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New Waterford, Nova Scotia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
New Waterford (2001 population: 6,944) is a community in Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Regional Municipality.
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New Waterford is located north of Sydney and northwest of Glace Bay. It is near the ocean and is bordered on one side by cliffs. New Waterford has rather flat terrain and has several fresh water lakes located nearby.
New Waterford is a fishing port and former coal-mining community that has been in economic decline in recent years. There are ongoing efforts to revitalize the area's economy including a slow but steady increase in jobs in the technology sector. Many residents had been reliant on the coal and steel industries, which are now closed. The last local mine closed in 2001. New Waterford's current main industry is the Catalogue Teleservices Company call centre for Speigel and Newport News.
The town owes its name to the many immigrants originating from Waterford, Ireland. Most were fisherman who arrived here either via Newfoundland or directly from Ireland in the first decades of 19th century.
Senior citizens make up a disproportionate number of town residents due to a long running unemployment problem and the economic development plans of the government which focused on propping up older declining industries. This had the effect of worsening employment prospects for younger workers resulting in a large amount of migration of these younger workers from Cape Breton, to other areas of the country where opportunities were available. The most popular destinations were in Ontario and Alberta. Many of these workers retained strong ties to Cape Breton and New Waterford and though they often emigrateed in young adulthood and raised families out-of-province many would return after retirement. This is a common pattern in Cape Breton, some rural areas of mainland Nova Scotia and other less-populated areas of the maritime provinces mainly because of close family ties. The low cost of housing and relaxed atmosphere also contributes to the return of former "Capers" later in life.
A common employment option for Cape Bretoners is to temporarily move to a more prosperous area for work and then return to their hometown with their family for a period of time, either working at a lower-paying job or collecting government Employment Insurance benefits. Often this process is repeated for several years, allowing them to reside with their families for at least a portion of the year in spite of the difficult economic circumstances in the area.
At 8:30pm every day the local volunteer fire department sets off its air raid siren. This originated a long time ago, when a curfew was established, and continues in tradition to this day. The original intent of the whistle was to let small children know that they were to be inside or on their parents property. It is common for people who are away talking to loved ones in town when the whistle blows to get nostalgic when they hear it.
The town was the setting for the 1999 comedic coming-of-age film New Waterford Girl.
New Waterford Girl is a dark comedy about Moonie Pottie, a gifted teenager, who dreams of life beyond her small town. She becomes inspired when a 15-year-old girl from New York moves in next door. Starring many local actors and mostly Canadian talent, it is set in the mid 70's. Most of the scenes in the movie were actually filmed in the neighbouring town of Glace Bay. One anachronism in the movie was that it portrayed a one room school house in use, but Breton Education Centre was built in 1970 and has been in use since. [1]
Coal Dust Days is a week long celebration of the community taking place approximately the third week of July (July 15th to the 23rd in 2006). The activities range greatly, from crazy sunglasses day to meat darts. The most noted activities are Plummer Avenue Day, the Tavern Tour, and the Street Dance.[2] Musical performances are also spread across the week with performances by almost every one of the many local bands. [3]
Davis Day is an informal holiday celebrating the death of a Cape Breton miner, and father of 10, William Davis. He was shot to death by the coal company security force in Waterford Lake during a mining strike on June 11, 1925. Davis was not participating in the protest, which took the form of a march from the company power plant (by Waterford Lake) and ended by the railroad tracks between Daily Road and May Street. He was shot along with two other men, who survived. Davis Day is also known as Miners Memorial Day.
New Waterford is the site of the annual New Waterford Coal Bowl Classic basketball tournament, which brings in teams from all across Canada to compete in a weeklong event. The Coal Bowl takes place during early February.
- ^ "New Waterford Girl", IMDb.
- ^ {{ cite news |url=http://www.coaldustdays.com/events.php |publisher=Coal Dust Days |title=Coal Dust Days 2006 }}
- ^ "CB Locals band list", CB Locals.
