Digby Scallop Days
The Digby Scallop Days was started back in 1975. The Digby Scallop fleet is world known for the delicious sweet scallops they harvest every year from the Bay of Fundy and area. They wanted a celebration to celebrate this good fortune, so the Scallop Days festival was started. But even earlier than that Digby use to have another festival held in early August. In 1911 the Mayor of Digby, Harry Short; the editor of the Digby Courier, O. S. Dunham and Captain Howard Anderson, the Superintendant of Maritime Fish Corporation's Digby Plant got together and organized the first Digby Fishermen's Regatta. For the Regatta they held canoe and boat races and sport events. The third Regatta was held on August 19, 1913 and both Water Street and Montague Row were all decorated with flags, banners and bunting. Sirens, bells and even fog horns all were going off adding to the celebrations. People came from as far away as Yarmouth and Middleton, and travelled by train, car, boat and even walked to partake in the festivities. There were also over 100 guides who pitched tents on Battery Point to take part in the Nova Scotia Guides Association competitions. The day started with a 3 hour motorized fishing boat race from Tiverton to Digby. Other activities included dory races; power boat competitions for speed and noise; log burling; single & double canoe races; tub races; canoe filling and canoe rescue. Land events included fly casting, distance and accuracy; rifle & trap shooting, log chopping, kettle boiling, moose calling and story telling. It was a great time, just like today's Digby Scallop Days is full of interesting events.
Scallops are marine Mollusks (phylum Mollusca) from the class Pelecypoda and family Pectindae. They are bivalves with two hard shells, (or valves) and a soft body. The shells are opened and closed by a single large muscle, the adductor muscle. This muscle is the meat of the scallop and the only part that is eaten. There are many species of scallops, but the ones harvested by the Digby scallop fleet are sea scallops. These sea scallops are only found in the northwest Atlantic Ocean from Cape Hatteras north to Labrador. the sea scallops are found in groups, or beds. The larger beds are found off-shore and in the Bay of Fundy along the Nova Scotia coast. The Digby beds have been thought to be self sustaining since the 1920's and until recently most of the harvest has come from the inshore areas. Digby fishermen J.W. Hayden, Roland Wormell and Arch Amero were the first ones to harvest the Digby scallops in the 1920's. Back then they fished from a 36' sloop. Today there are 99 licensed scallop fishermen in this area and they fish out of 45' to 65' vessels. The sweet meat from these sea scallops are sought after world wide and has become a large industry.
Now you have learned a little of the history of the festival and the industry, lets hear about the festival. The Digby Scallop Days are usually held during the first week of August from Thursday to Sunday. Recently I see some events have been scheduled for Wednesday evening also. It is a busy four days with plenty going on for the whole family to enjoy. A few years ago the committee started bringing in buskers to perform at different locations throughout the weekend. This has gone over very well and each year sees more and more buskers coming aboard. I have noticed the schedule of events has changed over the last few years, so then rather try to give you timings and days I am just going to list the types of events that usually go on. You will have to check for updated schedule of events which are available in the local papers or at the Information Centers.
That is quite a list of events. Some of them sound like a lot of fun don't they, especially to watch. As I mentioned above there are several areas set up during the Scallop Days for the Buskers to perform their crafts. Just some of the Busker Arts you will have a chance to see will be Jugglers; Contortionists; Fire Eaters; Hoola Hoop Artist; Dancers; Unicycle Queen; Gymnasts; Basketball Juggler; and Balloon Artist. So if you are in the area during the first week of August make sure you stop into Digby and take part in the Digby Scallop Days activities.
Link from Digby Scallop Days Page to Annapolis Festivals Page
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