The Region of Queens Dogwood Festival kicks off Friday evening. (Rick Conrad)

For the past 25 years, they’ve brought vibrant pops of pink, yellow and white to front yards in many parts of Queens County.

And this weekend, the inaugural Region of Queens Dogwood Festival will celebrate the 1,000 dogwood trees planted in the area since 2000.

Stephanie Miller Vincent is organizing the three-day festival. While there have been some garden tours and teas around the dogwood in the past, she says this is the first time an event has focused solely on the trees.

“The end of April, something caught my eye and I was like, holy, this is the 25th anniversary of those original trees. If we don’t do something intentional this year, we really missed an opportunity. You know, it’ll be small, but it will be a celebration. The trees are going to bloom every single year.

“It’s time that we start taking notice of them and welcome people to explore the community.”

Christopher Clarke is the dogwood father of Queens County. He wanted to make the region the dogwood capital of Nova Scotia.

As mayor, he began a millennial planting project in 2000, with the municipality selling 750 dogwoods at a relatively low cost.

“Those 25-year-old trees are very large,” Miller Vincent says. “Not everyone knows what they are, so I think they really catch people’s eye and their attention because they’re kind of like, my gosh, that is beautiful. And then they want to know more. And really, that’s part of the celebration that we’re doing is that these trees have been here for 25 years. And if you’ve driven through the community or come to the community since 2000, you may not know the reason why they’re here.

“That pink pop of color is very different for people as they drive down the street, and it really does catch their eye.”

Stephanie Miller Vincent (Courtesy of Stephanie Miller Vincent)

An opening ceremony and tree planting are planned for Friday evening at the Queens County Museum. On Saturday, local artist Andre Haines will be leading a dogwood painting session in Cobb Park. That’s where a dozen trees were planted after being donated by officials from the region’s former sister city Dryden, Ontario.

Also on Saturday, stained glass artist Scot Slessor will be holding a workshop at his studio in downtown Liverpool.

On Sunday, photographer Amy McGowan will be in Cobb Park taking keepsake photos of people, their families and pets among the dogwoods.

Miller Vincent has also created a crowdsourced map on the event’s website with more than 100 dogwood tree locations from Port Medway to Port Mouton.

“They are absolutely gorgeous. We’ve had the perfect weather for big, bright, beautiful blossoms.”

Miller Vincent plans to make the Region of Queens Dogwood Festival an annual event. And just like the trees themselves, she says she hopes the festival grows bigger every year.

“Absolutely. Bigger and better next year. We thought any celebration is a good celebration and we’ll add things to it next year.”

For more information, visit regionofqueensdogwoodfestival.ca or follow their Facebook page.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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Min Smale is the chair of the Privateer Days committee. (Rick Conrad)

It’s the celebration that kicks off summer in Liverpool with a bang.

And the organizers of this year’s Privateer Days festival hope it’s bigger and better than ever.

Min Smale is the chair of the Privateer Days committee. This is her fourth year with the event.

“We’ve tripled our sponsor dollars over last year and it’s enabled us to do a lot more than we did last year. We keep posting new things and we keep getting great feedback,” Smale said in a recent interview.

“I think everybody is going to be thoroughly excited and have a great time.”

Last year’s festival almost didn’t happen, as organizers struggled to recover sponsor dollars and volunteers after the pandemic. Smale says there’s no fear of that this year, as their budget hovers around $70,000.

They doubled their board members this year to 10. And they have about 30 additional volunteers to help run the packed event schedule over the three-day festival. 

“I don’t think we’ve ever had this many eager volunteers come and help us. It’s overwhelming in a good way.”

Big sponsors like Atlantic Lottery Corp. and Coldstream Clear Distillery have come on board to help bring back the entertainment and beer tents.

Thirty artists are lined up to keep those tents hopping all weekend.

“I think the main thing I’ve heard in the last four years was, ‘When’s the beer tent coming back?’ And so we were very fortunate to be able to partner with a Nova Scotia brand like Coldstream Clear Distillery to help us get there.”

More than 60 craft, food and clothing vendors are expected to be set up in the park for the weekend.

Over a dozen events and booths are planned for kids and families, including bouncy castles from Yarmouth Big Bounce, a foam dance party and a superhero dance party.

And the popular Pirates of Halifax will return to this year’s event.

The weekend will also feature traditional historical re-enactments, like the encampment in Fort Point with the King’s Orange Rangers.

“My big things are family friendly, creating moments, support local and drive some business into the community as well as coming together as a community.”

A centrepiece of the weekend is the parade through downtown Liverpool on Saturday morning. And this year, the grand marshal will be well-known local musician and volunteer Dick Henneberry.

Smale says having a great team of volunteers has helped make preparations for this year’s festival go smoothly.

“Come out, enjoy yourself and we try to make everything as free or low cost as possible, just so we can all come together and have a great weekend.”

Privateer Days runs from June 27 to 29 at Privateer Park on the Liverpool waterfront. A full list of events is available on their Facebook page.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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Privateer Days parade. Photo Ed Halverson

The first Privateer Days to be held in Liverpool since the start of the pandemic is barely in the books and already organizers are looking ahead to next year.

Chair of the Privateer Days commission Ashley Whynot wants feedback from the public to learn what they can do better.

“Any input, feedback, constructive criticism, we’re looking for all of that. We need to know because we’re not putting this on for us, we’re putting this on for everyone else,” said Whynot. “It doesn’t matter what I want personally, it’s what we can make happen for everyone.”

For example, Whynot says they’ve already noted the need for more first-aid stations and better locations for some of the washroom facilities.

She says one of the successes for this year’s festival was the shift towards family-focused activities.

Organizers decided to do away with the waterfront beer tent to provide a place for young people to gather in the evening and to nudge adults into local licensed establishments.

Instead, the entertainment tent featured live music all day and was turned over in the evening for a teen dance hosted by the Liverpool Junior Firefighters.

“And there were kids in there screaming and laughing and doing cartwheels and running around outside in the field. They were having such a good time and I have never seen children stay out, during Privateer Days, that late,” said Whynot.

Privateer Days crowd. Photo Ed Halverson

Looking ahead she says the commission will take a few days to catch their breath but plan on being more active and present in the community throughout the year.

“We would also look to do a few little fundraisers to kind of, keep our name out there, keep the community engaged with us, bring in some more funds to see what other new and exciting vendors or entertainment or what-have-you we can bring in next year,” said Whynot. “And we’re always looking for more volunteers.”

Anyone wishing to get involved with Privateer Days can contact Whynot or the commission through their Facebook page.

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

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Photo contributed by Privateer Days Commission

Liverpool’s unofficial kick off to summer is back.

Privateer Days returns Friday after COVID restrictions cancelled the event for the past two years.

People can look forward to the return of many regular features such as the Privateer Day parade and historic encampment on Saturday, guided historic walking tours as well as activities and music all weekend at Privateer Park.

Many of the Privateer Days board members are new this year having only been elected to their positions at their annual general meeting in February.

That gave the group just four months to plan an event that would normally take all year.

Board chair Ashley Whynot says the mix of new and returning board members has been vital to getting Privateer Days up and running.

“This was all new. I’m used to planning birthday parties and very, very small events, so this is way out of my comfort zone,” said Whynot.

Despite having to quickly learn what permitting, licensing and insurance was needed to host an event the scale of Privateer Days, Whynot says the planning wasn’t that stressful.

“This isn’t a brand-new event so we always have previous years that we can look back on and be like, okay, what worked and what didn’t, look at the lineup, keep the traditional aspects like the parade and the rum run and the wedding. Those always had specific start times, so we kept those in mind,” said Whynot. “All the new things we kind of just filled in the blanks as we went.”

One of the big changes this year is the focus on providing a family friendly environment.

The beer tent was done away with in favour of organizing a pub crawl and encouraging people to visit the local drinking establishments.

Attendees will see family focused entertainment such as circus performers, a kid’s fishing derby, and a teddy bear picnic.

Whynot says the board is not only looking for new ideas but is always happy to see new people get involved with Privateer Days.

“We are looking to bring back as much tradition as possible, like the wedding for instance, and we’re looking to keep traditions going like the rum run and the parade. But we are looking to modernize it as well. There’s a lot of virtual reality things going on for the children and interactive things. We are always looking for new board members and fresh minds, fresh ideas, and lots of volunteers for that weekend in general.”

Kids can kick off the 2022 edition of Privateer Days at the Thomas Raddall Library Friday morning with pirate themed stories and crafts.

Adults can join the fun Friday night at one of several musical performances at the Legion, Route 3 Cellar Taproom and Grill and Hell Bay Brewing Company.

Events get underway at Privateer Park beginning at 9:00am Saturday.

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

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A road sign announces Privateer Days in Liverpool in 2014. Photo Ed Halverson

Residents of Liverpool can breathe a collective sigh of relief as Privateer Days is not being disbanded.

Rumours swirled about the demise of the festival after the organizers posted on Facebook asking for volunteers to step forward and replace most of the board.

Privateer Days board chair Terrena Parnell says the event isn’t shutting down, but several board members, including herself are moving on.

“I’ve always believed that if you can’t give 100 percent then don’t do it. At this point, I have other things on the go that I’m not able to give 100 percent and I just feel it would be better in someone else’s hands,” said Parnell.

The Privateer Days board is looking for people to fill the senior roles of Chairperson, Vice Chairperson, Secretary, and Treasurer as well as Directors of Grants & Funding, Music, PR/Media Relations and Vendors.

Like every other festival in the province, the board has been unable to host Privateer Days for the past two years due to COVID restrictions.

Parnell is confident once the positions are filled at their annual general meeting in February the new board will have enough time to settle into their roles and put on the event at the end of June.

“We’ve pretty much got everything in place for them,” said Parnell. “It’s just a matter of moving forward with it and making any changes they feel they want to make or any additions and go from there.”

Parnell says the board was working to make Privateer Days a more family-oriented event, by bringing back fairground rides and revamping how entertainment was to be presented.

“We have three local drinking establishments directly across the parking lot from where Privateer Days is being held. So instead of having the entertainment tent as a “beer tent”, it would’ve gone back to an entertainment tent, and we would’ve supported our local establishments across the road to bring in some business to them as well and to really make it more of a community event,” said Parnell.

It will be up to the new board members to decide if they will follow through on that vision.

Due to current COVID restrictions the Privateer Days annual general meeting will be held virtually over Zoom at 7:30pm of February 24.

Anyone wishing to attend or put themselves forward for one of the vacant positions should contact the Privateer Days board through their website or Facebook page to receive the log on information.

E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

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Photo contributed by Privateer Days Commission

Privateer Days has been called off again this summer.

The annual event, normally held near the last weekend in June, once again fell victim to the effects of the coronavirus.

Privateer Days Commission chair Terrena Parnell says the organizers are heartbroken to cancel the event, but they had to put public safety first.

“We have thousands of people coming to Privateer Days every year and there’s absolutely no way that we can have people in there volunteering, chasing people around saying, wear your masks, social distance, that type of thing. It’s just impossible to try to deal with something on that large of a scale,” said Parnell.

Like almost every other festival in 2020, Privateer Days was cancelled last year because of the restrictions put in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Parnell says many of the performers and suppliers scheduled to be part of last year’s event were waiting for the phone call to go ahead with this year’s event.

The commission has been keeping a close eye on the restrictions and the way the vaccine is rolling out across Nova Scotia and didn’t see how enough would change to allow the event to go ahead this year.

Parnell said, “We don’t think things are going to go back to normal for a while yet, and just felt that it was best for everyone involved, both spectators and the participants, to cancel early instead of waiting until the last minute and saying, oh, no, we’re not going to have it and have to turn everyone away.”

Parnell is aware some people think the event was cancelled too early but points out the logistics involved in mounting a festival of this size require time.

She says suppliers need to line up equipment and transportation to and from Liverpool. Uncertainty around border crossing rules between provinces could mean some suppliers, such as New Brunswick-based East Coast Amusement Rides may not be able to cross into Nova Scotia.

“With the restrictions and the bans in place, you don’t know what’s going to happen in the future,” said Parnell. “It may seem like we cancelled early, but it’s only six months away and those six months can go very quickly.”

Parnell says as the organization looks ahead to 2022 they are in a stable financial position. The commission is constantly looking for new sources of revenue, such as grants to fund the event.

But for next year, she would like to see locals dig in and show what the event means to them.

“I’m hoping that with everything being closed down for two years, that next year we’ll have the community and the business support when we do start our fundraising again to help us make a larger event a reality.”

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

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