Event draws huge crowds on New Brunswick Day
Crowds, vendors, and food trucks converged on Hartland on Monday, Aug. 5, to celebrate all things New Brunswick. The community’s iconic covered bridge was closed to vehicle traffic so it could host the annual New Brunswick Day Covered Bridge Market. The event marks the end of the community’s annual Big Bridge Fest summer festival.
“I think we had more people this year than last,” said Doris Kennedy, one of the event’s key organizers. “We had 177 vendors plus more than 20 vendors offering food. Before, we had to reach out to people and ask if they wanted to be vendors. Now we have vendors contacting us, which is wonderful.”
The New Brunswick Day tradition began nine years ago when the provincial Department of Tourism asked the community to host the ‘official’ New Brunswick Day celebration.
“The first year we started with 66 vendors,” said Kennedy, adding that the event has steadily grown and has become a destination event in the province.
“We are at the stage now that we need to start applying for provincial funding to help us with this,” added Kennedy. Throughout the day, some of their 40 volunteers took postal codes from attendees to gauge where people were coming from.
“Once we get to 25 per cent of people coming from outside the 75 km range, we can apply for funding. We are steadily getting there,” added Kennedy.
Craig Young and his family own Watershed Fishing Apparel & Co. Their booth was consistently busy with customers, so it was all hands on deck.
“It’s exciting to be here and see locals wearing our gear,” said Young, who had his entire family, including his son Hunter, who was visiting from Alberta, helping with the booth this year.
“I didn’t care what the weather was today because I was just excited to be here with my whole family.”
Vendor Julie Glencross from Fredericton sold an array of silver jewelry at her Glitteratzzi booth on the bridge. She’s been coming to the Covered Bridge Market for five years.
“I keep coming back for the people. Everyone is so friendly. I love the atmosphere, and the sales are always great. Now I have return customers each year.”
Alysa Smith is a caricature artist from South Carolina who grew up in Fredericton. She’s visiting for the summer and decided to bring her art to Hartland. She had a steady stream of customers most of the day.
“I’ve been doing this for 10 years now, ” said Smith, “and in that time I think I’ve done about 40,000 (caricatures).”
Josée Colella and her husband Fred moved from Quebec to Upper Knoxford two years ago to start homesteading. Her business, La Farm, was doing brisk business with her homemade products and crafts.
“This (event) is great. We have a milking cow who had twins this winter, a large garden, and 100 chickens. We love it here. We have our crafts available at the Guardian (drug store) in Perth-Andover.”
Hundreds lined up at food trucks and outdoor kiosks to purchase tasty treats while musicians and dancers entertained the crowds.
