With the Wolfville Memorial Library operating from a former train station, the idea of building on the locomotive theme made perfect sense when a retired boxcar was offered as a gift to the Town of Wolfville.
Months after the offer was made, a curious crowd gathered as the hefty boxcar was gently lowered by crane onto the orphaned tracks behind the Library on August 25.
Director of Parks and Recreation, Kelton Thomason, worked with multiple partners to coordinate the special delivery that saw a train return to the small stretch of tracks for the first time since the 1990s.
“Everything went smoothly today and now Wolfville has a great new space to inspire creativity,” Thomason said. “It’s a pleasure to share this space with the library.”
Over the months ahead, a performance stage will be built on the boxcar, and the interior will be refreshed. Plans for the exterior panels will be determined by the Wolfville Art in Public Spaces Committee. Short term plans for the newly installed piece of railroad history include storage for the library’s e-bike fleet.
Please email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with questions about our programs or to register students of Wolfville School in grades P-5.
Click Here for pricing and more information about our Afterschool Programs.
The neighbourhood bordered by Prospect, Highland, Hillside, and Fairfield Avenue is about to become a testing ground for a new pilot project using a Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design approach. The pilot responds to increasing complaints of loud parties, garbage, broken bottles, loud mufflers, burn-outs, street fights and public urination.
The purpose of this crime prevention approach is to use built structures and adaptations in the natural environments to deter decisions that precede nuisance or criminal acts. It can also build a sense of community among residents so they can play a part in reducing crime and minimize fear of crime.
The pilot project includes signage and waste stations, with a goal to increase livability for all community members, and reduce RCMP and compliance officer enforcement, in the diversely populated neighbourhood that is home to long-time residents, young families and students.
In conjunction with outreach being done through a Good Neighbours Group, the pilot is designed to nudge behaviour in a positive direction by connecting actions to potential consequences, especially when community members are on the streets.The pilot project’s messaging will normalize community togetherness while also drawing attention to the potential consequences of unwelcome actions.
While this is a preventative campaign, enforcement of Wolfville’s nuisance party by-law will continue when complaints are reported to the RCMP. In the case of the Nuisance Party By-Law, warnings or fines can be issued to occupants, property owners and landlords.
The pilot will run through the month of October and results will be shared with the community once completed. For additional information, please contact Barb Shaw at (902) 679-9124 or through email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Thursday, September 19th, 2021 from 6 - 8pm at Willow Park.
Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to reserve a spot, or sign up upon arrival for 5 minutes on the mic.
Facebook Event: https://fb.me/e/3unS6i3AT
Across Canada, inefficient residential homes are a huge contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. In Wolfville, homeowners looking to reduce their carbon footprint can now leverage zero per cent financing through a new property assessed clean energy (PACE) program called Switch Wolfville.
The program, complete with concierge-inspired energy coaches, will support homeowners with energy assessments, and project planning to help reduce residential greenhouse gas emissions.
Energy-efficient improvements covered by the Switch program include custom solutions like solar panels, heat pumps, insulation, or new windows and doors.
“Wolfville homeowners want to respond to our climate emergency,” Wolfville Mayor Wendy Donovan explained. “The Switch program is an opportunity to create a sustainable future for everyone.”
Homeowners enrolled in Switch Wolfville have 15 years to re-pay their loans, at zero per cent interest, with no penalties for early re-payment. Plus, all the upgrades covered by the Switch program are expected to generate energy savings greater than the monthly payments.
Switch Wolfville operates in partnership with PACE Atlantic CIC, with assistance from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Green Municipal Fund, an endowment created by the Government of Canada.Switch Wolfville, through PACE Atlantic CIC, provides an easy, customer-friendly approach to energy efficiency upgrades, solar panel installation and beneficial electrification making it easier for homeowners to make important upgrades that will move Wolfville towards becoming a low carbon community.
Switch Wolfville is one part of the Town’s response to the climate emergency. Homeowners are asked to visit https://pace-atlantic.org/switch-wolfville/ for additional details on our climate planning process and to connect with a Switch Wolfville program coordinator.
Additional details:
The Switch Wolfville program offers residents a simple path to energy efficiency and renewable projects, such as heat pumps, solar systems, insulation and more. The Switch Wolfville program features an in-house energy concierge who will guide homeowners through the entire upgrade process including home energy assessment, project selection, contractor identification, and loan repayment.
The Switch program will make complicated upgrades simple. Switch participants are offered zero percent financing with no upfront costs. Homeowners can access repayment terms of up to 15 years resulting in household energy savings designed to exceed monthly loan repayments.
With Switch’s flexible financing options, Wolfville residents can accelerate payments or repay their loan in full without penalty. Long term financing to match long term energy savings. Wolfville homeowners may finance projects valued up to $40,000 or 15 per cent of the assessed value of their home. Project loans are secured against property values, not personal credit.
Approval to participate is subject to a review of homeowner property taxes and Municipal utility accounts.
The Switch Wolfville program supports participants in accessing generous rebates and incentives available through Provincial and Federal programs. Homeowners who finance projects through Switch are not excluded from any rebate programs due to Municipal financing.
Switch Wolfville is a part of a collective of maritime municipalities launching residential energy efficiency and renewables programs that includes Charlottetown and Stratford, PEI. Switch Wolfville is carried out with assistance from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Green Municipal Fund, an endowment created by the Government of Canada.
The New Minas Community Clinic at the New Minas Baptist Church will be open to drop-ins from July 30 to August 7.
The clinic is providing the Pfizer vaccine.Anyone age 12+ is welcome to drop-in for their first or second dose.
To receive a second dose, you must have received your first dose at least 28 days earlier.
Please bring your health card.
For more information and a list of other drop-in vaccine clinics visit https://www.nshealth.ca/drop-in-vaccine-clinicsVaccine appointments for these clinics can also be made online at https://www.novascotia.ca/vaccination or by phone at 1-833-797-7772 (call from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., 7 days a week).
A special meeting of Council has been called for Thursday, July 29th at 6:30pm.
The agenda will be posted shortly.
You can watch the meeting live on Facebook and for those who would like to participate in the public input segment, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Get your tickets!
Cost is by donation, no minimum $ amount required!
Now available at:
the Wolfville Visitor Information Centre (in Willow Park) Wed-Sat 10am-6pm,
as well as at Town Hall Mon-Fri 8:30am-4:30pm.
During Mud Creek Days, Terra Spencer and the Class of 1971 celebrate a Golden Year of Music.
Want to reserve tickets, but can't get to Wolfville? email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
More info at mudcreekdays.ca
The Muddiest Festival in the Valley is Back!
Register your team for the Annual Mud Challenge now!
Click Here to check out the full schedule.
Tickets for the Saturday night concert with Terra Spencer and the Class of 1971 can be purchased at Wolfville Town Hall during business hours.
Price is "Pay What You Can" (by donation to the Mudley Fund).
Only 250 tickets available! Purchases may be limited to 5 per person.
Today's scheduled Summer Concert Series performance at Waterfront Park by Jack MacDonald has been postponed due to weather. This will be rescheduled for a later date.
We're sorry to say that the first Free Yoga in the Park class, scheduled for this morning (Sun.Jul.4th) has been cancelled due to the weather.
See you next Sunday!
Over the past week I have received emails asking the Town to cancel Canada Day. I have struggled with exactly what to say but simply put, Canada Day, in Wolfville, will be a time for reflection.
This is a time for opening our hearts and minds to information that is difficult to accept - but accept we must.
Like many, I am still learning about the true nature of residential schools.As the daughter of an Irish Catholic father whose life was awash in poverty before he came to Canada, I grew up feeling fortunate to have been born in this Country, at this time. I learned about the history of Canada as “two solitudes” – the English and the French, with little knowledge of First Nations other than the fleeting glimpses in my history books of interactions with explorers and fur traders.
Several years ago, at a regional Rotary event I took part in a Blanket Exercise, and for the first time, I began to grasp the dark history of my Country.
As Canadians, we are a people who want to be better.With blinders removed, we can now stare down our past, right the wrongs, and forge a different future founded on a clear-eyed knowledge of the past and have hope for our future.
In Wolfville, Canada Day 2021 will be different.
It will be quieter than previous years.In part, due to the ongoing pandemic, in part out of awareness and respect.
This should be a day to reflect and recommit to a vision of a Country, for all people and cultures – a true mosaic.
This is also a time to be hopeful and to reflect on the positive things we have done as a Country and a community, confirmation that we can do better than our past might suggest.Wolfville – residents of the Town, members of area churches, members of service clubs, local businesses - gave of themselves and their resources to support the resettlement of several dozen Syrian Refugees.
Our Town is an active member of the Kings Diversity Committee, seeking ways to better understand all people in our community and ensuring that our policies and approaches do not exclude people of colour or expression.Wolfville undertook the province’s first Accessibility Study and now uses the accessibility lens in all infrastructure, program, and service initiatives.
We gleefully celebrate the queer community.
We have a council with a female mayor, five female councillors and a councillor who is openly and unabashedly gay – who received the most votes last October.
I do not believe any of these things would have happened in the year I was born. In my lifetime, we have become a more caring, more responsive, more inclusive Country.
Of all the memes and posts that have found expression on social media this week, the one that most touched me was a comment from Chief Cadmus Delorme of the Cowessess First Nation.
“All we ask of all of you listening is that you stand by us as we heal and we get stronger and that we all must put down our ignorance and accidental racism of not addressing the truth that this country has with Indigenous people,” Chief Delorme said. “We are not asking for pity, but we are asking for understanding. We need time to heal, and this country must stand by us.”
This Canada Day is a time for reflection, opening our hearts and minds to information that is difficult to accept, but accept we must. We offer support and new understanding.This new understanding is how we commit to being the best Country and people that we can be, and how we commit to becoming the mosaic to which we aspire.
Mayor Wendy Donovan
