Welcome Weekend invites people to support local during pop-up market at Halifax Convention Centre

Crystal Garrett gets a preview the upcoming Welcome Weekend, a free, family-friendly event celebrating local pride.

The Halifax Convention Centre will host a market Sunday as part of Welcome Weekend. The free event, which runs from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m., showcases “the best of Nova Scotia’s local talent, businesses and community,” in partnership with Nova Scotia Loyal. This year’s theme is “a celebration of local pride.”

Dawn Delaney, the director of marketing for Events East, said they were excited for the free event that will include a market for local businesses.

“We’ll have everything from bouncy castles to some incredible musicians,” Delaney said in an interview with CTV Morning Live. “What I’m most excited about this year though is our partnership with Taste of Nova Scotia and Nova Scotia Loyal.”

Delaney said the “larger-than-life” pop-up market will feature more than 20 vendors from every region in the province.

Delaney said the “larger-than-life” pop-up market will feature more than 20 vendors from every region in the province.

Nova Scotia Minister of Growth and Development Colton LeBlanc said there’s been an uptick in local support and interest in the Nova Scotia Loyal program. He said retailers are coming on board to add Nova Scotia Loyal stickers to their products.

“Anytime a Nova Scotian sees a Nova Scotia Loyal sticker they can have the confidence that this product is authentically Nova Scotian,” LeBlanc said in an interview with CTV. He said it’s more important than ever to support local.

Charmaine Roma, the sous chef at Events East Group, said cookie decorating will be part of the fun during the event.

“We’re really proud to have our local program,” Roma said. “We’ve been using local suppliers with a real focus on that since 2022.”

Roma said there are more than 100 local food and beverage suppliers taking part in the event.

Delaney said there is also an educational component to Welcome Weekend.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for the community to come out and find out just how easy it is to support local, meet the vendors, put a face to a name and just learn a little bit more about some of the great, vibrant culture and businesses that we have here in our province.”

LeBlanc said it’s possible to participate in the Nova Scotia Loyal program by purchasing products with the Nova Scotia Loyal label. He said retailers can visit the website for more information about adding the label to their products using a cost-sharing program to make it easier than ever to identify products made in Nova Scotia.

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