Warm weather and big crowds

Thousands attend weekend activities in Annapolis Valley

Mother Nature shone down on the Annapolis Valley

Apple Blossom Festival on May 27.

An estimated 20,000 people attended the grand street parade that started in New Minas and ended in Kentville.

“Good weather makes for a great day all around. You can plan as best as possible but if it rains that really spoils things,” president Logan Morse said. “When people are smiling and having fun because it’s really warm, it makes it so much easier because people are glad to be here.”

The mercury hit 22 C by the time the last of the 80 entries completed the 3.5-kilometre parade route around 3 p.m., two hours after it began.

Florence and Dougald

Wile left their West Clifford, Lunenburg County, home around 6:30 a.m. for the nearly two-hour trek to Kentville. They were set up by 9 a.m. near the Kentville fire hall awaiting the 10 a.m. children’s parade and the grand street parade.

“We think it’s just one of the most unique parades that there is,” Florence said. “We love the children’s parade and the other parade, it just amazes me how beautiful those floats are.”

They start checking on the date for the festival about two months out and make plans to come to the Valley.

The Wiles have been watching the parade from the same spot for about five years.

“There used to be a bandstand there and they all stopped to perform for them so you could get the best music right here,” Dougald explained.

While the bandstand is no

longer there, the couple still enjoys the view and keeps coming back early to ensure they get their spot. They’re committed to the Apple Blossom Festival.

“Oh, yes, rain or shine,” Florence said with a smile.

Morse said he hears many stories about return visitors and newcomers checking out

the festival. On May 25, he heard of a couple from Ottawa visiting for the first time.

“They’re apple farmers. They’ve heard for years about it, and they wanted to come.”

On May 27, he talked on the phone to New Brunswickers as they headed into town for the festival. Morse said previous surveys showed upwards of 30 to 40 per cent of

festivalgoers were from outside the Annapolis Valley.

“The vast majority of those people, who aren’t from the Valley, stay more than a day,” he said, noting it helps drive the local economy. An economic impact study for the six-day festival done in the past showed it generated about $3.5 million for the local economy, Morse said.