Spend a day at the beach with Jane Dunlop-Stevenson for Hands Across the Sands, a fundraiser for the Queens County Food Bank on Sunday at Summerville Beach. (Rick Conrad

You can help turn a day at the beach into a work of art this weekend, and raise some money for a local charity.

Liverpool artist Jane Dunlop-Stevenson is organizing Hands Across the Sands: Art with Heart for the Food Bank on Sunday at 1 p.m. on Summerville Beach.

The idea is to draw 30-foot tall stick figures on the beach at low tide. You make a $20 donation to the Queens County Food Bank for each figure. And Dunlop-Stevenson and other volunteers will help you bring your beach art into the world.

“It started with a gentleman saying to me it would be neat to see people being drawn on the beach,” Dunlop-Stevenson said in a recent interview.

“And that led me to think of a picture of all these stick people and what we could do with it and it just evolved into let’s charge some money and help out the food bank and create this great picture.

“The original goal was to draw 150 30-foot stick figures at $20 a piece which would then (be) $3,000 to the food bank. We’re at a third of that right now. So that’s really good. I’m pleased with that. Just to envision 77 30-foot stick drawings is incredible across the beach, all holding hands, … with their feet in the water. It’ll be really neat to see the tide coming in and touching their toes.”

After everybody has drawn their figures, Dunlop-Stevenson will take drone footage of the whole scene and post it.

This is the first time she’s created sand art at Summerville with so many other people. But she’s a veteran virtuoso at creating striking short-term sand art.

Probably her best known work was a 120-foot-by-60-foot tribute to Olympic shot putter Sarah Mitton before this summer’s games. That one featured an 85-foot Eiffel Tower, a Canadian flag and the Olympic rings.

Dunlop-Stevenson created this tribute to Sarah Mitton this summer at Summerville Beach. (Jane Stevenson photo)

She’s also recreated the logo for the Liverpool International Theatre Festival. And she’s taken small groups to Summerville to create mandalas and other images.

But Sunday’s event promises to be her biggest group effort yet. She and some other volunteers will sketch out the heads of all the stick figures ahead of time. 

And participants just have to bring their own rakes to help give their pieces texture, so that they show up against the smooth sand.

“And they will rake the head and choose their design however they want it, however simple or dressed up they want their little person to be, it’s totally up to them. No perfection is necessary. If you have your little picture drawn and you know what you want to put in the sand, it will probably take you 20 minutes maybe to draw a stick figure. So it’s very possible to draw a few.

“Nothing has to be perfect. It’s all just for fun and to see this really cool art.”

Dunlop-Stevenson has set up a Facebook event, which includes a link to a Google registration form. You can go by yourself or get a team of five together. 

And if the weather doesn’t co-operate this weekend, they’ll try it again on Nov. 30. Look for updates on their Facebook event Hands Across the Sands: Art with Heart for the Food Bank.

“Bring your rakes, find some pictures online, bring your 20 bucks and bring your friends. … We can always be warm at the beach.”

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

QCCR acknowledges the support of the Community Radio Fund of Canada’s Local Journalism Initiative.

Katie Pitts of Liverpool was at Beach Meadows Beach on Monday afternoon to take in the solar eclipse. (Rick Conrad)

A few dozen people showed up to Beach Meadows Beach on a windy Monday afternoon to watch the solar eclipse.

We talked to a few people who were equipped with their eclipse glasses.

Listen to the audio below.

Stephanie MacLeod, Maeve MacLeod, Liesel MacLeod and Declan MacLeod were at Beach Meadows Beach on Monday to take in the solar eclipse. (Rick Conrad)

Carters Beach. Photo from Nova Scotia Provincial Parks Facebook page

The Nova Scotia government has begun work to turn Carters Beach into a provincial park. That means visitors to the popular Queens County destination will likely have more places to park this summer.

But they may have to seek out other beaches nearby depending on the progress of the project.

The province announced in November that it would designate Carters Beach a provincial park. The designation also includes several islands just off shore. Carters Beach Provincial Park will cover about 97 hectares and include the Spectacle Islands, Jackies Island and others.

The Department of Natural Resources and Renewables is spending about $2 million on the project, which includes two new paved parking lots, garbage facilities, signage and accessible outhouses. 

It also includes a trail from the new parking lot down to the beach. That trail will be about 500 metres long and is planned to have a gentle slope and made of compacted crusher dust to make it easier to navigate. 

Sandra Fraser, a parks promotion officer with the department, said Wednesday that the department hopes to have the parking lots finished by July. But the overall project end date is June 2025.

“Work is underway now to build a new parking lot off the Central Port Mouton Road and that parking lot is going to have roughly 75 parking spaces, including some accessible parking space. 

“On the Carters Beach Road, the existing parking lot there is getting some improvements so the parking there will be a bit better defined. So there will be roughly 18 spots down there including some accessible spots.”

Work has begun on Carters Beach Provincial Park. A new parking lot on Central Port Mouton Road will hold up to 75 cars. And another parking lot on Carters Beach Road will hold 18 cars. (Rick Conrad)

Fraser said work is on hold right now because of spring weight restrictions, but it will soon resume.

“We’re trying to get as much done as possible before the peak of the summer. But since the timeline is still 2025, there could be some work going on.

“Definitely want to be much ahead of that. The goal is to get the parking lot done before July this year. But it may take longer to add some of the extra parts, the toilets and just finishing those pieces.”

Fraser said that beachgoers this summer should keep an eye on the department’s parks website and its social media channels before packing for the beach.

She said there are still other great beaches in the area for people to enjoy, such as Summerville Beach or Thomas Raddall Provincial Park.

“There’s so many beautiful beaches in Queens County. So lots of place to go.”

Area residents have been frustrated over the years as Carters Beach became a hugely popular destination. The small parking area at the end of Carters Beach Road was barely big enough for a few cars. So visitors lined both sides of the narrow road, regularly blocking people’s access to their driveways and making it difficult to get in and out of the area.

Residents also complained about garbage and human waste being left on the beach and among the sensitive dunes.

Fraser said the department held an information session with the community in November 2022.

When the work is finished, Fraser says the department hopes it will address residents’ concerns.

 “I think this added infrastructure will support people enjoying the beach without leaving as much impact.”

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Listen to the audio version of this story below

Protestors want construction of a new home on Eagle Head Beach to stop. Photo contributed by Talla Corkum

The owner and a contractor building a beach home on Eagle Head Road have been fined for violations of the Environment Act.

Tickets were issued by the Department of Environment and Climate Change for changing a watercourse without approval.

Fines of $1,157.50 have been levied against the contractor and $697.50 against the owner.

The department is still investigating reports of wildlife habitat being impacted by the construction which is taking place close to the beach but above the high-water line.

The new home build has upset local residents who mounted a protest Monday at the construction site.

They say the new home is disturbing sensitive beach grasses, waterways, and wildlife habitat.

One of the administrators for the Facebook page Protect Eagle Head Beach Talla Corkum says the destruction of the dunes and waterway flies in the face of the community’s values.

She says many of the protestors at Monday’s demonstration are seeing the property for the first time.

“The biggest reaction was just, how? Because these are people who have grown up around this beach for years, for so long and they’ve seen it and growing up around here we have been taught to respect the beach, that we can’t take any sand, we can’t move the rocks, we can’t take the rocks off the beach. That the dunes are sacred, basically,” said Corkum. “We have learned so much respect for this beach then, to see the, the change, the flip on the way that this beach is being treated, I think was very jarring for a lot of people who haven’t got a chance to see the site yet.”

While Corkum is pleased to see the province take some action, she doesn’t feel the fines are a real deterrent and is looking for stronger action to be taken to protect the beach.

“It’s a step and it‘s encouraging to feel like people are listening, people are trying. The investigation isn’t just open and shut and that, they are still looking at things that could be going wrong.”

She says the community has rallied behind the group’s efforts and they will continue to pressure officials and are planning more protests to raise awareness to keep this from happening again.

“It has been a lot of work. I wouldn’t have it any other way,” said Corkum. “If this protects one more beach, I will be happy.”

Reported by Ed Halverson 
E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

To listen to the broadcast of this story, press play below.