|
This morning, a woman was enjoying a stroll along one of our beautiful trails when she was greeted by a friendly black dog trotting up with its tail wagging as if to say, “Hey! You love the trail? Me too, me too!” The dog was on its own. Thankfully, this pup was wearing its Town of Mahone Bay dog tag. The woman gave Town Hall a quick call with the tag number, and within no time, we were able to connect her with the owner and just like that, the four-legged explorer was safely home. Moments like this are exactly why dog tags matter. Dog tags for 2026 are available at Town Hall, and remember it's mandatory to register your dog each year in Mahone Bay. Keeping your dog registered ensures we always have the most recent information to help reunite you quickly if your dog ever wanders off. The best part? Registering is quick, easy, and FREE. Stop by Town Hall to pick up your tag(s), or give us a call or send an email, and we’ll mail them to you. It takes just a few minutes of your time.  It was two years ago that a group of passionate local volunteers came together to form the Communities in Bloom (CiB) team. Since then, the group has made incredible progress in enhancing the beauty and spirit of our town. In CiB 2024, our community earned an impressive four out of five blooms, a testament to the dedication, creativity, and pride of our residents. This year, Mahone Bay will be participating in the Communities in Bloom 2026 Atlantic Edition in the Friends-Evaluated category. It’s an exciting opportunity to build on what we’ve learned and grow even stronger together. Photo: This meeting last year brought together amazing community partners including Mahone Bay’s Signature Festivals, Tourism & Chamber of Commerce, Talking Trees, and the Garden Club to reflect on our inaugural year and explore how we can work together to further beautify our town.  With spring finally here, it’s a great excuse to get outside and help tidy up our community a bit. Whether it’s just you, a few neighbours, or a local group, every little bit helps. The Town has free clean-up kits you can grab, with transparent garbage bags, Earth Day Challenge stickers, and plastic gloves. Fill up your bags, stick on the Earth Day Challenge sticker, and Municipal Shared Services will take care of picking them up with your usual garbage, no sorting needed. It’s a simple way to particiate in the annual Earth Day Challenge while keeping our community beautiful and litter-free.  The Town of Mahone Bay is conducting a sealed bid auction on one piece of surplus equipment that is no longer required. Individuals may bid on the listed equipment in a sealed envelope marked ‘2026 - TOMB Equipment Auction B”, by including their name, address, phone number, interested item, amount of bid and a deposit of $50.00. The sealed envelope can be dropped off or mailed to the Town of Mahone Bay at 493 Main Street, Mahone Bay, NS, B0J -2E0. Bids will be accepted up to 2:00 PM, on Thursday April 21st, 2026. Once a bid has been accepted, the successful bidder will have ten (10) working days to make full payment (including HST) and to remove the item from the Town of Mahone Bay property. Failure to do so will result in the successful bidder forfeiting ownership of the item and the $50.00 deposit. The successful bidder will accept the item “as is”. Surplus equipment may be viewed at 184 Kinburn St, Mahone Bay from April 14th to April 16th, 2026 between the hours of 9:00 AM and 3:00 PM. The Town reserves the right to accept or reject any or all bids deemed in the best interest of the Town of Mahone Bay. *THIS PIECE OF EQUIPMENT HAS A RESERVE PRICE* One Van - Ford E250 - Year 2014 - 2WD - ¾ Ton - 120,825 Kms - 4.6 Liter Engine - Automatic Transmission - MVI has expired  Town Hall will be closed on April 3 and 6 in observance of Good Friday and Easter Monday. To those celebrating, Happy Easter! To everyone, we hope you enjoy a beautiful, spring-like weekend. As the season begins to unfold, we encourage you to get outside and take in the fresh air and natural beauty around you. The magnolia in the Aquatic Garden is beginning to show its fuzzy little buds, hinting at a stunning display of the season’s first blossoms in the weeks ahead.  The Town of Mahone Bay is proud to share continued progress on its Housing Initiative, marking important milestones and strong community involvement in shaping the future of housing. At the corner of Hawthorn and Kinburn, the Town has partnered with the Mahone Bay Community Land Cooperative (MBCLC) to move forward with plans for new housing. Utilizing Housing Accelerator Funding, GEMTEC will complete soil testing to ensure the site is suitable for development. This work supports the Cooperative’s goal of increasing non-market and co-operative housing options in our community. New insights from the Lunenburg County Housing Market Study, prepared by Turner Drake & Partners and funded by the municipalities in the County including the Town, highlight both challenges and opportunities. The study found that Mahone Bay currently has a 0% rental vacancy rate, reinforcing the urgent need for more housing. It also showed that most of the county lacks purpose-built rental buildings, meaning many residents rely on limited secondary housing options. In response, the Town is actively developing a Gentle Density Housing Program. This program will support “missing-middle” housing, including duplexes, townhouses, and secondary suites. These housing types are designed to fit within existing neighbourhoods while increasing housing availability in a way that respects the town’s character. To further encourage development, the Town has waived building and development permit fees for affordable housing projects until 2029, making it easier and more affordable to build new homes. Community voices are playing a key role in this work. Through a recent survey launched on the Town’s civic engagement platform, Get On Board Mahone Bay, residents and stakeholders were invited to help shape a new Pre-Development Grant Program. This program is part of the Town’s commitment under the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s Housing Accelerator Fund. The survey welcomed input from homeowners, property owners, developers, non-profits, and community groups. A total of 34 complete responses were received, with most participants being local homeowners or landowners interested in future development opportunities. Feedback showed strong support for:
These results will directly help shape the design of the Town’s grant program and guide future housing initiatives. The Town of Mahone Bay remains committed to working collaboratively with residents, partners, and organizations to create more housing options and support a healthy, growing community  Something lovely before the long weekend! Local woodworker and designer Arnold London arrived at Town Hall this week with a guitar unlike any other, an instrument shaped not just by skill, but by story. Its body was crafted from a Black Locust tree once rooted on Town property that became structurally unsound, now transformed into something vibrant and alive again. For Arnold, this is more than woodworking. It’s about listening to the material. “Old wood sounds different,” he explained while strumming a few warm chords for us. “It has a different vibration.” And this guitar carries more history than most. Accents from Oak Island bring a touch of local legend. Hemlock, buried underground since 1795. Inside, the guitar’s bracing is made from reclaimed wooden window frames once part of St. James Anglican Church in Mahone Bay, salvaged during renovations and given a second life. It’s a perfect example of sustainability, where reuse isn’t just practical, but deeply creative. Instead of discarding materials tied to local history, Arnold weaves them together into something lasting. He delights in identifying wood species, studying their grain and their quirks, and imagining what they might become. Arnold welcomes visitors to his workshop at 92 Keddy Bridge Road where you’ll find both craftsmanship and conversation waiting. In a world increasingly focused on sustainability, Arnold London offers a simple, but powerful reminder that sometimes the most meaningful way forward is to carry the past with us.  A big thank you to Jenny Sanderson and Mariette Tanner for getting an early start on the spring clean-up in front of Town Hall pruning, raking, and preparing the soil for all the beauty this time of year brings. Jenny continues to be a driving force behind many gardening and landscaping initiatives in our town, and we’re proud to share that she was nominated last year as Mahone Bay’s Provincial Representative Volunteer. We're celebrating the incredible volunteers in our community once again! If you know someone who gives their time, energy, and heart to Mahone Bay, please consider nominating them for this year’s Provincial Representative Volunteer. Last call as the deadline is TODAY, Thursday, April 2. Nomination forms are available on the Town of Mahone Bay website or at Town Hall.  Earth Day is in April, and during the month we’ll be sharing local ideas to help us make better choices, both on our own and together as a community. One exciting example is the Repair Café, which has been a big success in other places. Now it’s coming to our community! Mark your calendar for Saturday, May 2, and start setting aside items that need a little fixing. It’s a great way to give things a second life.  Would you like to acknowledge someone's contribution to our town and community? The Town of Mahone Bay invites the community to nominate an outstanding local volunteer for the 2026 Provincial Representative Volunteer Award. This special award celebrates volunteers from across Nova Scotia who make a big difference in their communities. One volunteer from Mahone Bay will be chosen to represent our town and be honoured at the Provincial Volunteer Awards Ceremony in September 2026. Nominations are open to include residents of Mahone Bay who have not received this award before. All nominees will be recognized during National Volunteer Week (April 19–25). Town Council will review the nominations and select the representative volunteer. If you know someone who gives their time, energy, and heart to our community, please consider nominating them. Nomination forms are available on www.townofmahonebay.ca homepage or at Town Hall. Deadline: 12 p.m., Thursday, April 2, 2026.  |
Archives
May 2026
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed