ADEDA News

Hello Kathleen,

An “Easy” Diversion
They say that the face of the person who can solve your problems is usually the one looking back at you.

Now metaphorically I know that’s supposed to refer to your image in a mirror. But it can occasionally be the face across the shop floor. At least that was the case with the invention and introduction of the aptly named “Easy Sorter”’.

As mentioned in last week’s newsletter this innovative recycling tool won this year’s Mobious Environmental award for small business from the RRFB Nova Scotia. In his remarks at a breakfast celebrating Small Business Week, recently Sissiboo Farm Supplies’ General Manager Randall Amero particularly thanked ADEDA – and our Economic Development Officer Dan Harvey – for our help and encouragement in developing this product. Now it’s attracting interest worldwide and at the same time stabilizing the employment picture at the progressive Weymouth company.

And, under the “now it can be told” category Amero in an interview with the Digby Courier credited in detail how company employee Sidney McCullough came up with the idea.

Field of Vision
Staying with the theme of lauding local folks in business who continually show acute vision and imagination, let’s talk about the new Brooklyn Street Market project just outside of Middleton. Owner Kim Connell owned a prime piece of pasture along Highway 101 for years, and never stopped thinking about how it could be put to more productive use. Well recently he opened the Market location – it’s a celebration of one entrepreneur’s vision, employs 15 people and provides an essential service for regional travellers.

Past as Prologue
Ironically enough, an innovative vision of community can just as easily come from a look backward as a look forward. Kudos to the provincial government’s Department of Tourism, Culture and Heritage for two major announcements made last week – and which impact directly on Annapolis Digby, The Department firstly announced that it intended to honour an important piece of Nova Scotia history by designating a section of Belleisle Marsh as a protected provincial site. The Marsh is located northeast of Annapolis Royal and the designated section contains significant archeological artifacts dating to the earliest French settlement in this area. And Minister Percy Paris and his departmental staff are to be congratulated as well for their announcement that Nova Scotia will be hosting the African Diaspora Heritage Trail Conference next year. Previously the conference had been hosted in venues in the Caribbean and Africa. Given the active and lasting contribution that our African-Canadian community has made to our communal heritage, the hosting of the Conference will undoubtedly involve participation from our community.

Out with Ghosties – Up with Spirits
Well I hope that you had a safe and colourful Hallowe’en last night – and were generous and gushing with praise for the young “trick or treaters” who popped by. But, hey, the season for macabre musings need not be over. I’ve been a frequent visitor to Latin America and a huge devotee of its cultural history. So I’m well aware that today begins the celebration of “dia de la muertos” or “day of the dead”. It’s a particularly big day in Mexico where you can join in events ranging to participation in a family graveyard vigil to chomping down chocolate skulls. If you want to get a literary feel for the “dia”, my recommendation this week is Malcolm Lowry’s classic Under the Volcano. You’ll get the idea of the holiday but – and trust me on this – you won’t feel like having a drink for a while. And just in case you want to get one more shiver Canadian style, have a look at the spooky happenings being reported at Digby’s historic Holdsworth House. (My wife is a direct descendant of the house’s builder and first occupant, James Addington Holdsworth – which I’ve got to admit sort of has me thinking…).

On the other hand there’s a great opportunity to enliven your inner spirits this week. I recommend you check out the Mountain and the Valley Harvest Dinner. It’s an evening to celebrate local food and literature. The menu looks superb – and writer Christy Ann Conlin will read selections from Ernest Buckler’s The Mountain and the Valley as well as from her own bestselling novel Heave. Looks like a great evening – and the just break you’ll want from Lowry.

Till next week;

Peter

Peter MacLellan
Annapolis Digby EDA