Calgary Stampede is covered well. Montreal ice parties are different. Nova Scotia’s Halifax casino, jazz festival, dinner theaters , the Liquor Dome, the Shore Club and the Hopping Penguins deserve a special mention.

Summer in Halifax and Nova Scotia is party time. There are music festivals, buskers on the street, open air markets, outdoor theaters, multicultural events, live bands, BBQs, outdoor food expos, tall ships, films, poetry, word on the street, walking tours, local tasting tours, whale watching and so much more. It’s all nicely low key; not many big productions except for the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Sir Paul McCartney and other big names that come to town each summer.

Nova Scotia

The Halifax Jazz Festival | Seaport Farmers Market | Halifax Local Tasting Tours

Mostly Nova Scotia celebrates summer with a strong community spirit and friendly involvement. The local Celtic bands are likely to come on stage with short pants, wearing their baseball hats back to front, while they deliver songs like Ron Hynes’ “Sonny’s Dream” with meaning and soul.

Featuring Halifax Jazz Festival & Party Time Summer

The 2012 Halifax Jazz Festival was probably the best ever. Sponsored now by TD bank, the festival brought in some big names in music and extended on the Jazz Festival to include Rap, Blues and popular music. The entertainers were as entertained by Halifax as much as they entertained. Many invited the audience to after show private parties and some pre-show clubbing.

Halifax Jazz festival Photo Gallery >>>

Seport Famers Market a Treat for Halifax Jazz Patrons

Seaport Farmers Market – a Treat for Halifax Jazz Patrons

Halifax Jazz patrons enjoy the cool of Seaport roof top with its environmental planting

Halifax Seaport Farmers Market

The Jazz Festival ended on Saturday July 14. A beautiful sunny day. Hot, but on the waterfront cooler than many places in the sun. The jazz patrons took the opportunity to walk around the waterfront and many wandered down to the Seaport Farmers Market.

I took the time to drop in for my oysters on the half shell and Steve Oreno’s Cappuccinos, where he says foam was not built in a day. But the day belonged to jazz in the tent, where a crowd was dancing to the Big Valley Band. Their enthusiasm was infectious!

Local Tasting Tours

Halifax Food Tasting Tours & Walkabout

Meet Emily Forrest at her rendezvous, the Halifax Seaport Farmers Market, and walk with her to some of her favourite Halifax eating spots where she has arranged your welcome with samples of gourmet Nova Scotia seafood and bite sized delicacies. The tour takes 90 minutes as you walk from the waterfront along Barrington street and Spring Garden Road. You will visit half a dozen or so locally owned restaurants, each with a unique and truly local culinary style. Emily takes you behind the scenes to see how these famous chefs work and share their passion for food, heath and life. Visit http://LocalTastingTours.com >>>>

Don’t miss this bite a minute walk and gourmet tour with one of Halifax’s personalities. Emily Forrest, a local performer makes time to follow her passion and to make a contribution to the lives of others. You just might find her on stage, performing her own play, acting or producing a play in the Atlantic Fringe Festival or working with one of the many productions around Nova Scotia.