The tiny community of Cheverie on the province's western shoreline will host the wedding on Saturday of one of its most famous sons, Liberal MP Scott Brison, and his partner Maxime St. Pierre.
News of the nuptials has made headlines across the country as Brison becomes the first federal politician to tie the knot since gay marriage was legalized just over two years ago.
But many of the 200 or so residents of the blink-and-you-miss-it community of Cheverie don't understand the fuss, saying it's merely the story of a popular local boy who's come home to marry his longtime love.
"Everybody knows Scott, so it's just another wedding, I guess," said Paul, an employee at Cheverie's autobody shop who would only give his first name.
"People are talking, but I don't think it bothers anybody. It's not the 1800s anymore."
Brison, 40, has refused to comment on the marriage ceremony, details of which have been kept quiet by his family and friends, who were asked not to reveal anything about the event scheduled to take place at the politician's rural home.
Dale Palmeter, Brison's spokesman, would only say that "from the perspective of Scott and Maxime, this is a personal matter which is meant to be celebrated in private."
There are some high-profile people on the guest list, including Liberal Leader Stephane Dion and former prime minister Paul Martin. Media reports say ex-cabinet minister Ken Dryden, former New Brunswick premier Frank McKenna and former Conservative prime minister Joe Clark are also expected to attend.
In 2000 when Brison was sitting as a Progressive Conservative in the Commons, he resigned his seat so Clark - who was the party's leader - could run in a byelection.
Brison ran for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative party in 2003 before switching to the Liberals just days after it merged with the Canadian Alliance to form the Conservative party. He also ran for the Liberal leadership last year.
Some of the invited guests say the couple will exchange vows and then host a dinner and dance on Brison's sprawling property.
Bob Stead, mayor of nearby Wolfville and a longtime friend of Brison's, said there is little talk of the event in his Kings-Hants riding, which has never made much of the politician's sexual orientation.
"I think for us it's kind of a so-what kind of thing," he said in an interview earlier this week. "I really don't think anyone's going to be uptight about it."
Brison's wedding comes just weeks after George Smitherman, Ontario's first openly gay cabinet minister, wed his partner Christopher Peloso at a lodge near Sudbury, Ont.
It's only been in the last decade that many gay and lesbian politicians have begun to publicly acknowledge their sexual orientation. But gay rights advocates say society could see more homosexual public figures walking down the aisle.
"Any time someone high-profile takes advantage of the rights that have been hard-fought for, I think that's a good day for the community as a whole," Kevin Kindred of the Nova Scotia Rainbow Action Project said in Halifax.
"It brings attention to equality and diversity and it's a sign of progress."
Brison came out in 2002 and became Canada's first openly gay cabinet minister in 2004 after he crossed the floor of the Commons to join the Liberals. But he's never defined his political persona around the issue and has closely guarded his private life.
In Brison's words, he is "not a gay politician, but a politician who happens to be gay."
It's an ethos that seems to have worked in the picturesque nook of the Annapolis Valley he represents, where one former Tory organizer said no one got ruffled when he revealed his sexual orientation years ago.
"It was a non-issue and various people tried to dredge up comment from little old ladies locally of outrage and disgust, but they just seemed to say good for him," Paul Hobson, a former president of the Conservative riding association, said with a laugh.
"I guess this is notable because it's a first, but other than that Brison's right - we should all look forward to the day when nobody pays any attention to it. This is his personal life, not his political life."
Brison crossed to the Liberals in 2003 before a highly divisive debate on the same-sex marriage bill in June 2005 that saw more than two dozen Liberals join with the Conservative Opposition in voting against the legislation.
Afterwards, Brison joked that then prime minister Martin told him: "Well, after all I've been through on this Brison, you'd better get married."
