Mahone Bay 1919-2019 100 Years and Counting is a commemorative book published to celebrate mahone Bay's centennial year. The book is written by Bob Sayer.
The town of Mahone Bay was just about to wrap up its centennial year celebrations with a closing event March 31st when COVID-19 put a stop to that.
So instead, to celebrate the last 100 years, they have published a historic book – Mahone Bay 1919-2019: 100 Years and Counting – marks the incorporation of the town in 1919.
The book was written by Bob Sayer and provides a history of the town starting from the time of the aboriginal peoples first living there.
Sayer, a long-time Mahone Bay resident now living in Lunenburg, worked with Kelly Redden, Deputy Clerk and Records Administrator, looking through vast amounts of records, gathering information and pictures for the project.
“They came up with this book which is a tale that’s woven through the town over a hundred year period and talks about some of the happenings and the people who were critical to the development of the town,” said Mayor David Devenne.
The book was just one of the projects done over the year as part of the celebrations.
Residents also enjoyed a town picnic in the summer, a large mural was painted by Lunenburg Artist Peter Matyas and his son David on the east end of the reinforced plastics building, gardening and landscaping projects were completed around town, major renovations of the Michael O’Connor Memorial Bandstand were undertaken and residents were also asked to plant 100 trees, a goal they surpassed.
Devenne says it was important to publish the book because the makeup of the town is changing and the rich history needs to be preserved. Statistics show that more people are residents by choice rather than by birth and the book will see the town into the next 30 years and beyond.
There are no concrete plans for a closing ceremony but Devenne said it is something everyone is looking forward to.
“I’m sure that when COVID-19 is over there’ll be no problem getting people to come out and celebrate.”
Copies of the book are available at the Mahone Bay town hall.
