🗞️ Your Guide to KANA’TA: Canada Day 2024

Hi Halifax,

Yesterday I got stuck in traffic trying to get home from Costco in rush hour—which, ok, dumb—but also, I thought if I was coming INTO the city, it wouldn’t be that bad. But it actually was that bad and it took me like 50 minutes to just turn left off Connaught onto Jubilee (if you know you know). And throughout that time, I just got more frustrated and wanted to be home so bad to watch soccer.

But now I feel silly about the whole thing because two astronauts aboard the Starliner spacecraft—Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams— are literally stuck in space right now after their return home was delayed. For. The. Fourth. Time.

And prepare yourself to not be shocked at all, but Boeing is smack dab in the middle of this mess. They announced that the Starliner’s departure date would be delayed until next week at the earliest so that engineers can work to resolve a long list of issues experienced since its liftoff on June 5.

I’ve never been one to subscribe to the cult of toxic positivity, but the next time you're stuck in traffic and you’re all “stupid construction, I just want to be home already”, I invite you to be happy you aren’t just hanging out in space for weeks waiting for your broken spaceship to be fixed…by Boeing.

Hope your day is out of this world! 🚀

– Julie

🌡️ Traffic & Weather

Today: ☀️ 26°

Tomorrow: 🌧️ 22°

Next Day: ☀️ 21°

7-day forecast

🚗 Driving, biking or busing today? Check out the current traffic conditions and ongoing road closures.

💨 Here is Halifax’s Air Quality Index and the smoke report.

HAPPENINGS

Your Guide to KANA’TA: Canada Day 2024

Canada’s birthday is right around the corner and this year, the celebrations are going to look a little different by design. 

According to HRM, this year’s Canada Day program was developed in close collaboration with Indigenous communities and is bursting with programming that honours the traditions of the Mi’kmaw Nation and celebrates pan-Indigenous communities that call the municipality home.

KANA’TA: Canada Day 2024 will include the Mawio’mi on the Halifax Waterfront, a Dartmouth Festival Series free concert, a multi-stage experience on the Halifax Waterfront featuring multiple genres of music and to cap it off as usual, the fireworks show at night.

The Coast has you covered with the full schedule of Canada Day events in Halifax.

🤔 Need To Know

💙 With still six months remaining in the year, the Halifax YWCA says it has already drained nearly all of its fund for helping domestic violence survivors fleeing abuse as it fields 30 calls for help a day.

🗣️ The Halifax Regional Municipality is inviting residents to share their ideas and vision on the future of the Young District.*

*Sponsored Post

SPONSORED BY ART GALLERY OF NOVA SCOTIA

Denyse Thomasos: just beyond at the AGNS

On view at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia Denyse Thomasos: just beyond is a career retrospective that brings together more than 70 works, many rarely seen, to show how she challenged the limits of abstract painting. 

The late Trinidadian-Canadian artist left an indelible, yet frequently overlooked, mark on contemporary painting.

Through pattern, scale, and repetition, Thomasos infused personal and political content onto her canvases, often conveying vastness of events such as the transatlantic slave trade.

Plan your visit to the AGNS today to experience this incredible exhibition.

Organized by the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto and the Remai Modern, Saskatoon.

PODCAST

HFX Votes 2024: How to fix Halifax Transit

In part two of the Halifax Votes Transit episode, The Coast’s Matt Stickland sits down with Reece Martin of RM Transit to help explain some of the choices Halifax Transit is making.

For example, in yesterday's episode, It's More Than Buses' Douglas Wetmore proposed that Halifax Transit would be better served by switching to a headway bus service instead of a scheduled one. Martin explains why a transit service would want to use headway, and also what a headway is.

For everything you ever needed to know about transit for the upcoming municipal election, here's HFX Votes 2024: How to fix Halifax Transit.

🗞️ In Other News

🛕 Halifax will be home to the first-ever South India-style Hindu temple in Atlantic Canada. The temple’s grand opening is set for October, when idols of the Hindu deities will arrive from India.

🏠 Outreach workers say 2SLGBTQ+ youth are disproportionately affected by homelessness across the province.

🛶 Dartmouth-based sprint canoe/kayakers—Riley Melanson and Connor Fitzpatrick—will be competing in the 2024 Paris Olympics in just over a month.

🍷 The NSLC’s sales went up nearly 2% in the last fiscal year, netting $874.5M.

🚒 A weekend house fire in Bedford has left a neighbourhood shaken and is raising concerns about HRM’s population growth and how it affects firefighter’s response times.

⛴️ The union representing Halifax Transit workers is calling on HRM to hire relief deckhands, mates and captains for its ferry service—which has been repeatedly cancelled in recent months due to limited staff.

🌿 A six-year analysis of more than 10K Canadian drivers involved in motor vehicle collisions suggests cannabis has edged out alcohol as the most common impairing substance detected through after-crash blood testing.

💰 A group of migrant workers from Mexico have been awarded a total of more than $23K in lost compensation from Ocean Pride Fisheries Ltd.—a seafood company based in southwest Nova Scotia.

🗓️ Things To Do

Looking for something to do this week? Check out these Coast picks:

🗓 Harbourside Ribfest: Back for its ninth year, this is the biggest food event of the summer and the the largest 100% volunteer-run event hosted by Rotary Halifax Harbour. Proceeds from sponsorship, vendor fees, bar sales, and entry fees support local and international causes. The event will host five unique rib trucks, exciting local vendors and live entertainment. | June 28-July 1 | $2 to enter

🗓 Summer Blast-Off at the Discovery Centre: Get ready for a weekend of scientific fun and adventure, including wild and wonderful science shows, gigantic bubble blowing and Hal-Con superstars. Plus, gear up for the newest immersive HOCKEY experience! | June 29-30 | $14.50

🗓 2024 Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo: We’re always searching for new adventures, and in that stretch of air where the sky meets the Earth and the sea, we find new HORIZONS. The Tattoo celebrates 100 years of the Royal Canadian Air Force, recognizes the innovation of those bold enough to touch the horizon, and continues to highlight the vital work of the Canadian Armed Forces. | June 28-July 1 | 7pm | $23

🗓 HOT TO GO - A Chappell Roan Drag Show: Hosted by Colin Sick and Hannibal Lickeder at the Grafton Street Dinner, this epic night of drag features stellar performances by G-Spott, Clarke Kunt, Randi E. Rogenous, and burlesque baddie Elle Lixir! | June 28 | 8pm | $17.31

🗓 Dartmouth Festival Series - Desi Summer Music Fest: An evening celebrating Desi Bollywood, Folk, Middle Eastern, Hollywood & EDM. | June 29 | 6pm | Free

Have an event to share? Let us know at [email protected].

⚓️ What’s In The Harbour

➡️ The One Monaco container ship leaves Halifax for New York at 5am.

🛳️➡️ The Viking Star cruise ship arrives in Halifax at 9am and leaves for Canadian seas at 5pm.

🛳️➡️ The Atlantic Star container ship arrives in Halifax from Liverpool at 5:20am and leaves for New York at 5pm.

➡️ The Pyxis Theta oil tanker leaves Halifax for Antwerp at 6pm.

🍴 Where To Eat & Drink

🥧 Tarts and Torts and Cakes, oh my! Sample the menu of homemade desserts at The Black Sheep, including rum cake, banoffee tart and lemon poppyseed layered cake.

🍻 This Saturday is ULTRA CHEAP BEER DAY at Good Robot on Robie. It literally doesn’t get any cheaper than this, so bring lots of friends.

👀 In Case You Missed It

🎧 NEW EPISODE - Grand Parade Podcast : In this edition of HFX Votes 2024, The Coast's special municipal election coverage, Matt sits down with Douglas Wetmore of It's More than Buses. In part one of a two-part series Matt finds out what exactly is going wrong with Halifax's beleaguered bus system. Wetmore explains the issues facing transit, some of the issues created by Halifax Transit, and some potential fixes. It's everything you need to know about why your bus is late. Listen to the latest episode now.

🪄 There once lived a man in Truro who worked as a red cap at the train station. While he may have been unassuming to most, if he encountered the right passenger, this man would suddenly become a never-ending box of tricks. This man’s name was Isaac Willis. In a past life, he was known as the Great Boomsky—and as magic historian Margaret Steele puts it in her new book, he was magic’s first Black superstar. The Coast’s Brendyn Creamer talks with Steele about uncovering the hidden history of the Great Boomsky.

That’s it!

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