Concerts, sailboats & wooden boats
Mahone Bay's summer is built around the water. Concerts on the wharf. Sailboats out on the bay. A long tradition of wooden-boat building still alive in the workshops at our Heritage Boatyard.
Chester Race Week
Canada's largest keelboat regatta. Hosted by Chester Yacht Club on the waters of Mahone Bay, with more than 130 boats and 1,300-plus sailors across 15 fleets. The shore-side party in Chester is free and worth the 25-minute drive.
All year, at the Heritage BoatyardWooden-boat heritage
The old Mahone Bay Wooden Boat Festival ran from 1989 until it was cancelled in 2010 (per CBC News, due to a volunteer shortage). The heritage is still very much alive: the Heritage Boatyard Co-op is open to visitors in summer and runs hands-on boatbuilding programs, kids' "Make a Model Boat" workshops during the Father Christmas Festival, and outreach at events like the Mystic Seaport Wooden Boat Show. If you're curious about wooden boats, this is where to go.