Producing electricity by harnessing the power of nature’s tides, especially the fearsome tides in the Bay of Fundy, has been very much in the news lately.

Unfortunately, the news hasn’t been all that good. Mostly it’s been about broken propellers and dashed expectations.

Meanwhile, back in Annapolis Royal, the tide-driven generator there is merrily cranking out 30 million kilowatt hours per year, enough to power 4,500 homes, and has been doing that every year for the past quarter century.

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Weymouth’s new Waterfront Library opened Last week, providing the community with a spacious program and community room, more reading areas, high-speed internet access, a children’s area, wheelchair accessible washrooms and 21 paved parking spaces.

The 307 square-metre riverside facility is the result of seven years of planning and saving by the Municipality of Digby council and of community consultation with residents and Team Weymouth, says deputy warden Jimmy MacAlpine. The consultations ensured the library fit with plans to improve the inner core of the village.

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Past and present members of the sea cadet camp HMCS Acadia met recently on the parade square at Cornwallis Park.

Members of the HMCS Acadia Alumni Association were on hand to present custom-made cap tallies to the staff cadets working at the centre, the largest of its kind in Canada.

“The cap tally is a tribute to the strength, courage, and prestige of the Navy,” association president Ken Ilnitski, a former officer at HMCS Acadia, told the cadets when the tallies were presented during ‘colours,’ the naval ceremony of raising the Canadian flag at the start of the training day.

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The studies to determine if there can be a sustainable, exciting and health-oriented Fundy YMCA facility, which will meet the expectations from residents and businesses in the local areas, are almost completed, George Rodger, YMCA Canada East MRC, said last week.

Recently a meeting involving individuals who participated in an interview process with the YMCA, along with Annapolis and Digby county councils was held at the Annapolis Royal Legion. The purpose of the meeting was to detail the Campaign Feasibility Study results; as well as results from a market study that had been conducted.

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Annapolis Royal will host an IncrEDIBLE Picnic, Sunday, August 22^nd, as Select Nova Scotia helps highlight local food.

Showcasing down-home grown and produced fruits, vegetables, meats, cheeses, breads and beverages, this 3^rd Annual Select Nova Scotia event runs between 11 and 3 at the Farmer’s Market.

Complement what you’ve brought in your picnic basket from home with fresh, right-from-around-here choices for one IncrEDIBLE picnic.  This year there’s cover in case of rain, so August 22^nd is a go, no matter what.

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The 17th annual Canadian National Square and Round Dance Convention at Halifax’s World Trade and Convention Centre steps into gear and runs through Saturday, bringing together dancers from across North America, Europe and Japan.

They may not all be able to communicate directly, but they share "a common language," as Lawrencetown resident, and longtime Nova Scotia square dancer and square dance "caller", Dottie Welch puts it. And phrases like "scoot back," "spin the top" and "walk and dodge" could be part of the vocabulary.

Welch and her husband, Gary, have been scooting and spinning for decades.

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A local farm family is featured on the web site of a new marketing campaign by the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture aimed at introducing consumers to the men and women who produce the food on your local grocery store shelf.

The website, www.meetyourfarmer.ca, was officially launched in Halifax recently with the release of a report, in conjunction with the Ecology Action Centre, which shows Nova Scotians are buying less local foods than they did in 1997. The Federation says the website is meant to “create and improve the relationship” between farmers and the consumer.

Darlene den Haan’s farm in Lawrencetown has been in the family for almost fifty years. The business began as a commercial vegetable greenhouse operation, growing hothouse vegetables and a wide range of flowers, and has now developed a garden center as well - a year-round destination for gardening and home décor.

In 1999, the den Haan’s invested in a modern state of the art greenhouse. The three-acre glass range produces tomatoes to be sold in Loblaw stores as well as local farm markets throughout the Maritimes, and of course, their own garden centre.

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Ill winds have blown good fortune to a Weymouth moulding manufacturer.

The closure of several Quebec operations during the recent recession, combined with February’s devastating earthquake in Chile, have produced the perfect economic storm for Lewis Mouldings, a Digby County manufacturer of finger-jointed pine mouldings that go around doors and windows.

"It wasn’t completely horrible for us," is how Jamie Lewis, the company’s general manager, described last year’s economic downturn.

"We have a very solid customer base that we were very fortunate to have. Unfortunately, for some of our competitors, it wasn’t as good a year."

About half of North America’s finger-joint mouldings normally come from Chile, he said.

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