Page 70 - 2024-2025 Travel Guide to Canada

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Special Events
JANUARY – FEBRUARY
• FROSTIVAL, FREDERICTON
MARCH
• MAPLE, THE FIRST TASTE OF SPRING,
KINGS LANDING, PRINCE WILLIAM
MAY
• MIRAMICHI STRIPER CUP
JUNE
• ST. MARY’S (SITANSISK) FIRST NATION
POWWOW, FREDERICTON
JUNE – JULY
• CAMPBELLTON SALMON FESTIVAL
JULY
• CANADA’S IRISH FESTIVAL, MIRAMICHI
• EXPLORE NB OPEN, FREDERICTON
• LAMÈQUE INTERNATIONAL BAROQUE
MUSIC FESTIVAL
• NEW BRUNSWICK HIGHLAND GAMES
FESTIVAL, FREDERICTON
• SHEDIAC LOBSTER FESTIVAL
AUGUST
• ADRENALINE MOUNTAIN BIKE FESTIVAL,
CAMPBELLTON
• AREA 506 FESTIVAL, SAINT JOHN
• CHOCOLATE FEST, ST. STEPHEN
• FESTIVAL ACADIEN DE CARAQUET
• FUNDY SEA SHANTY FESTIVAL, ST. MARTINS
• MIRAMICHI FOLKSONG FESTIVAL
• TASTE OF ATLANTIC CANADA FESTIVAL
SEPTEMBER
• ATLANTIC BALLOON FIESTA, SUSSEX
• HARVEST MUSIC FESTIVAL
OCTOBER
• INDULGE FOOD AND WINE FESTIVAL,
SAINT ANDREWS
https://tourismnewbrunswick.ca/
festivals-events
The Market Square in Saint John is
undergoing a revitalization that includes
upgrading restaurant spaces by installing
glass panels to create multi-season patios
(marketsquaresj.com).
CITY LIGHTS
Fredericton is rightly called “Atlantic
Canada’s Riverfront Capital.” The British
made it the seat of government 235 years
ago due to the easy access the St. John
River provided, and most civic sites still
line its banks. Chief among them are the
two-block Garrison District, where red-
coated troops were once quartered; the
copper-domed Legislature; the neo-Gothic
Christ Church Cathedral; and the top-notch
Beaverbrook Art Gallery. Overlooking them
all is the University of New Brunswick’s
historic hilltop campus (www.tourism
fredericton.ca).
Saint John, a vibrant commercial and
cruise port, has been defined by its harbour
since the Loyalists sailed in. Evidence is
found in its 18th century waterside sites and
the grand edifices erected by later seafarers
during the “Golden Age of Sail.” The harbour’s
significance is further apparent in Market
Square, a museum and entertainment
complex fashioned from waterfront
warehouses, and the City Market which was
built by shipwrights. Even the Harbour
Passage Trail is named in its honour
(www.discoversaintjohn.com).
Straddling the muddy Petitcodiac River,
Greater Moncton has surpassed Saint John to
become the province’s most populous urban
LES DIGUES, FRUITS AND VEGETABLES • NEW BRUNSWICK TOURISM
centre. Originally nicknamed the “Hub City”
by virtue of its central location, it now
doubles as a hub of tourist activity because
Greater Moncton is home to attractions like
the Magic Mountain Water Park, Casino New
Brunswick and Magnetic Hill which, in
addition to the eponymous hill, boasts a
popular zoo, winery and concert site
(www.moncton.ca).
THE GREAT OUTDOORS
New Brunswick is blessed with superlative
natural attractions: the world’s highest tides,
some of the oldest mountains and second
biggest whirlpool. The maritime province is
85 per cent forested and surrounded by the
ocean and lakes and rivers. These sites are,
quite literally, phenomenal. Yet what makes
the outdoors truly “great” is that it has
something for everyone. Fundy Trail Provin-
cial Park—known for its precipitous cliffs,
aromatic evergreens and sublime views—is a
case in point (www.parcsnbparks.info/en/
parks/35/fundy-trail-provincial-park).
Ultra-fit hikers can spend days traversing
this part of the Trans Canada Trail. But,
thanks to an adjacent parkway, key portions
are accessible to children and the physically
challenged, too.
Equally important is the fact that nature
in New Brunswick is always close at hand,
even in urban areas. Visitors to Saint John
can splash out in Rockwood Park, one of the
largest municipal parks in the country, or go
wild by the seaside in the Irving Nature Park
without leaving the city limits. Fresh air
aficionados in Fredericton, similarly, can
stroll, bike and rollerblade on a riverfront
path dubbed “The Green” or get out on the
water by boat. Moncton, meanwhile, puts
sand connoisseurs in reach of both the
delicate Bouctouche dunes and bustling
Parlee Beach.
HERITAGE AND CULTURE
Occupied by Indigenous Peoples for more
than 3,000 years, New Brunswick has 15
Indigenous communities and the province
inherited two other cultures from its early
French and English settlers. Indoor/outdoor
venues such as Metepenagiag Heritage Park,
Village Historique Acadien and Kings
Landing Historical Settlement—celebrating
Mi’kmaq, Acadians and Loyalists, respec-
tively—help establish the historical context,
as does the engaging New Brunswick
Museum in Saint John. Local culture here,