Long lineups greet Village Pottery Jilly mug promotion
Story and photos by Jim Brown

They brought their masks, their raingear, their umbrellas and an unquenchable desire to go home with a ‘Jilly’ mug – named after wildly popular Canadian influencer Jillian Harris, host of Love it or List it and star of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, who expressed her love for the pinkish-hued mugs in a viral Instagram post.
Though the doors to New London’s Village Pottery weren’t scheduled to open till 11 am on Saturday, Nov 14, several determined customers had been waiting in line since 6:45 am, said owner Suzanne Scott. And the lines kept growing throughout the day, to as many as 50 or more. They had to be patient because the store only allowed five in at a time, due to COVID-19 restrictions, which also included using hand sanitizer, mask wearing recommendations and physical distancing.
“We had people drive here from Souris and New Brunswick and Nova Scotia,” said Suzanne.
The shoppers were limited to two mugs per household and these mugs were ‘seconds’ with slight imperfections. Good luck trying to nab a regular ‘Jilly mug’ since there thousands of people already on waiting lists.
Lots of merchandise was available for sale but the big prize for many shoppers was the Jilly mug, of which 35 were available on Saturday.
Those disappointed in their quest on Nov 14 had another chance the following day, when 35 to 40 more Jilly mugs were to be made available. The big question was, how early would people arrive to ensure they are at the front of the line?

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The Jilly mug.

Story and photos by Jim Brown

The pandemic took a toll on Remembrance Day services across the country and on PEI on Nov 11. But in North Rustico, even though there were no guest speakers, more than 100 people converged on Veterans Memorial Park to pay their respects to Canada’s veterans. Visitors heard the mournful sounds of bugles and pipes. They were also greeted by more than 400 six-inch-high crosses, placed by Knights of Columbus volunteers in honour of veterans from North Rustico and surrounding area.

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From an anonymous resident on the Rattenbury Road, Stanley Bridge

I am writing regarding excessive speeds on a stretch of Rattenbury Road, especially in the 50 km section, just before the Stanley Bridge roundabout. The 50 km sign is almost completely hidden by tree foliage on the road’s shoulder.

Using a stop watch and a little distance measuring it is easy to determine we get traffic at all times of the day and night, with vehicles easily traveling close to 100 km an hour in the 50 km zone, on what is really not a sound road.

We are seniors and we walk the road to get mail, put out and pick up garbage containers and hike, among other activities. We are hell to cross the road and often seem to be run at by cars and trucks. Having our grandchildren here is an even scarier proposition.

We actually find the driving here shocking and very disrespectful compared to what we are used to. The thing that amazes us is that it seems the local residents in this upscale area seem to accept this as part of life here. Maybe if they all rose up and raised hell the problem on the ‘Rattenbury Raceway’ could be solved.

Aside from cars we get all manner of trucks and even some farm equipment as big as a two-story house and wheels higher than a man – and they travel by as fast as anything else.

If somebody traveled 90 km in a 60 km zone, or 130 km in a 100 km zone, they would be facing a ticket. But 100 km in a 50 km zone on our little road is a routine occurrence. The people who travel at this speed surely would not like it in their neighbourhood. It is just not civilized.

I feel this is a very serious issue because something very bad will happen eventually if nothing is done.

Story and photos by Jim Brown

Stanley Bridge River Days Festival events, including the bridge jumping competition at the local wharf, were cancelled this year, a casualty of the coronavirus pandemic. Events would have been held on the weekend of Aug 21-23. However, dozens of bridge jumpers of all ages still showed up to try their tricks over the weekend, joined by family members and friends who snapped pictures of their acrobatics. The words “boat coming” were also heard several times during the afternoon.

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By Jim Brown

Summerside resident Cheryl Jean Maclin is a Canadian who lived and worked in the US for much of her adult life. She is not a fan of the 45th president of the United States, but for a brief period she worked for Donald Trump as a flight attendant on the so-called ‘Trump Shuttle’
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That was in the late 80s and early 90s, but her memories remain vivid of those exciting times.

Trump had just taken over the bankrupt Eastern Shuttle that she worked at, which flew passengers to New York, Boston and Washington. She had been laid off for three months before she resumed her job under a different and more flamboyant boss.

“We wanted to do the shuttle, which I enjoyed doing because of my kids. I had regular hours on the shuttle,” said Cheryl.

She worked the New York and Washington run and recalls several of the regular passengers were “powerful people”, including Jacqueline Kennedy and Robert Kennedy and the Kennedy children.

“I was pretty impressed with what he did to the aircraft after he took (Eastern Shuttle) over. He tore them all up inside and put all new leather seats and carpeting and gold sinks in the bathroom, you know the ‘Trump-style,'” said Cheryl of the fleet of 140-seat 727s he acquired.

Cheryl said Trump did a nice thing for the newly acquired flight attendants – allowing them to keep their seniority.
“He also gave all his flight attendants a pearl necklace,” she said, with a laugh.

“Back then he wasn’t the person he is today, that’s for sure.”

Eventually Trump Shuttle and its fleet of 21 Boeing 727s would be grounded when the company went bankrupt and was swallowed up by US Air. Meanwhile Cheryl continued on with her flight attendant job. Her career would end with 35-plus years of service in the airline industry and the seniority she was allowed to carry through from her Trump Shuttle days would boost her pension payout.

With Trump’s election in 2016 the US entered a dark chapter in its history. Things became much worse when the Trump administration badly bungled its response to the coronavirus pandemic, leaving 148,000 Americans dead and millions infected by late July.

“It’s really bad. I have family living there. I have two sons, four grandchildren and two daughter-in-laws. One daughter-in-law last night wrote to me and said she’s just losing all hope (because of the virus)…People are losing hope it’s ever going to be okay,” she said.

“Everything he has tried to do has failed.”

Even when Trump’s purchase of the shuttle service helped save a thousand jobs decades ago, including Cheryl’s, she says had she been an American and able to vote in 2016, Trump would not have received her support.

“Because of the bankruptcy and already knowing bits and pieces what he was like as a person, no, I would never have voted for him.”
Trump Air would lose more than $125 million in just 18 months, before going bankrupt.

Cheryl was born in Sydney, Nova Scotia before moving to the States when her dad, Islander George Stavert, accepted a job as an airplane mechanic for Rolls Royce. She would eventually return to her Maritime roots after giving her green card more than three decades of use.

She and her husband Austin Maclin, a Vietnam war veteran who trained military dogs, left America in 2003 to settle in Darnley, where the couple lived until their recent move to Summerside.

Austin, a permanent resident of Canada, uses his German shepherd Myah to help treat veterans on PEI who have PTSD.
He will be able to vote in the Nov 3 election and, unfortunately for Trump, Biden is his choice.

Story and photos by Jim Brown

A major construction project is taking shape on Highway 2, in Hunter River near the Irving station. It’s a new bridge crossing the Clyde River. An environmentally-friendly reusable temporary bridge has been moved into place to handle the traffic while the bridge is under construction. Traffic for much of the summer is expected to be congested near the site. Fortunately, volumes are down because of the pandemic and closed borders to much of rest of the country and the United States. Construction began in late June and the new bridge should be finished by sometime in October.

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Story and photos by Jim Brown

It wasn’t exactly a slam dunk, but it came pretty close to it.

There was little opposition at a July 2 public meeting to Raspberry Point Oyster Company’s plans to build a new 32,000 sq. foot oyster processing facility on 30 acres of land fronting Hope River in Cavendish. The building would replace an existing facility on Cavendish Road at the former Fiddles and Vittles family restaurant.

Raspberry Point’s plan also includes a commercial orchard with 6,000 apple trees on the property and the first harvest is expected in 2023.

Only 12 people showed up at the Tourism Information Centre to hear the plans, which included a request for a major height variance. The total cost is pegged at between $2 to $3 million.

Raspberry Point Oyster Company general manager James Power points to an architectural drawing showing where the proposed new oyster processing plant would be located.

The deadline for submissions on the proposal is July 14.

“We take the oysters out of New London Bay, take them up to the processing plant and basically wash them, grade them, box them and ship them out. So there’s no cooking and shucking of oysters,” said Mr Power.

“The hours would be the same as they are now (five days a week). Right now we’re running 7 am to 4:30 pm. As far as the traffic, at the moment we have about two tractor trailers a day to pick up product, so that possibly could be between two and four (when new building constructed). We also have three and five tonne box trucks and they come two to four times a day as well and they have staff (and their trucks), which would be between 15 and 25 depending on the time of day.”

Mr Power said Raspberry Point was doing about 50 per cent of pre-Covid business.

“We’re hoping in the future that we will actually expand our business and possibly have four trucks instead of two.”

A woman at the meeting asked whether water views would be affected, stressing she doesn’t have a problem with the project herself, but was only asking on behalf of neighbours.

Mr Power reassured her that wouldn’t be a problem with the building.

Don Maynard, Senior Environmental Specialist at Granville Ridge Consulting Inc., presented an overview during the environmental assessment portion of the Resort Municipality meeting.

“Presently the property it is going to be constructed on is under agricultural cultivation” with past crops including soybeans and grains, said Mr Maynard.

Since the apple orchard would require the use of pesticides a 15 metre provincially mandated environment buffer zone will be needed. There would also be wind speed restrictions.

Site preparation for the plant would run through July and August, with the construction phase running from August to October, 2021.

Mr Maynard said the proposed access road to the new facility has already been surveyed and approved by the Department of Transportation, Construction and Energy.

Referring to the orchard part of the proposal (southern end of the property) Mr Maynard noted, “apples are a crop requiring fertilization, physical maintenance, a lot of grass cutting between the rows (and) pruning…”

There are no plans to irrigate the orchard with water from wells.

In the case of the oyster processing facility an exploration permit under the Provincial Groundwater Protection Act is needed to install a well to provide water for two grading/washing machines.

The permit process is needed to ensure water supplies aren’t depleted in the aquifer for other users.
“Our water is very precious, that’s like gold now,” said the woman, a lone member of the public. She stressed she understood the water was needed to wash oysters, but she was concerned about too much usage.

Mayor Jelley noted the old Fiddles and Vittles facility had a similar well to what was being constructed at the new location and confirmed the new well would be about the same capacity. He went on to say a permit for the extraction process has to be approved by the provincial environment department.

“I have two high capacity wells myself and I get an email every month asking for my meter readings and they are monitoring the usage…So it’s pretty well regulated, at least in my own experience.”

Mr Power, in response to a question from a resident on the video link, said there are no plans at the moment for what to do with the old processing facility at the former Fiddles and Vittles site, once the new building is completed.

All told, three phone calls were received at the Resort Municipality office and one in-person visit regarding the Raspberry Point proposal.

As the weather warms up and the summer approaches, I understand only too well some of the challenges that we will all face over the coming weeks and months. Even while the impact of Post Tropical Storm Dorian is still being felt, we must now overcome a season where many of our residents will have difficulty coming home, and many of our businesses face a devastating decline. While there is nothing normal about the current situation, and there is no instruction book on how to plan for the summer, it is important that we keep up the pride we have in our community. The Resort Municipality has always been known as a welcoming community and we must maintain that reputation, even if the numbers will be lower this year. I would encourage all businesses and property owners to continue the clean up from the storm and to continue to invest in their properties. If your neighbour is coming home and must self-isolate, please reach out to help with both preparations and care once they arrive. If they can’t make it home, or a nearby business is having financial trouble, please offer to cut some grass or maintain a flowerbed. We must continue to look after each other and look to the future. While there is a bylaw in place for Unsightly Properties, I would prefer an approach where we all work together to improve the appearance of our community this year and heal some of the wounds of the past year. Please help keep our community beautiful, welcoming and prosperous.

Matthew Jelley, Mayor of the Resort Municipality of Cavendish

R &A Service Station, Stanley Bridge, Phone 902-886-2606
Monday to Friday, 8 am to 5:30 pm
Saturday, 8:30 am to 5 pm.
Closed Sunday

Robin’s Donuts, North Rustico, Phone 902-963-3578
Store remains closed, but drive-thru hours are daily 5:30 am to 6 pm.

North Rustico Irving, Phone 902-963-2105
Open Monday to Saturday, 8 am to 6 pm. Sunday from 11 am to 6 pm.

Fairways Cottage, Hunter River, Phone 902-963-2843.
Open for the season.

Anderson’s Creek Golf Course, Stanley Bridge, Phone 902-888-2222.
Open daily 8 am to 8 pm.

Eagles Glenn Golf Course, Cavendish, Phone 902-963-3600
Monday to Friday, 10 am to 7 pm
Saturday and Sunday, 8 am to 7 pm

Blue Heron Construction Inc., North Rustico, Ph. 902-963-2266
Monday to Friday, 7:30 am to 5 pm.

Island Style, Cavendish, Phone 902-963-2497
Opening on weekends June 6 Saturday and Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm.
Staring June 26 open daily 10 am to 5 pm.

North Rustico Home Hardware, Phone 902-963-2040
Monday to Friday 7:30 am to 5 pm, Saturdays 8 am to 1 pm.

Murphy’s Pharmacy, North Rustico, Phone 902-963-2899
Pharmacy hours Monday to Friday 10 am to 6 pm
Saturday, 10 am to 4 pm

Ship’s Company Pub & Galley, New Glasgow, Phone 902-388-0118
Opening June 12

Toombs Plumbing and Heating Ltd., Cavendish, Phone 902-963-2301

Pineau’s Bottle Exchange, North Rustico, Phone 902-963-3201
Friday and Saturday, 9 am to 4 pm.

North Rustico Food Market, Phone 902-963-2725
Monday to Saturday, 8 am to 5 pm.

Pedro’s Island Eatery, North Rustico, Phone 902-963-3201
Friday and Saturday 9 am to 4 pm

Provincial Credit Union, North Rustico, Phone 902-963-2543
Monday to Friday 9:30 am to 3 pm.

Cavendish Car Wash., open for the season 24 hours a day.

Caption Kidd’s Dairy Bar and Take Out, phone 963-3738,
Monday to Sunday, 12 noon to 7 pm

Cavendish Tourist Mart, Phone 902-963-2370,
Open daily, 8 am to 7 pm. ATM open daily.

Liquor Agency, Phone 902-963-3483
Open Monday to Saturday, 10 am to 7 pm
Sunday hours, noon to 7 pm.