DEANS opening Pictou visitor information centre in June

It will be businesses as usual for tourists looking for information in Pictou this summer.

Destination Northumberland and Eastern Shores is planning to open its visitor information centre near the Pictou roundabout in early June.

“The Northumberland Shore VIC will open June 5 full-time,“said Cindy MacKinnon of DEANS.

“We didn’t get all of the summer students we had wanted, so we will be accessing volunteers again this year.”

The VIC usually stays open until Thanksgiving weekend, but that depends on tourist numbers. She said some local vendors will be on site as well as some souvenirs for Canada 150.

The VIC at exit 21 will open about a week after the Pictou location and remain open until Labour Day weekend.

The opening of the VIC in Pictou was questionable because the province was looking at selling the building. The government owns it and operated it as a provincial VIC up until two years ago, agreeing to let DEANS run it for the past two years.

The province announced this year it was looking for a buyer for the building and the Town of Pictou had put in a bid, but because of the recently announced provincial election, there hasn’t been much movement on a possible sale.

MacKinnon said the province has agreed to let DEANS use the building again this year to operate it as a VIC.

Anyone interested in volunteering with the VIC can contact DEANS.