Canada Day on PEI

Prince Edward Island (PEI) is the smallest Canadian province but the one with the highest population density and the only one which is an island. PEI was the 7th province to join the Canadian confederation, joining in 1873 about six years after Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick formed Canada. We arrived in Charlottetown on the eve of “Canada Day” which celebrates the joining of these provinces to form Canada. Charlottetown is known as the “birthplace of the confederation” as it was here, in 1864, that elected officials first gathered to discuss forming a Maritime Union. Our choice to be in Charlottetown on Canada Day was a happy accident.

Canada Day is celebrated every year on July 1st. It was originally called “Dominion Day” and celebrated the signing of the British North America Act on July 1, 1867. In 1982, the day was renamed Canada Day when the Canadian constitution was patriated, and Canada became independent from the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

The celebration in Charlottetown began in Victoria Park with a 21-gun salute and was followed by an all-day event where one could take in all of the sights, smells and sounds of a wall of bouncy houses, stalls selling fried dough, candied apples and french fries and a parade of bands from morning until the 10pm fireworks show. Following our stroll about town, through the sea of red and white caps, shirts and pants of the celebrators in and around Victoria Park, we found ourselves in the Mahan brew pub watching the first half of the Portugal-Slovenia Euro Cup game (the second half, overtime periods and shoot-outs we watched from the comfort of our Airbnb, luckily our first with live television in several weeks).

Prince Edward Island may be most famous, in certain circles, for its ties to the Anne of Green Gables books (Canada’s best-selling book) and series. Here, you can visit the Green Gables Heritage Site, the Anne of Green Gables Museum, the home of the author Lucy Maud Montgomery or locations about Cavendish upon which the stories were based. I believe our mother read these books to my sister and me as children but that was the last time I had any exposure to the island’s most famous export, but if you’re a devoted fan, this is your mecca.

Not being devoted fans and since we had a few long driving days ahead, we limited our explorations of the island on the day after Canada Day to just the morning and set off for one of the beaches on the north coast. We headed to Thunder Cove Beach, based on some photos we’d seen. There are a lot of PEI beaches to choose from, but we chose well. It is a long, flat walking beach with dramatic red rocks and cliffs interspersed along the dunes.

After our stroll, we set back south for Victoria by the Sea as our Airbnb hosts’ guidebook had recommended its Lobster Barn, winner of the “Lobster Roll Love” award in 2020. We drove through bright green fields juxtaposed with fields of impossibly yellow mustard flowers which run up to the sea or to colorfully painted homes or barns punctuating the waves of green and yellow. Island potato growers plant mustard as natural pest control “giving off a biofumigant that kills ringworm and other pests” and helps boost the potato harvest. Approximately 1/3 of Canada’s potatoes are grown on PEI. The flowers bloom in July and so happy accident #2 put us here whilst they were in their full radiance.

PEI’s second (or maybe first) most famous export are the mussels. The ocean climate and tidal patterns here are ideal for mussel raising which is why they are reliably good. Arriving at the Lobster Barn, we ordered a bucket of them as a warmup for our lobster rolls. We were not disappointed by either, though I’d say the mussels were the highlight.

Lobster Barn and the village of Victoria by the Sea

PEI would be a great place to come and rent a beach cottage for a week or a few days and just enjoy its beaches, Confederation Trail (a 470 km biking trail around the island), spending time wandering through the streets of Charlottetown admiring its colorful Victorian manors or more quaint and modest apparently Colonial period homes, or visiting its many pubs or restaurants along Victoria Row of Richmond St. and to either side on Queen Street or down by its marina which they’ve turned into a fantastic little food hall.

Images of Charlottetown

We had come by ferry, but left via the Confederation Bridge, the longest bridge in the world that goes over frozen water (though the water was very liquid at the time of our crossing). The bridge is free to use when going on to the island, but costs about 50CAD to leave.

If you’re planning a trip to Nova Scotia or the Atlantic Provinces of Canada, don’t bypass PEI.

Sources:

1. https://journeyinggiordanos.com/facts-about-prince-edward-island/
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Day
3. https://www.tourismpei.com/what-to-do/anne-of-green-gables/anne-of-green-gables-facts
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Gables_(Prince_Edward_Island)
5. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-mustard-fields-potato-farmers-wireworm-1.4749101#:~:text=Right%20now%2C%20most%20P.E.I.%20farmers%20plow%20the%20mustard,their%20potato%20yield%2C%20as%20well%20as%20fighting%20wireworm.
6. https://askbobcavanaugh.com/pei-mussels/