Events

The Bay of Fundy coast keeps two signature August events, both built on what the region does best. Digby Scallop Days is a four-day waterfront festival, running for over half a century, that celebrates the town's scallop fishing heritage with a Grand Street Parade, a Scallop Shucking Competition, live music, a Woodsmen Competition and fireworks. The Nova Scotia Gem and Mineral Show in Parrsboro, running since 1966, gathers more than 30 exhibitors of gems, minerals, fossils and jewellery for a three-day weekend of workshops and gold panning. This guide covers both events, their host towns, and how to plan a Fundy trip around either one.

The Fundy shore spreads its event year across two towns and two weekends. Digby, on the Annapolis Basin, throws Scallop Days on the second weekend of August; Parrsboro hosts the Gem and Mineral Show on the third. Both are recurring events with deep roots - one over half a century old, the other running since 1966 - and both turn modest fishing towns into destination stops for a long weekend. Neither demands specialist knowledge: you can eat scallops without shucking them and buy a crystal without knowing a mineral from a rock. Full coverage of the regional calendar lives in the events listings.

For over half a century, Digby Scallop Days has celebrated the heritage of the Digby scallop fishery - the community's identity as the Scallop Capital of the World. The four-day format is constant: a Grand Street Parade, a Scallop Shucking Competition, live music, a Woodsmen Competition, family activities and fireworks, all centred on the Digby waterfront along Water Street. Fresh Digby scallops are the culinary spine - a festival barbecue serves them straight, and local restaurants run scallop specials all weekend. The majority of events are free, with only some activities carrying nominal fees, and the compact downtown puts nearly everything within walking distance.

Since 1966, Parrsboro has hosted Atlantic Canada's premier gem, mineral, fossil and jewellery event, the Nova Scotia Gem and Mineral Show, organized by the Parrsboro Rock Shop Society. More than 30 exhibitors fill the Lions Recreation Centre on Kings Street with gems, minerals, jewellery and metalwork, alongside workshops, demonstrations and gold panning - the hands-on programming that makes it a family event rather than a marketplace. The setting does half the work: Parrsboro sits on a stretch of Fundy coast where the world's highest tides expose fossils and minerals, and the Fundy Geological Museum next door tells that 350-million-year story. The show typically runs the third weekend of August, Friday through Sunday.

The two towns bracket the Fundy shore's event geography. Digby sits on the western shore of the Annapolis Basin, roughly 2.5 hours from Halifax via Highway 101, and doubles as the terminus of the Digby-Saint John ferry from New Brunswick - festival traffic mixes road-trippers with ferry arrivals, and free street parking and public lots serve the walkable waterfront. Parrsboro is a quiet, walkable harbour town roughly 2.5 hours from Halifax via Trunk 2, where tides rise and fall up to 16 metres twice daily. Both towns carry a full weekend's worth of cafés, shops and shoreline outside festival hours; our Bay of Fundy guide profiles the coast between them, and Two Islands Brewing pours in Parrsboro year-round.

Both festivals draw thousands of visitors into small towns, so book accommodation early - festival weekends are the region's tightest inventory outside peak summer. For Scallop Days, the schedule is forgiving: most events are free and walk-in, so arriving with nothing pre-booked beyond a bed is normal. For the gem show, hours run 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, Friday through Sunday; the show's own guidance is to arrive early Saturday for the best selection and treat quieter Sunday as the family day. Listed admission has run $7 per day with a $15 weekend pass, children 12 and under free. Confirm each year's dates on the official channels before locking travel.

Either festival pairs naturally with the coast around it. Scallop Days sits at the mouth of the Digby Neck, where the outdoor hub's Balancing Rock Trail and Brier Island boardwalk make the classic festival-weekend add-on. The gem show pairs with the Cliffs of Fundy Geopark and the Joggins Fossil Cliffs - the same geology that fills the exhibit tables sits in the cliffs outside town. The attractions hub covers the museums and sights between the two towns. One August weekend, one town, one theme: that is the Fundy event formula, and both iterations of it repay the drive.