Town wants to keep sail raised on tall ships

Members of Yarmouth town council want to keep their options open with respect to a possible tall ships visit this upcoming summer.

During Thursday's regular meeting, council received a letter from Dave Whiting of the port of Yarmouth. Whiting advised that it could be difficult to attract ships this year because of potential scheduling conflicts and added that bringing in the ships would most like also include a price tag in the area of $2,000 a ship.

But some councillors, after learning that at least one American bus tour magazine is promoting the event as a "must see" and includes Yarmouth in the information, thought it a good idea to at least keep tabs on what is happening.

Councillors were split over whether to follow Whiting's advice or to ask him to keep the iron in the fire and follow the matter in the event that it is going to be a big draw. There is also the possibility, as councillor Byron Boudreau pointed out, that there could be funding from higher levels of government for the event.

Councillor Esther Dares made a motion that passed asking Whiting to stay engaged in the matter and update them at a later date.