Nova Scotia's Lunenburg County wants you (especially if you're young and eager)

How do you convince young people to move to a quaint Nova Scotia town? With a cross-country tour, of course.

With beautiful beaches, ocean views and being the home port for the iconic Bluenose II, Lunenburg County has a lot going for it. You can even buy an acre of beach front property for $250,000.

What it doesn't have is young people.

Tina Hennigar, tour lead and co-ordinator with Now Lunenburg County, is trying to change that by convincing 150 entrepreneurial young people to move to Lunenburg. She's spreading the message with a coast-to-coast tour in a 1960s-era  Boler trailer. 

Hennigar told the Calgary Eyeopener about Lunenburg County and how she is to trying to breathe new life into an aging community.

Q: Why do you need families to move to Lunenburg County?

A: Well, Lunenburg Country has, like you said, so much going for it and we have a lot of people moving there for the second part of their life.

But like a lot of communities, we have our young people leaving, and that just is not a sustainable way to have a community.

Q: So where did your young people go? 

A: Actually, many are in Alberta. So I'm meeting a lot of people who, during my travels, are telling me 'I'm from Lunenburg Country, I'd love to move back.' I'm sharing with them how that can happen. So I'm having a very friendly response from people.

Q: This is a business initiative as well? You need young people for jobs?

A: So this initiative is funded entirely by business owners as well as our generous community — people who want to have new neighbours. As well as the Lunenburg County Community Fund, which is an incredible organization in our community that funds kind of creative projects like this.

Q: So what's the pitch? If someone is thinking of moving, why would they go?

A: Traffic would be one ... my drive to work is actually serene and lovely and it may be five minutes to my work. A traffic jam could happen on a Friday at the end of a long week, and it may be 10 minutes to get out of.

We have beautiful beaches, incredible food. Our music is absolutely incredible. We also have some drawbacks. We do not have a Starbucks, and that's actually one of my favourite things about it.

Q: What is real estate like in Lunenburg County?

A: And our real estate is really affordable… I don't know if I can actually back this up with any evidence, but we may be one of the only communities that you can still buy your starter home for $100,000.

Q: If somebody wants to move there what are they going to do?

A: We don't have jobs in oil and gas … but what we do have though is an incredible entrepreneurial community. We have people who are starting really creative and innovative, creative businesses in Lunenburg County.

We do have jobs in aquaculture and ocean tech, and also some technology and innovation around traditional industries like forestry and what have you.

To find out more about what Lunenburg Country has to offer, visit NOWLunenburgcounty.com