A big development

At the December Board of Trade meeting the membership decided to strike a Big Promotional Thing Committee to explore the construction of a larger than life Scallop Shell near the waterfront as a potential tourist attraction.

All over the world communities have chosen to highlight a signature item with a statue that symbolizes, in some way, their community’s accomplishments.

In Shediac, New Brunswick, visitors are greeted by a gigantic 35-foot lobster built in 1990 of reinforced concrete and steel. Annually 500,000 tourists visit this 32-ton representation of this crustacean. The Rotary Club of Shediac chose the lobster, as it has been an economic mainstay. This is also true of our Digby scallop.

We already have international recognition of our scallops as the finest restaurants proudly display Digby scallops on their menus.

Rather than look for another concept to help us brand the location, the membership felt that the time was right to aggressively pursue this logical option. Some have even suggested a blend of the scallop with the trade mark of the most romantic place in Canada by using the concepts in the painting The Birth of Venus, by 15th century artist Sandro Botticelli. This work depicts the Venus, the Roman Goddess of Love, emerging from the sea as a full-grown woman.

Others have suggested a fisherman statue located in close proximity to the large scallop.

Still others would like to develop a project that could be lit using solar technology. This has potential.

This committee has a great deal of work ahead of them and although there are many interested, there is always room for more. The first meeting will be called early in the New Year. If you are interested please contact me at or at 834-2204. In the meantime over the holidays check out www.bigthings.ca for more ideas.

Happy Hogmanay!

The roots of Hogmanay reside with the winter solstice celebrations of many ancient cultures. Scholars are unsure of the word's origin but it many have been derived from the Gaelic oge maidne ("New Morning"), Anglo-Saxon Haleg Monath ("Holy Month"), or Norman French word hoguinané, which was derived from the Old French anguillanneuf ("gift at New Year"). It's also been suggested that it came from the French au gui mener ("lead to the mistletoe") or a Flemish combo hoog ("high" or "great"), min ("love" or "affection") and dag ("day").