Where the Whistle Blows
Coal Dust Days festival brings families and friends together
Jeremy Fraser says nothing says summertime in New Waterford like Coal Dust Days.
What makes summer in Cape Breton special? Is it the beautiful sunrises and sunsets over the ocean and lakes? Is it the long drives and adventures with friends? Or is it the endless amount of festivals and events across the island?
I think we can all agree it’s all of the above. But in New Waterford, nothing says summertime like the annual Coal Dust Days festival, a 10-day event that takes place each year in July.
The Coal Dust Days festival is a pillar in New Waterford and surrounding community. Not only do the events bring the community together, they draw former residents back home for the festivities. Many book their vacation time specifically around the festival.
Coal Dust Days started in 1983 as a way for New Waterford to celebrate the town’s 70 anniversary.
After having great success with events in ‘83, the late New Waterford Mayor Jerry Marsh called upon community volunteers to form a committee that would be responsible for developing another summer festival, which would be known as “Coal Dust Days.” The title reflects the importance of the coal mining industry in the town. “King Coal” was selected as the festival mascot and to this day remains the face of the festival.
In 1984, the first-ever Coal Dust Days committee was formed when Marsh approached the late Clare Larade to form the committee. Founding members of the festival included Larade, Jim MacKinnon, Donnie Blackwood, Tom Cummings and Mike Feukes. The following year, town council made the decision to add recreation director, the late Gary McDonald, to the committee, which started a long relationship with the municipal recreation department.
What makes the Coal Dust Days special is that the festival has events for residents of all ages. Whether it be children participating in the annual doll carriage and bicycle parade, family and friends walking together in the Kaye MacSween Memorial Walk and Talk the Loop event, or people playing in tarabish, cards or dart tournaments, there is fun for one and all and it provides residents with a chance to socialize.
As a person who has grown up with Coal Dust Days and has covered many of the events as a reporter over the past nine years of my career, I’ve truly seen many different aspects of how important the Coal Dust Days festival is to the New Waterford community. Seeing the smiles on the faces of residents, seeing family members who may not have seen each other in a while because work forces them to leave, spending time and having fun, it’s a priceless feeling and these are moments you can’t take away from those people.
This year’s Coal Dust Days festival will take place July 1423. The event schedule was not released at press time, but organizers are currently working on it and expect to have the brochures in the community in the coming weeks.
Often times we take things for granted, maybe by choice or maybe not even realizing it. I think it’s only right that we, the community, recognize the founding members of Coal Dust Days, listed above, because if it wasn’t for them who knows if we would have a festival in our community today. It was their drive, dedication and hard work that has led Coal Dust Days to be successful and something we all should not take for granted.
Among thanking those founding members, I want to also recognize Jim MacKinnon of New Waterford. Jim was also a founding member of the festival and the 78-yearold continues to put his time and effort into it. He is the only active founding member still on the committee to this day as some of the members have since passed away. We also thank this year’s committee for continuing to move the festival forward.
With that, we as a community are extremely lucky to have a festival that brings family and friends together for 10 days every July to celebrate a week of fun, excitement and memories that will last for years to come.
This year’s festival, which marks its 34th anniversary, is less than a month away and planning is well underway. As a community, let’s make this year’s celebration the most attended festival to date. I encourage residents to attend as many events as possible.
For more information on the Coal Dust Days Festival, phone the office at 902-862-4710 or email dayscoaldust@gmail.com.
You can also visit the festival website at www.coaldustdays.ca or the Facebook page by searching New Waterford Coal Dust Days.