By Matthew Boudreau, Contributing Columnist
With summer comes festival season here in Nova Scotia. This summer offers plenty of opportunities to eat, drink, and dance your way through the province. Here are some of the highlights.
A staple of the Natal Day weekend, the Halifax Busker Festival will run July 31 to August 5. The festival will feature incredible acts from around the world and will be featured on both the Halifax and Dartmouth waterfronts. Speaking of Natal Day, the fireworks will take place on Saturday, August 3 at 10:00 pm on the Halifax and Dartmouth waterfronts.
Nova Multifest promises an energetic festival of culture and diversity at the Dartmouth waterfront at Alderney Landing. This festival has music, art, shopping, food, and craft beer. The festival runs from July 19 to 21.
The Halifax Pride Festival will run from July 18 to 28 with many events throughout the HRM. The main parade will take place downtown Halifax on July 20 at noon.
The TD Halifax Jazz festival returns to the Halifax Waterfront from July 9 to 14. This year’s festival is headlined by Killer Mike, Fitz and the Tantrums, Emmylou Harris, Matt Andersen, and Charlotte Day Wilson. The festival will also feature free shows on Sunday July 14 with Rankin MacInnis’ Jazz Fest Jamboree highlighting the evening.
For those who are looking for some nostalgic rock and roll, Rock the Harbour returns to Alderney Landing from August 16 to 18. Glass Tiger, 54.40, and Nazareth headline each of the different days.
Staying with music, the Lunenburg Folk Harbour Festival runs August 8 to 11. The festival has morning, afternoon, and evening concerts across multiple stages in picturesque Lunenburg. If you are looking for city escape and enjoy seafood, Digby Scallop Days run from August 8 to 11. The Antigonish Highland Games also runs July 7 to 14 if you need a city break.
For our beer, cider, and premixed cocktail lovers, the Halifax Seaport Cider/Beer/Fizzfest runs from August 8 to 10. Regular and VIP tickets are available for the outdoor event.
This list certainly only covers a small portion of the many events happening around the city in July and August. There are many great farmers markets running across the city to keep an eye out for. As always, I encourage you to support local where you can when eating, drinking, and shopping this summer.
