Music, music, music Saturday at the arena

“The arena can only hold 800 people, so it makes sense to buy tickets in advance,” says Mike Bartlett, chair of this year’s Scallop Days committee. Tickets are available at Digby Convenience, Scallop Shell, and Conway Quick Stop.

The concert and dance begins at 8:30 and doors open at 8:00 p.m. ‘Remedy’, a rock and roll band from Halifax, will be doing double duty on Saturday. They’ll perform at the dance, and also at the ‘all-ages- concert beginning at 4:30 p.m. The band’s influences include funk, R&B and reggae.

Headliner at the all-ages concert is Canadian Idol’s Dwight d’Eon and his band, The Nation. Cost for this show, which has doors opening at 4 p.m., is $10, with kids under 10 free. D’Eon and his band will also be performing at the dance.

And if concertgoers wake up Sunday morning eager for more entertainment, they can head to Digby’s Water Street. It will be closed to traffic—and filled with activities—from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Bartlett says there will be a ‘real’ farmers market from 8 a.m. until noon. “By ‘real’ I mean no yard sale stuff, “ says Bartlett. “Fresh produce, fish, fresh baked goods, dulse, beef jerky.”

Buskers will be more visible than ever before at this year’s Scallop Days—organizers have doubled their busker budget.

Belliveau Motors is sponsoring a car show and shine, so there will be a hundred antiques cars in downtown Digby on Sunday.

The woodsmen’s competition begins at the marina at 1 p.m. and the scallop shucking contest will take place on Water Street at 3 p.m.

Paul Gidney has won the scallop shucking contest for the past 24 years straight, so he has agreed to sit this one out—sort of. He’ll actually be narrating the event and the first, second and third prizewinners will receive $300, $200 and $100 cash prizes. They will then compete against Paul for a $500 prize.

Scallops shucked by Digby’s best shuckers will then be cleaned and turned over to the ‘Taste of Nova Scotia’ chef who will be prepare a number of different scallop dishes for sale.

Sunday’s downtown lineup will also include a performance by swordsman David Cvet, the firefighter’s challenge, the lobster crate run, net knitting, a silent auction at the artist’s tent and music throughout the afternoon.

Scallop Day’s grand finale is the annual display of fireworks at 9:30 p.m. on the waterfront.