Cape Day draws visitors from afar
People are ferried off the Cape Ledge back to The Hawk on Cape Sable Island after spending the day on the offshore gem. Shelburne County artist Lio Lo (right) and her student Gail Daniels spend their time painting while waiting for a boat ride back to The Hawk after a day trip to the tiny island of Cape Sable. People look through a photo album of history as Locke Smith (right) tells stories about his time growing up on Cape Sable. His father and grandfather were both lightkeepers on the island. The family owns one of two small cottages on the island.
A day trip to Nova Scotia’s tallest lighthouse brought visitors from far and wide to make the short voyage to Cape Sable, a tiny spit of an island just off the Cape Sable Island coastline on Saturday.
More than 500 people from as far away as Australia, Germany, Switzerland and the U.S. made the trek to spend the day roaming the island, where local artists were set up with their easels, painting the raw natural landscapes and seascapes surrounding them. The weather was perfect.
About 25 volunteers took part in staging the event, from operating the water taxis, to barbecuing hot dogs on the beach and at Aunt Lottie’s hotel; one of two small cottages on the island. The other cottage is owned by the Smith family, former lightkeepers of the Cape Sable Light. There, Locke Smith provided a photo album full of island history from the days when his father, the late Sid Smith, tended the light.
Cape Day is an annual fundraiser for the Friends of the Cape Light, who are hoping to make further improvements to the interpretive signage, floating docks and other visitor friendly amenities they have installed such as port-a-potties, picnic table and benches. Saylor Perry runs along the ocean’s edge on during Cape Day 2018. The Cape Sable Lighthouse towers over Lower Clark’s Harbour artist Kal Brown as she works on a painting during Cape Day 2018.