Monday marks Heritage Day in Nova Scotia, and many businesses will be closed for the long weekend.
This year’s Heritage Day honouree is the landscape of the Grand-Pré World Heritage Site, which marks its 10th anniversary as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The area, located in the southern Minas Basin, was a former Acadian settlement and consists of important cultural and archaeological sites today.
Most other provinces, including New Brunswick, mark the February long weekend as Family Day.
In Nova Scotia, however, the statutory holiday honours “remarkable people and places that have contributed to the province’s history.”
A virtual ceremony will be held Monday at 10 a.m. to mark the holiday. More celebrations to mark the UNESCO site’s anniversary will be held this summer.
Here’s a list of closures in the Halifax region this long weekend:
Groceries, retail
The major grocery stores, including Atlantic Superstore and Sobeys, will be closed.
As well, all malls will be closed.
While NSLC stores will be closed, private liquor stores and breweries will remain open.
Transit
Halifax Transit buses will be operating on holiday schedules on Monday.
The Alderney Ferry will run every half hour beginning at 7:30 a.m. on the Alderney Landing side, with the final crossing from Halifax at 11:45 p.m.
For those driving, on-street parking will be free.
Municipal services, recreation
There will be no garbage, organics or recyclables collection services on Monday.
The Otter Lake Waste Management Facility and Municipal Recycling Plant will also be closed.
Many recreation facilities will be closed and residents are asked to call the facility for their operating hours. However, Sackville Sports Stadium will be open regular hours on Monday and the Emera Oval will be open for pending weather and ice conditions.
Museums
Several museums will not only be open on Monday, but will offer free admission, to mark the holiday.
The Museum of Natural History will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., free of charge, and include a display of paintings depicting scenes of pre-expulsion Acadian life.
The Museum of Industry is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., free of charge, and includes a display on how the Acadians turned salt marshes into fertile meadows, as well as an art challenge aimed at “reinventing the iconic Acadian heroine, Evangeline.”
The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic and Ross Farm Museum will both also be open.