Looking back at Digby County history

From 1960

Fire completely levelled the huge barn at the Digby Municipal Home in Marshalltown. The blaze quickly swept through the hay-filled barn and for a while flames threatened the municipal home itself. Thirty people lived in the home – many of them aged, the Digby Courier noted – and they were ready to be removed from the facility if necessary. The cause of the fire was not known. Workers at the home were able to save some of the stock housed in the barn, but a number of pigs and poultry were burned. A large group of volunteers helped firefighters battle the blaze and they also were there to assist if it became necessary to evacuate the municipal home, al- though it turned out this was not needed. Equipment from the forest protection service also was used to help keep the fire from spreading.

Hundreds were expected to gather at Collège Sainte-Anne in Church Point for an upcoming Acadian convention. It was the first convention to be organized by the National Acadian Congress. Church Point had been chosen to host it because it was a cultural hub for the Acadian people, according to a story in the Courier. Scheduled for the second weekend of August, the event would coincide with Clare’s annual Acadian festival. A number of sessions were planned to consider different topics pertaining to the Acadian people, including patriotism, the economy and culture.

Visitors to the Digby area in the summer of 1960 included Richard B. Wigglesworth, at the time the American ambassador to Canada. He and his wife arrived in Digby on the Princess Helene ferry and were welcomed by Victor Cardoza, Digby’s mayor and MLA, and by Lt. John Walker of the United States Navy, who was stationed at Cornwallis under an exchange program between the Canadian and U.S. navies.

An event billed as a Planters’ pageant was to be held Aug. 3 at Digby Regional High School. Sponsored by the Digby Kiwanis Club, the event would include a concert by the HMCS Cornwallis band, vocal selections by Jean Marshall, as well as performances by majorettes and by a magician. This was part of a series of events being held in the Annapolis Valley region marking the bicentennial of the arrival of the Planters from New England.

A new course record had been set on the Digby Pines golf course, where Donald Fleet, a member of the Digby Golf Club, finished four under for the par-71 course. Fleet scored birdies on the first, ninth, 10th, 16th and 18th holes, got a bogey on 13 and parred the rest. Meanwhile, in another golf item from the Digby Pines, Donald E. Butler of Digby had recorded the course’s first hole-in-one of the season by acing the course’s 130-yard 16th hole.

From 1971

A ceremony was held on Digby’s Natal Day recognizing Dr. John R. McCleave as citizen of the year. A physician and surgeon and a community leader for over 40 years, Dr. McCleave was honoured on a sunny, late-July day as part of a celebration that featured a variety of activities. Among those who paid tribute to Dr. McCleave were Gerald Regan, Nova Scotia’s premier at the time, and John Buchanan, the P.C. and opposition leader, as well as local MLA Joe Casey. The day’s activities included a parade, music and fireworks. Firefighters were called when an Acadian Lines bus travelling from Yarmouth to Halifax arrived in Little Brook with smoke coming from the vehicle. The Little Brook fire department responded and soon extinguished the fire. Eight passengers were aboard the bus at the time and there were no reports of injuries. Another bus was brought in to take them on the rest of their journey. There was no word as to the cause of the fire or whether it caused much damage to the bus.

An official opening was held for a new tourism bureau in Digby. Located about a mile-and-a-half from the new Digby ferry terminal, the modern wooden-and-stone building replaced a 25-year-old wooden structure in downtown Digby. The new facility had a larger information and reception area than the old one. A. Garnet Brown, newly appointed tourism minister of Nova Scotia, was on hand to officially open the new bureau.