For our first full day in Newfoundland we had to have an adventure. And as the lady at the Hertz office had said that Sunday was the last day of the world famous Blueberry Festival in Brigus, we just had to drive there and take it in. So we headed there bright and early to avoid the huge line-ups of traffic that were expected from a festival so amazing. The internet research we had done said that there was one road for going into town and one going out because of the festival, and that shuttles ran constantly between the venue and the parking lots. Wow. We were hyped. The drive was about an hour, and traffic was, well, light. When we got to Brigus we looked for signs directing us to the Festival. There weren’t many, but I did spot a Festival parking sign that pointed us down a narrow road. The end of the road was blocked by a search and rescue truck with an older gentleman standing beside it. He vaguely waved to his right, which was our left, so we turned. A few metres later a gravel parking lot appeared on our right. Two young men were sitting on a bench. We pulled in and chatted. Yep, this was the parking lot for the Blueberry Festival. Two dollars for all day. Nope, the shuttle wasn’t running yet but it was just a five minutes walk to it. We gave them a twoonie, parked and started walking.

We saw evidence of something happening in town. There were barricades on streets and some driveways and doorway paths had tables set up on them. Those tables were empty but clearly something was up. We walked past some interesting shops to the little cafe. The staff there were all wearing Blueberry Festival t-shirts. That was a good sign. We had a light breakfast and by the time we were done, the Festival was up and running. And by that, I mean there was a person at the gate ready to take our $3 entrance fee and put a bracelet on us.

And we were in! At the world famous Brigus Blueberry Festival. I expected booths with homemade blueberry scones, blueberry jam, blueberry tea and all other things blueberry. We got a booth selling gloves, mittens, toques and purses with sealskin accents. One selling multi-coloured and patterned leggings and another selling handmade bows and barrettes. We stopped at a hand painted jewelry booth and walked by one selling moose burgers. Then we hit the beer tent. Surely there were more booths, another block of vendors around the corner. Nope. Just two more entrance gates. We laughed and backtracked. I stopped to buy a raffle ticket to support the Brigus Historical Society. They said they would mail the basket to me if I won (I didn’t as they were drawing the ticket at the end of the day and it’s well past then and no one’s called). There was a grassy area we had missed that was lined with booths, but they turned out to be little carnival games for kids.

Still laughing at the build-up we had given this event, we walked back to the parking lot. One of the driveway tables was now in business, selling “Homemade Blueberry Tarts, a tradition of over 20 years”. Dale bought one. It was a store bought mini pasty shell with (possibly) homemade filling, then topped with a squirt of whipped cream from a can! It was the only blueberry thing we had seen.

Traffic was picking up as we left. I’m sure it was a lovely local event. And Brigus is a beautiful town and we were happy we had walked around it. World famous, maybe.  Blueberry, not so much.

We left Brigus and drove towards Dildo. Dildo has been in the news recently because Jimmy Kimmel, of late night fame, discovered it somehow and has been fascinated with it. When he heard that it doesn’t have a mayor he offered to run for the position. So when we arrived there were signs everywhere saying “Jimmy ❤️ Dildo, Kimmel for Mayor”. But that was the main draw in Dildo, not much else was there. The Dildo Brewing Company was busy, but there weren’t many little shops selling souvenirs. Mmm, I can think of several good souvenirs from Dildo and several good t-shirt sayings to celebrate Dildo. Perhaps in association with Come by Chance, or Conception Bay…

It was still early so we drove up to Signal Hill and walked around. Dale went to the top of Cabot Tower while I sat on the wall below. When he came back, I was being chatted up by a gentleman. A friendly conversation between two tourists, nothing to tease me about, although Dale teased me.

We drove down to the Interpretation Centre just as a presentation involving the military involvement of Newfoundland troops throughout the years was about to start. We bought tickets and sat down. It was well done, with live music from the historical Drum and Fife Corp to start, followed by the red-coated Newfoundland troop, and the Newfoundland contingent in WW1. The redcoats filled their rifles with powder before they shot, and the other soldiers had blank bullets in their rifles. The cannon was very loud. After the presentation we had a cup of tea and walked around the historical display in the building.

We still had time so we went to Cape Spear, the easternmost point in Canada. I walked along a bit of the boardwalk so I could say I had been there. Dale walked up to the lighthouse but it was windy and I was tired so I sat in the car.

For dinner we tried a restaurant that had looked promising on our little walks about downtown St. John’s. They were out of mostly everything, so we had the nachos and left. Then we walked to a chocolate shop, loaded up and headed home. We settled in for the night, happy with our adventures and our little treat.