{"id":6596,"date":"2024-01-31T17:46:21","date_gmt":"2024-01-31T21:46:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/?p=6596"},"modified":"2024-02-01T09:51:15","modified_gmt":"2024-02-01T13:51:15","slug":"organizers-lift-lid-on-nova-scotia-lobster-crawl-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/2024\/01\/31\/organizers-lift-lid-on-nova-scotia-lobster-crawl-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"Organizers lift lid on Nova Scotia Lobster Crawl Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_6597\" style=\"width: 270px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6597\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-6597\" src=\"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/lobstercrawl-260x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"260\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/lobstercrawl-260x300.jpg 260w, https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/lobstercrawl-889x1024.jpg 889w, https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/lobstercrawl-768x885.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/lobstercrawl-1333x1536.jpg 1333w, https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/lobstercrawl.jpg 1638w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 260px) 100vw, 260px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-6597\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Nova Scotia Lobster Crawl Festival kicks off Thursday. (Nova Scotia Lobster Crawl Facebook page)<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>By Rick Conrad<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Get your shell cracker ready, sharpen your lobster pick and loosen your belt. Thursday marks the beginning of the Nova Scotia Lobster Crawl Festival.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The month-long celebration of the succulent shellfish includes businesses all along the South Shore, from Barrington, the lobster capital of Canada, to Peggys Cove, and as far inland as Kejimkujik and New Ross.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Things really get going on Friday, when Lucy the Lobster marks Groundhog Day in her own special way. If you\u2019re at the Cape Sable Island Causeway at 8 a.m., you\u2019ll get to see if Lucy predicts a longer winter.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/visitsouthshore.ca\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">South Shore Tourism Co-operative<\/a> launched its first lobster crawl in 2018 to help bring visitors to the South Shore in a typically slow time of year. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Stephanie Miller Vincent, the co-ordinator of the co-operative and the festival, says that with\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">more than 100 events at 80 different businesses around the South Shore, it\u2019s a great excuse to get out of the house.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cFebruary is the longest shortest month of the year and we all need a reason to get out and crawl,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cThere are just always great reasons to either come and visit the South Shore or crawl around the South Shore if you already live here.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The festival features five signature events &#8212; Lucy and her shadow on the 2nd, the <a href=\"https:\/\/visitsouthshore.ca\/2024-lobster-roll-off\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lobster Roll Off<\/a> competition at the Michelin Social and Athletic Club in Bridgewater on Feb. 4, the inaugural <a href=\"https:\/\/visitsouthshore.ca\/2024-lobster-chowder-chowdown-showdown\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Chowder Chowdown Showdown<\/a> on Feb. 11 at the Black Loyalist Heritage Centre in Birchtown, the Tail End Party at the Old Fish Factory in Lunenburg on Feb. 23, and the Beachside Bingo Brunch Buffet at the Quarterdeck Inn in Hunts Point on Feb. 25.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The chowder showdown is already sold out and there are only a few tickets left for the lobster roll competition, Miller Vincent says.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">But there are events all over the South Shore to tickle your lobster fancy. The Region of Queens is also getting in on the lobster-loving action with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/2024\/01\/16\/queens-wants-to-warm-up-winter-with-outdoor-festival-in-liverpool-park\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Light Up Queen&#8217;s, an outdoor nighttime party<\/a> in Centennial Park on Feb. 24.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cThe economic value of lobster crawl has increased every year,\u201d Miller Vincent says. \u201cIt\u2019s now an anticipated event. We have businesses that stay open because of lobster crawl or extend their hours because of lobster crawl.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cIt\u2019s a little bit of everything. It\u2019s truly taken a month where hibernation might have been the most popular activity and really encouraged people to get out.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you\u2019re really into the crawl, you can find something to do for all 29 days of February, Miller Vincent says. You can pick up a passport at participating businesses or on the website at <a href=\"https:\/\/visitsouthshore.ca\/lobster-crawl\/lobster-crawl-passport\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">lobstercrawl.ca<\/a>, track your progress and enter to win prizes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">As for Lucy, she gets to return to her bottom-dwelling ways a few days after she sees her shadow or not.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cLucy is often a different Lucy. She does her duties, spends a couple of days at the spa at Capt. Kat\u2019s (Lobster Shack in Barrington Passage) so you can pop by and get a &#8216;shellfie&#8217; with her and then Lucy gets released,\u201d Miller Vincent says.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cWe do not eat Lucy, nor do we allow anyone else to eat Lucy. Lucy gets released.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">For a full schedule, visit <a href=\"http:\/\/lobstercrawl.ca\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">lobstercrawl.ca<\/a> or follow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/novascotialobstercrawl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nova Scotia Lobster Crawl<\/a> on Facebook.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Email: <a href=\"mailto:rickconradqccr@gmail.com\">rickconradqccr@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Listen to the audio version of this story below<\/p>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-6596-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/newlobstercrawljan3124.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/newlobstercrawljan3124.mp3\">https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/newlobstercrawljan3124.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Rick Conrad Get your shell cracker ready, sharpen your lobster pick and loosen your belt. Thursday marks the beginning of the Nova Scotia Lobster Crawl Festival. The month-long celebration of the succulent shellfish includes businesses all along the South Shore, from Barrington, the lobster capital of Canada, to Peggys Cove, and as far inland [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[13,5],"tags":[1635,379,1705,1704,1703,830,1706,1707,1648],"class_list":["post-6596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-news","category-news-posts","tag-barrington","tag-bridgewater","tag-lobster-roll-off-competition","tag-lucy-the-lobster","tag-nova-scotia-lobster-crawl-festival","tag-south-shore","tag-south-shore-tourism-co-operative","tag-stephanie-miller-vincent","tag-tourism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6596"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6596\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6604,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6596\/revisions\/6604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}