The Cape Breton Heritage Festival will host the air show June 3-5 to begin back-to-back military and multicultural themed weekends.
“We got a call from the Snowbirds last September telling us they had an opportunity to come to Sydney so we grabbed it right away,” said event manager John Fraser.
“Now we are building (the show) around a pretty good attraction.”
Joining the Snowbirds for ‘Show of Force’ weekend will be the SkyHawks parachute team, a CF-18 fighter jet, a search and rescue demonstration and other aerial displays and attractions.
The only air show in Nova Scotia this year will be the first air show in Sydney in over 10 years, although an event was held in Baddeck in 2009 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the flight of Alexander Graham Bell’s Silver Dart.
Two naval vessels — HMCS Moncton and HMCS Summerside — will be in port for ‘Show of Force’ weekend. Several concerts and community events will be held around the community, as well.
The following weekend the Roots and Food Festival will begin. The multicultural celebration, June 10-11 at Centre 200, will feature music, food and cultural displays.
A June 10 concert featuring Shelley Hamilton, the African Nova Scotian Music Association’s artist of the year, will kick off that festival.
“Cape Breton is the true place of diversity and was a true place of diversity before Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver and we need to celebrate it,” said Scott Thomas, the Cape Breton Regional Municipality’s diversity officer, who has been assisting with the festival.
“This concert will welcome the effort to pay tribute to the vast contributions made by people of African descent to the advancement of political, economic social and cultural development in all societies around the world.”
Fraser said the second consecutive year for the heritage festival follows Armed Forces day and a multicultural day held back-to-back in 2010.
“Our intent next year is to fill the week up in the middle with a series of multicultural concerts that we’d move around the island,” said Fraser.
It’s all designed to start the local tourist season a little earlier than usual, he said.
“The direct and indirect economic impact of these events on the local economy can be significant. Expected results of this project is a minimum of 500 visitors from outside Cape Breton Island.”
An additional 200-300 Armed Forces personnel from out of town will also be spending time in local hotels, he said.
The budget for both shows is estimated at $260,000.
Fraser said corporate sponsors and all levels of government will make a contribution.
However, the exact size of the provincial and federal portions have not been finalized.
