Every once and a while I have a super fun, jam packed weekend, and I love to do a little weekend roundup to share with everyone!
I live in a pretty unique Country, and even more so, a quirky, tiny Province, studded with eclectic communities filled with wonderful people I get to call family and friends.
This weekend was a last minute, very fun experience, honoring a community that has quite quickly become a second home to me.
A little background - how I came to know this community and all its' fantastic residents I owe 100% of the credit to my best friend Jessie, who a few years back began dating a man from up there. Quickly, we all became a rock solid group of friends, and would travel up to his hometown to spend summer weekends lounging on beaches, participating in Canoe runs, and soaking up rays at his family's beautiful camp along the river.
During trips up there, their friends and family became our friends, and those friends quickly became like family to us. One of my other best friends met a man from there on a long weekend Canoe trip, and everything became history. Marriages, babies, birthday parties, it's been a spectacular few years I've been so honored to share up there.
My best friends are basically my sisters born to a different Mom, and their significant others become by default brothers, so their home is my home, and mine is theirs'.
Me and my Harvey Girls!
This particular weekend, was a festival they call Harvey Community Days, and let me just tell you, this festival has been hands down the best I've ever seen, and I've been to quite a few. A fireworks display better than any big city display, especially the harbor-front displays my home city of Saint John has even put on in the past. They even had merchandise, adorable T-Shirts and Coozies, breakfasts, dances, parades, I could go on for ages. Linked above is the official Facebook page for the event, which I highly recommend you check out.
Harvey Coozies, Image Via Harvey Community Days official Facebook page
Friday night began with a BBQ with our group of friends hosted by my best friend Kelsey, and we made our way down to the lakefront with full bellies to catch the tail end of free concerts put on by the community, and a spectacular fireworks show. I give a standing ovation to the community of Harvey and all the sponsors who made that fireworks display possible. It was truly, honestly, breathtaking. I was almost too mesmerized to take pictures, but I'm glad I snapped a few. I even heard a few onlookers exclaim that the show was better than some they had seen at Disney, so honestly, that is something to be immensely proud of.
We were also given the opportunity to be in the parade with Kelsey and her boyfriend's race team. Her boyfriend, Justin, races the #38 Street Stock car at Speedway 660 in Geary, NB. The car was loaded up, shined up, and pulled in the "Cowboy" themed parade, and I think every business in the small town was present, and dressed in their western best. There was even candy supplied to us to toss out to excited children, and I don't think I had heard so many kids exclaim "Wow, look at the race car!" in one day. Justin even got mistaken for Jimmie Johnson by one excited onlooker, and finishing a podium third that Saturday night, I don't think it was a comparison he minded.
The events themselves went from August 5th-9th, so I didn't get to experience all of them, but the ones I did left me with such a warm fuzzy feeling in my heart. Never before had I felt such a sense of community. I left feeling full, happy, thankful for such amazing friends, and slightly envious that my own small town I call home doesn't do anything to this degree.
If you are able to plan a trip, I strongly suggest Harvey and its surrounding communities any time of the year, let alone during Harvey Community Days. I've never been welcomed so quickly into a community and felt so at ease. My husband and I are now convinced.. we're looking for a plot of land up there to build a summer home! So if anyone has any for sale... holla!
Below is a list of links to businesses and places in the Harvey area that deserve a shout out:
Harvey's Website
Places to Stay
Tweedside Road Home Decor - Based out of Harvey area, however has a storefront on Water Street in St. Andrews
Good Eats
Westphalia Bakery
xoxo - Court
No comments:
Post a Comment