be closed for the next two weeks. The Region of Queens is doing some work on the front facade of the building. The accessible entrance at... Read More...

Emergency crews clean up the scene of a two-vehicle collision near Tim Hortons in Liverpool on Friday morning. (Rick Conrad)

Emergency crews responded to two separate collisions in Liverpool on Friday. The first occurred near the Tim Hortons shortly after 10 a.m. A Subaru Forrester and Hyundai Elantra collided as one was exiting onto Bristol Avenue and the other car was turning at... Read More...

Officials are holding a wildfire preparedness event at Keji Seaside in Port Joli on Monday. (Parks Canada)

Parks Canada is holding a community wildfire preparedness session on Tuesday, May 7, at Kejimkujik Seaside Adjunct in Port Joli. The event goes from 3 to 5 p.m. Officials from the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources and Renewables and the Liverpool... Read More...

John Simmonds, chairman of the Astor Theatre Society, addresses a members’ meeting on Thursday at the Liverpool theatre. (Rick Conrad)

The board of the Astor Theatre Society on Thursday clarified who can vote and who can be nominated to its board at its upcoming general meeting. Some members who signed up in the past two months were concerned that the Astor would not allow them to... Read More...

Queens General Hospital. Photo Ed Halverson

The emergency department at Queens General Hospital in Liverpool will be closed this weekend. The ER will close on Friday at 1:30 p.m. and reopen Monday at 8 a.m., according to an advisory from Nova Scotia Health. The emergency department at South Shore... Read More...

Low-income Nova Scotians being treated for cancer and dealing with hair loss can get a $300 rebate toward the cost of a wig. (Communications Nova Scotia)

Nova Scotians going through cancer treatment can be reimbursed $300 if they buy a wig to help deal with hair loss. To be eligible, people must be a Nova Scotia resident with a valid health card, have a gross family income of $35,000 a year or less, be... Read More...

Howe of the Astor Theatre, the Liverpool Town Hall Arts and Cultural Centre. Photo Ed Halverson

UPDATED 8:33 p.m. The Astor Theatre is holding an information session on Thursday in advance of its annual general meeting on May 9.  Thursday’s meeting is for members of the Astor Theatre Society. It will be held at 5:30 p.m. at the Astor. It’s in... Read More...

Cathie Pincombe and Ray Leger of the Medway Head Lighthouse Society. The group is looking for volunteers to help preserve the iconic light near the end of Long Cove Road in Port Medway. (Rick Conrad)

A local community group is hoping to recruit more people to help preserve a historic lighthouse in what some refer to as the Peggys Cove of Queens County. The Medway Head Lighthouse Society took possession of the lighthouse in 2014.  Near the end of the... Read More...

The Region of Queens approved its 2024/25 budgets on Monday. (Rick Conrad)

Region of Queens council approved a balanced budget on Monday with no tax rate increases and almost $30 million in spending. At a special meeting, councillors also approved a $21.5-million capital budget, which includes the start of big projects like the... Read More...

The Milton Centennial Pool suffered severe damage in last July’s torrential rains and floods. (Rick Conrad)

The Milton Centennial Pool will remain closed this summer. “It is very, very unfortunate, but the Milton pool will not be opening this year,” Region of Queens Mayor Darlene Norman said Monday. The pool suffered significant damage in last July’s torrential... Read More...

Queens MLA Kim Masland, who is also Nova Scotia’s public works minister, with Region of Queens Mayor Darlene Norman on Friday at Queens Place Emera Centre after Masland announced more than $2.7 million in funding for Queens County. (Rick Conrad)

A new outdoor pool and a state-of-the-art track and soccer field for Queens County got a lot closer to reality on Friday as Queens MLA Kim Masland announced more than $2.7 million in funding for the region. Masland, who is also the province’s public works... Read More...

Nova Scotia Public Works Minister and Queens MLA Kim Masland with Region of Queens Mayor Darlene Norman at a funding announcement at the region’s offices on April 15. (Rick Conrad)

Queens MLA Kim Masland will be at Queens Place Emera Centre on Friday at 1 p.m. to announce money for community recreation infrastructure. Masland, who is also Nova Scotia’s public works minister, is making the announcement on behalf of Allan MacMaster,... Read More...

The Queens District RCMP detachment in Liverpool is closed to the public for the next six to nine months. (Rick Conrad)

The Queens District RCMP detachment at 20 Shore Rd. in Liverpool will be closed to the public for the next six to nine months while the office undergoes renovations.  RCMP announced the closure on its Facebook page this week.  The office closed April 24. The... Read More...

Region of Queens councillors plan to ask RCMP to step up enforcement efforts at the three-way stop at Main and Market streets in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad)

Queens County councillors grappled with traffic safety in downtown Liverpool at their meeting on Tuesday evening. The intersection at Main and Market streets has been the scene of some close calls between motorists and pedestrians. And in January, a... Read More...

Region of Queens councillors Jack Fancy, David Brown and Vicki Amirault in a file photo. (Rick Conrad)

The Region of Queens plans to increase the income threshold for people eligible for the low-income property tax exemption. As part of budget discussions on Tuesday, District 6 Coun. David Brown asked council to consider increasing the income brackets for... Read More...

Jerri Southcott with a small-scale model of the set for Seussical, the first production from the Astor Theatre’s Astor Academy. (Rick Conrad)

The Astor Theatre in Liverpool is launching a new theatre education program for youth with a production set to open in June. The Astor Academy is designed to give youth aged 8 to 18 access to high-quality performing arts training. Its first production is... Read More...

Region of Queens councillors are getting closer to finalizing their 2024/25 budget. (Pixabay)

The Region of Queens is getting closer to finalizing its budget for the 2024/25 fiscal year. Councillors will go over the draft operating, capital and water utility budgets at their meeting Tuesday evening at 6. It will give councillors a chance to make any... Read More...

Five new adjudicators were named to the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission on Monday. (Photo by Markus Spiske via Unsplash)

A Queens County lawyer is one of five new adjudicators for the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission. Ryan Clements of Liverpool, who joined the Nova Scotia bar in January, will be part of a roster of 10 people who will chair independent human rights boards of... Read More...

About 25 people showed up at Queens Place Emera Centre in Liverpool on Saturday to discuss the Winds of Change relationship with the Astor Theatre. (Rick Conrad)

The Winds of Change theatre group has voted to end a short-lived relationship with Liverpool’s Astor Theatre and re-form as an independent society. About 25 people showed up at a meeting on Saturday at Queens Place Emera Centre and voted to reverse a February... Read More...