News

A cake in the shape of the former ferry MV Kipawo sits on a table.

Details: Published: 22 July 2026

For 15 years the MV Kipawo connected communities on both sides of the Minas Basin.

While that connection was severed more than 80 years ago, the ship’s 100^th birthday is being celebrated in Parrsboro and in a pair of Annapolis Valley communities where the Kipawo made stops between 1926 and 1941, when it was requisitioned for the war effort.

“She’s a legendary vessel,” said Laura Vingoe-Cram, artistic director of Ship’s Company Theatre said. “She’s lived so many lives with many career changes over the years. She was a ferry boat, she served in World War Two and then she went to Newfoundland and was almost forgotten. And just when it looked as though she had reached the end of the line, she started a new life as part of a theatre company.

“In every career she’s had she’s done the job of connecting people across place and across time through her history. It’s a physical and spiritual connection. That’s why she deserves to be celebrated.”

The Kipawo, which was the 33^rd and final ferry to provide service across the Minas Passage, was launched from Saint John in December 1924 and commissioned into the Dominion Atlantic Railway in April 1926.

Jason and Janice Boiduk cut the ribbon to officially unveil the new eelgrass sculptures at the Pugwash Library. They are a joint project of the Pugwash Open Air Gallery, Communities in Bloom, the Friends of the Pugwash Estuary, Dalhousie University’s Community Eelgrass Restoration Initiative and Zuppa theatre of Halifax. Darrell Cole – Municipality of Cumberland photo

Details: Published: 13 July 2026

Pugwash has long been known as a community that embraces art.

Over the years, nearly 20 art pieces have been affixed to the walls of the village core as part of the Pugwash Open Air Gallery. On Saturday, June 27, 2026, the latest addition to the gallery was unveiled at the Pugwash Library.

The Community Eelgrass Restoration Initiative, part of the Future of Marine Ecosystems Lab at Dalhousie University, has been working with Halifax’s Zuppa Theatre and the open air gallery to create sculptures that celebrates the eelgrass replanting that occurred in 2024 with the Friends of the Pugwash Estuary.

The sculptures are meant to serve as a reminder to never forget unseen ecosystems and to always remember the power of a rallied and committed community.

Pugwash Yacht Club commodore Debbie Cameron cuts the ribbon to officially open the Bill Mundle Marina while club treasure Dougal MacDonald (left) and dockmaster Michael Cameron hold the ribbon. Darrell Cole – Municipality of Cumberland photo

Details: Published: 13 July 2026

More than 40 years ago, the late Bill Mundle had a vision of the potential a marina in Pugwash harbour would bring to the community.

It took a lot of time – and more than a few regulatory and funding hurdles to jump through – but the community has a new and improved marina named in his honour.

Mundle, who passed away in 2023, was the very first commodore of the new Pugwash Yacht Club in 1983.

His daughter, Debbie Cameron, is the present commodore – the eighth in the club’s history. She feels he’d very pleased at how his vision has been realized.

“It’s surreal. When you spend six years thinking about the project every day, it sort of hits you that all we have to do now is celebrate, the work is done,” Cameron said after cutting the ribbon to officially open the Bill Mundle Marina in Pugwash on Saturday, June 27. “It’s been a long six-year journey from the time we pressed go. There were a lot of pieces that had to fall into place, but we finally did it.”