Dorchester’s Peep and Keep aims to create ‘old time sense of community’
The village of Dorchester is coming alive this weekend with its second festival of the summer, the Sandpiper Festival, running from Friday to Sunday with events at the Dorchester Veterans Community Centre (DVCC), the library, the Greater Dorchester Moving Forward Co-op, Palmers Pond, and of course, the Village Square. (Tonight’s concert in the square has been moved to the DVCC due to weather. The full schedule is available as a pdf here.)
It’s no coincidence that this weekend also marks the grand opening of Dorchester’s latest new business, the Peep and Keep Ecotique. Sandpipers—and their nearby migratory habitat on the mudflats off Dorchester Cape—feature prominently in the concept of the new shop, co-owned by longtime residents Kara Becker and Debbie Wiggins-Colwell.
The shop is dedicated in equal parts to environmental sustainability and cultural heritage, hence the “Peep and Keep” moniker. Becker says the pair wanted to “create that old time sense of community in Dorchester,” and also “celebrate our place in the Fundy biosphere.”
The shop provides information and support for the Johnson’s Mills Shorebird Reserve and Interpretive Centre, says Becker. As part of the Sandpiper Festival, this Saturday afternoon at 2pm, staff from the Nature Conservancy of Canada will make a presentation on sandpipers and shore birds at the Peep and Keep. That will be followed by a “mix and mingle” on the upper floors of the Bell Inn. “Folks can just get together and chat about everything that’s going on in the community,” says Becker.… Continue