5 fun things to do on P.E.I. this weekend
Spend the weekend at a giant yard sale or sink into a cushy seat for a few hours of musical entertainment
It's the last weekend before fall — as the actors sing in Anne of Green Gables The Musical, "Where did the summer go to?"
There's still plenty of activity to enjoy before the days get dark and the snow begins to fly, so here's a quick list of some of the many things to do on P.E.I. this weekend.
P.E.I. Shellfish Festival
An annual anchor (pun intended) of the Fall Flavours Festival, the P.E.I. Shellfish Festival is held in tents at the Charlottetown Event grounds at the foot of the Hillsborough Bridge Friday through Sunday.
Celebrity chefs including television's Lynn Crawford will do demonstrations and sign cookbooks. Learn how to shuck oysters from the pros, and see who wins the annual best chowder championships. Chefs from all over the world — including P.E.I. — will compete in cooking challenges, and there's tons of different live music all three evenings and nights.
A highlight will be Sunday's attempt by the P.E.I. Fishermen's Association to snatch back the title for the World's Longest Lobster Roll — the crown has been passed back and forth between P.E.I. and Shediac, N.B. the last couple of years. This year, chef Ross Munro plans to build a sandwich longer than 35 metres or 116 feet.
Weekend passes are already sold out, but daily admission tickets are available for about $20. Hint: Flash your CAA card to save 10 per cent. More info on the shellfish festival's website.
70-Mile Coastal Yard Sale
Now in it's 19th year, the 70-mile coastal yard sale in eastern P.E.I. runs Saturday and Sunday (some sites even get started on Friday afternoon).
Grab a booklet of official yard sale sites — including rinks and fields full of vendors — at area stores like Cooper's Red & White.
The route begins and ends at the Wood Islands welcome centre just before the ferry.
All you'll need is gas and some patience since traffic is usually slow along the route. Don't forget to bring plenty of cash in small denominations as most vendors don't take debit or credit.
PEI Open Farm Day
See how your food is grown and meet the people who grow it during Open Farm Day across Atlantic Canada Sunday — last year, more than 14,000 people on P.E.I. did just that.
More than 30 Island farms are participating in this year's event, from cattle, sheep and alpaca farms to vineyards and orchards.
It's free — find a complete list of participating farms here.
Belles Soeurs: The Musical
Belles Soeurs: The Musical opened Thursday night on the Confederation Centre's mainstage and continues for the next three weeks with 21 shows — the all-female cast of 11 gets Sundays off, but Wednesdays the centre adds a matinee to the schedule.
The Charlottetown show is an English musical theatre adaptation of the French-Canadian play Les Belles-Soeurs, which has been performed around the world in more than 25 languages.
Tickets range from $25 to $69. More info on the centre's website here.
Help clean up a beach
Everyone is welcome to join the Southeast Environmental Association and Great Enlightenment Buddhist Institute Society — the monks who've set up residence in eastern P.E.I. — as they tackle shoreline litter at St. Mary's Bay on Saturday from 9 to 11 a.m., followed by a social gathering with snacks.
It's part of the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup, one of the largest direct action conservation programs in Canada.
"We hope that the collaborated efforts will turn a virtuous droplet into a vast ocean and keep shorelines and waterways healthy from coast to coast," GEBIS spokesperson Venerable Dan said in a news release.
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