🗞️ Scaf-folding local business

Let’s go girls! 👢

A true Halifax icon was captured on camera at this weekend’s Mooseheads game singing Shania Twain’s classic “Man, I feel like a woman!” and her performance has gone viral—even eliciting a shout-out from the queen herself.

Behold…

It made me sad to read that she was so worried that lady trolls would come for her when the video went viral—”I was worried I would be ridiculed”—a feeling I could, unfortunately, totally relate to. But turns out she had no reason to worry because she was pleasantly surprised by all the positivity she got from other women.

She said it’s “rare for women to uplift each other,” but I guess we can now all agree that the healing power of 🎵 men’s shirts, short skirts 🎵 transcends hateful Karens. 

I love this for her and would like to formally nominate her for Mayor.

Have a great day!

– Julie

📷 @editorjulesl

🌡️ Traffic & Weather

Today: 🌤️ 11°

Tomorrow: 🌤️ 9°

Next Day: 🌨️ 4°

7-day forecast

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

NEWS

 Obladee, Ob-la-da, life may not go on for beloved downtown wine bar

Obladee Wine Bar is barely visible through the jungle of scaffolding. If potential patrons are making a decision based on curb appeal, they would most likely veer away from it, if they noticed it at all.

The scaffolding has been in place since July 2023 when HRM issued an order to immediately fix the building’s facade as it constituted a hazard to the public. Fast-forward 21 months and Heather and Christian Rankin—the brother and sister team who own Obladee—have still not been given a start or finish date for the work.

Obladee has lost two patio seasons worth of revenue and it's looking at losing a third if this is not resolved in the next couple of months.

“We are losing business every single day. If you look at social media comments, people think we’re closed; you can’t even tell that there is a business operating right now. It’s not viable going forward unless we fix this,” says Rankin.

The Coast’s Julie Lawrence spoke to Christian Rankin about the deadline they have asked HRM to commit to in order to protect their upcoming patio season and keep the business afloat.

🤔 Need To Know

🇨🇦 As the federal parties hit the campaign trail, a new poll finds this election will likely be a two-horse race between the Liberals and Conservatives—four in 10 Canadians are prepared to cast their ballots for the Liberals while the Conservatives have the support of 37% of decided voters.

👁️‍🗨️ Some residents of a Halifax-area neighbourhood that was evacuated during a dangerous wildfire two years ago say proposed emergency exits won't make everyone safer and will still leave some people trapped.

🛍️ Canada’s oldest company began liquidating most of its stores on Monday morning—Hudson’s Bay’s Mic Mall Mall location will be selling all of their inventory.

🌷 Spring has sprung in Downtown Halifax! As the days get brighter and the weather warmer, here are 5 things to look forward to this spring.*

*Sponsored Post

SPONSORED BY FEED NOVA SCOTIA

Make like a banana and split!

Want to split with Feed Nova Scotia? Grab your tickets today!

When you buy a 50/50 ticket, you’re helping the thousands of Nova Scotians relying on food banks, meal programs, and shelters every day, while also supporting Feed Nova Scotia’s advocacy for solutions to the root causes of food insecurity.

EDUCATION

School workers’ new deal includes wins for wages, school safety

Over 5,000 education workers in Nova Scotia have signed a new two-year deal with the province after nearly a year of bargaining. 

In a member update Sunday night, council members representing eight CUPE local unions through bargaining said they were “proud of what we have achieved” and that getting this deal “showed us what we can do when we work together.”

The new contract includes key wins the union has been pushing for across the province, like wage increases and meaningful responses to school safety. 

The Coast’s Lauren Phillips outlines what we know about the two-year deal so far.

🗞️ In Other News

🫖 Halifax Water has released its final report on a significant boil-water advisory in January which impacted more than 200,000 people in the Halifax area.

📰 Seven months after the sale of Atlantic Canada's largest media company to Toronto-based Postmedia, there are still some loose ends—namely, the buildings that used to house the newspapers that were part of the Saltwire Network.

✈️ Haligonians now have another non-stop service to Europe—WestJet will be offering direct flights from Halifax to the Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport in Spain starting this summer.

🇺🇸 This week, Halifax city council is expected to take a closer look at options for reducing reliance on American businesses, goods and services amid the ongoing tariff war.

🔥 A new online tool is now available to help residents check daily burn restrictions in HRM—the tool is specific to your civic address and provides quick visual access to the burn status in the municipality.

🚒 A long-time volunteer firefighter battling cancer says he won’t receive compensation—Bruce Masales falls into a coverage gap between Workers' Compensation Board of Nova Scotia and the Halifax municipality's former insurance policy.

SPONSORED BY HALIFAX BURGER BASH

Burgers, Beer & the Best Time of the Year!

It’s back! The Coast’s Halifax Burger Bash presented with Garrison Brewing is serving up 10 days of epic burger creations across the city from April 3-12. With 150+ burgers to try, the only question is—where are you starting? Grab your crew and start your Burger Bash journey! 🍔➡ www.burgerbash.ca

🗓️ Things To Do

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

🗓 Beethoven & Daniel Bolshoy's Guitar: Daniel Bolshoy returns to join forces with Symphony Nova Scotia for two virtuoso guitar showpieces. An Israeli-Canadian guitarist and educator, he has performed as a soloist with more than 60 orchestras internationally. Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 is a delightful departure from his early works, with its cheerful and energetic mood that is sure to lift your spirits. | March 27 | 7:30pm | From $31 |

🗓 What's Up! Improv Show: What's Up! will pitch their next great film—without a script, without limits and with absolutely no idea what’s coming next! Each film pitch is completely made up on the spot, with outrageous plots and scenes that could only exist in the realm of improv. | March 27 | 7:30pm | $15 |

🗓 Health and Wellness Expo: This fabulous mini market will showcase 20 incredible local health and wellness businesses, all focused on promoting self-care, relaxation, and overall well-being. A portion of proceeds will be donated to the Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia. | March 29-30 | Free |

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

⚓️ What’s In The Harbour

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

🚢➡️ The MSC Eleni container ship arrives in Halifax from Valencia, Spain at 6:15am and leaves for Montreal at 11pm.

🚢 The Contship Cup container ship arrives in Halifax from New York at 3:20pm.

➡️ The Tarifa vehicle carrier leaves Halifax for New York at 3:30pm.

🚢➡️ The CSL Tacoma container ship arrives in Halifax from Burlington at 8:21pm and leaves for Wilmington, NC at 11pm.

🍴 Where To Eat & Drink

🐟 The Pan Fried Haddock from 2 Doors Down is comfort food at its finest: buttered mashed potatoes, line-caught haddock, Tidal Bay beurre blanc, market vegetables, mustard pickle.

🍓 Satisfy your sweet tooth with the new Strawberry Coconut Croissant from Total Donut Solutions: flaky croissant filled with strawberry coconut custard and topped with a crunchy layer of sweet shredded coconut.

👀 In Case You Missed It

🎭 Turning 27 can be a cursed year for great creative people, but Halifax-based Theatre Company Zuppa Circus hopes to sail through the milestone without joining the ominous and infamous 27 Club. The Coast’s Julie Lawrence caught up with three members on a Zoom call, and they seemed healthy and happy. Their beards may be greyer, but otherwise, they show no tell-tale signs of imminent demise.  But 27 years is a long time for anyone to stay in business, let alone continue to be inspired to create work that inspires. Whether ‘cursed’ or ‘milestone,’ birthdays are a great time for reflection of how far they’ve come, what’s changed and where they plan to go. So let’s do it.

That’s it!

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