Halifax Magazine May 2019

PLUS: THE UNKNOWN STORIES OF THE WOMEN WHO SHAPED HALIFAX P. 16 SPRING GARDEN ROAD IS DUE FOR A FACE LIFT; WILL SMALL BUSINESSES SURVIVE THE PROCESS? P. 24 CHRIS WILCOX MARKS 40 YEARS WITH SCOTIA FESTIVAL OF MUSIC P.26

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CONTENTS

Vol. 19 No. 4 | May 2019

16

FEATURES

DEPARTMENTS

16 | WOMEN WHO SHAPED HALIFAX History records a lot about the men who built this city, but little about the women who worked at their side

7 | EDITOR’S MESSAGE Some helpful advice for Halifax’s new police chief

PHOTO: ROSS ANDERSEN

18 | THE ULTIMATE NOVA SCOTIAN CRAFT BEER SIX PACK We scoured the province to build the ultimate party pleaser

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24 | REVITALIZED AT WHAT COST There is $10 million available to streetscape Spring Garden Road; can independent businesses survive the project?

26 | NOTES OF CHANGE Founder Chris Wilcox celebrates 40 years with Scotia Festival of Music before retiring

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15 | ENTERTAINMENT The Color Purple at Neptune Theatre, championship hockey, local art, professional soccer, plus more 28 | DINING: BUILDING COMMUNITY WITH COFFEE Jim Dikaios, owner of Java Blend Coffee Roasters, traces the family business’s eightdecade history

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PHOTO: TAMMY FANCY

PHOTO: BRUCE MURRAY, VISIONFIRE STUDIOS

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9 | CITYSCAPE The New Players Choral Society brings people together; Annie Valentina makes her mark at Neptune Theatre; attack of the killer widgets, and much more

30 | OPINION: OVERFLOWING PLATES AND EMPTY STOMACHS Food waste is a worldwide problem, but the solution isn’t hard

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8 | CONTRIBUTORS Meet the writers and photographers who work on Halifax Magazine

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EDITOR’S MESSAGE

A note to the new police chief Sometime soon we’ll learn the name of Halifax’s new police chief. I hope they have broad shoulders and inexhaustible energy, because they have a lot to do.

The new chief will already understand that not everyone loves and trusts cops, but will they understand what they’re signing up for in Halifax? They’ll be taking over a police force that has for many years, sometimes through neglect and sometimes through a stubborn commitment to bad policy, undermined its own efforts to connect with the city’s diverse communities.

Even though statistics show street checks unfairly target visible minorities (especially Black people), the leaders of Halifax police have defended the practice, insisting it somehow helps them prevent crime, without being able to show any proof of that.

Now finally, (after a direct order from the justice minister Mark Furey) police have suspended the practice. Note, that doesn’t mean the practice is gone for good; the same people who suspended it can just as easily resume it.

And while that does mean that (at least for now) police are less likely to hassle innocent Haligonians, it does nothing to heal the pain street checks caused.

All those people who were subjected to countless traffic stops, asked to show ID as they walked down the street, and treated with suspicion simply for being in public places, will continue to feel hurt and mistrust police. You know how you still stew over that time a cop pulled you over when you know you did nothing wrong? Now imagine that happening to you and your friends and family every few weeks for your entire life.

I don’t know how police can fix the damage.

Our new police chief should talk with the affected communities early and often to find out what they need. I suspect an apology would be a good step, but not the only step.

Whoever the new chief is, I have no doubt they’re saying all the right things about building bridges in the community, fostering trust, community stakeholders, etc. Assuming the chief really believes those things, they might also want to consider if an increasingly militarized police force is really the way to do it.

Recently, Halifax Regional Police told HRM Council they need a $500,000 armoured personnel carrier. They couldn’t (or wouldn’t) provide any specifics on how they’d use it; they couldn’t provide a single example of an incident in the police force’s entire history where they actually needed heavy military equipment.

Suppose the planned mass shooting at

Halifax Shopping Centre had happened. It’s hard to imagine how the vehicle would have helped there. Recently, there were reports of an armed person at Halifax Central Library. Police responded quickly and ably. What would they have done differently if they’d had this vehicle?

Police want it for the same reason I want a leather chair and a better phone; people always feel they deserve the best equipment their employer can buy, whether they need it or not.

But this isn’t just a waste of money: it’s another step towards militarizing police, pulling them further from any community-connecting efforts.

I’m sure the next time there’s a big protest downtown, the responding officers will find it reassuring to know they can have an armoured personnel carrier alongside them, looking menacing and intimidating citizens.

But unless the protest degenerates into some sort of Mad Max death race (which doesn’t tend to happen), I can’t see why they need the machine. Unless it’s to discourage people from protesting at all.

PHOTO: TAMMY FANCY

BY TREVOR J. ADAMS

tadams@metroguide.ca Halifax Magazine @HalifaxEditor @HalifaxMagazine

So chief, as you start your new job, consider if you’re here to serve and protect the community or control it. If you’re here to control it, tanks and racist policies are good tools. But if you’re here to serve the community, it’s time to take this police department in a new direction.

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CONTRIBUTORS KIM HART MACNEILL “The ultimate Nova Scotian craft-beer six pack” Kim is a freelance journalist and editor of East Coast Living. Read her beer column on HalifaxMag.com. @kimhartmacneill

MARIANNE SIMON “Overflowing plates and empty stomachs” Marianne is a writer and subeditor and has published many children’s stories, articles and poems in magazines and newspapers. Her interests include teaching and conducting Englishconversation classes. mariannesimon777@gmail.com

HALEIGH ATWOOD “Building community with coffee” Haleigh is editorial assistant for Lion’s Roar, America’s leading Buddhist publication. She graduated from the University of King’s College Bachelor of Journalism program in 2018. @HalEAtwood

ALEC BRUCE Cityscape Alec is a prize-winning scribbler who lives near one of Halifax’s two bridges.

Sometimes for money, he writes for newspapers, magazines, and online publications. His other interests include greasy spoons and crappy yard sales.

BRUCE MURRAY Photography for cover, cover story Bruce has been creating food and lifestyle photography for more than 20 years in the Maritimes and in his original studio in Vancouver. visionfire.ca

ANDREA NEMETZ “Notes of change” Andrea has been writing about news, sports, and entertainment for over 25 years.

DREW STRICKLAND Cityscape A Timberlea native who attends MSVU studying politics and theology, Drew also has a background in journalism, having studied and worked in Newfoundland before moving to Halifax.

TAMMY FANCY Cityscape, photo for Editor’s Message A freelance photojournalist, Tammy has shot for East Coast Living, Bedford Magazine, Profiles for Success, and Our Children magazines, plus two cookbooks. fancyfreefoto.com

ROSS ANDERSEN “Revitalized at what cost?”

A freelance journalist based in Halifax, Ross studied journalism at the University of King’s College and in Oakville at Sheridan College. His beats range from music to community news and everything in between.

KATIE INGRAM “Women who shaped Halifax” Katie frequently writes for Halifax Magazine and is the author of Breaking Disaster: Newspaper Stories of the Halifax Explosion.

STEVE SMITH Photo for cover story Steve is a photographer at VisionFire Studios in Pictou, shooting for a variety of clients throughout Atlantic Canada. visionfire.ca

8 | halifaxmag.com MAY 2019

CITYSCAPE SMALL BUSINESS

Troy Poisson. Below: April Poisson

Crafted with love STORY AND PHOTOS BY DREW STRICKLAND

Troy Poisson’s Fan-Ta-Stick Forest Gifts at Sunnyside Mall in Bedford features a variety of hand-crafted wood pieces, items like picture frames and heart-shaped medallions. But Poisson says profit isn’t the point, he aims to “spread thoughts of love and connection.”

Poisson developed a talent for wood crafting during his turbulent childhood; his father left the family and his mother died after a 10-year battle with cancer. In the 1990s he worked as a logger in the Truro area, coming to understand the importance of nature in connecting people.

One day while they worked, a man Poisson recalls as a “short man in his 80s who had incredible strength” interrupted the logging crew. He was afraid the workers would destroy a rock precious to him. The man would often spend time with his daughter here, where they would discuss their love for one another and their future aspirations.

But since his daughter had disappeared after a school trip, the man grew attached to this rock. It was all he felt he had left of her. Poisson realized that through his connection with nature, the man maintained strength through his love of his daughter. “Nature’s tools make us strong,” Poisson says. “People have grown less capable of thinking abstractly, which hurts their mental health. Through nature, we can help people learn to love again through abstract thought.”

With the message of love on his mind, Poisson seeks sponsors to commission works and help spread the message. “[I’m] looking to contact every business,” he says.

“The more support I can get to allow people to carry their love [through nature], the better.”

Poisson says his daughter April was a “strong inspiration” for starting the business. She manages the financial side

while producing wood crafts of her own.

Both say they’re optimistic about the business’s future, but “It’s been a struggle,” says April. “We hadn’t been able to start until last November. But this has been my dad’s dream for 20 years and I’m glad to be a part of it.”

MAY 2019 halifaxmag.com | 9

CITYSCAPE COMMUNITY

‘Music connects us all’ STORY AND PHOTOS BY TAMMY FANCY

Every Friday afternoon, seniors meet to practise with The New Players Choral Society at the Melville Heights retirement residence. “ We’re a family,” says music director John O’Halloran.

The group performs around Halifax, often in the Public Gardens. Recently they drew

some 366 people for a concert at St. Agnes Church Hall. “We had to remove the pews from the hall to make more room for people,” recalls O’Halloran.

The not-for-profit group relies on grant funding, ticket sales, and donations. Money goes into the choir to pay for musicians for

“WE’RE A FAMILY... MUSIC CONNECTS US ALL.” —JOHN O’HALLORAN

concerts, instruments, and travel. “We would like to play more concerts,” says O’Halloran, adding they need to raise money for bus rentals. Melville Heights donates weekly practice space, coffee, tea, and cookies for the choir members, plus a storage room for their instruments.

There is a lot of talent in the choir.

O’Halloran has sung since age 4; he attended the Royal Conservatory of Music, and played with Louis Armstrong in New York.

Members have diverse backgrounds and skills. There is a Former Miss Canada, many retired professionals, and veterans.

“Music connects us all,” O’Halloran explains, adding that non-singers are welcome. “We always find a use for our members. We have artists that make our signs for the shows, design our tickets, and others that help promote the choir.”

Pianist Greg Doyle and drummer Huntley Blair have both been with the choir for seven years. “I started on a trial basis and haven’t left yet,” laughs Doyle.

Doug Jennex attends every Friday ’s practice right after his dialysis treatment. “I love to sing,” he says. “My health is a wreck; my problems are under control because I can come here and to sing.”

Colleen Mielke is another active member.

The choir takes her back to her Cape Breton roots, “Music is in my soul,” she says. “When I was a kid there was always music and dancing with my parents.”

The Choral Society is open to new members, no skill required. “If you are 45, have a pulse, and we have an open chair, you’re in,” says Doyle. Members currently range in age from 52–96.

The New Players Choral Society’s next concert, Broadway Legends, is on June 2 at St. Agnes Church Hall at 6903 Mumford Rd. Tickets are $15. newplayerschoralsociety.com.

Back row (left to right): Anita Blair, Sally Fairfield, Connie Eaton (standing). Front row: Colleen Mielke, Shirley LePers, Joan Reardon.

10 | halifaxmag.com MAY 2019

Left photo (left to right): Annette Aucoin, Donna Healy, Colleen Mielke. Right photo: Drummer Huntley Blair joined the choir seven years ago.

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CITYSCAPE THEATRE

The importance of being Annie

BY ALEC BRUCE

With Halifax dramaturge Annie Valentina, you don’t always get what you see.

Forthright and passionate about her craft, she’s also soft-spoken and circumspect.

Neptune Theatre calls her its “Artistic Accomplice,” but she seems more of a persuader than partner in crime.

Still, she likes the title her boss, artistic director Jeremy Webb, gave her when he hired her last summer to help build a more inclusive and regionally relevant creative environment. “It could mean a lot of things,” she smiles over sips of black tea, “so it’s a good way of seeing.”

What matters now is how others in local theatre see her.

She’s certainly not an unknown quantity.

Since emigrating from Norway in 2000, the playwright-producer has taken the indie scene by storm. Last fall in Halifax, she mounted What to Expect When You Aren’t

Expected, a piece she composed and directed based on an academic examination of the experiences of LGBQ+ birthing women in Nova Scotia.

Says Lisa Goldberg , a D alhousie professor of nursing who generated the original research with her colleague, Megan Aston: “It went better than I could have expected. She’s brilliant, and I adore working with her.”

All the same, Webb insists, “she won’t take crap from anyone.”

She’ll need that winning combination of protagonist and philosopher to help manage Neptune’s new Chrysalis Project, designed to support emerging artists.

“There is a lot of wonderful truth-telling work coming out around here,” she says.

“We need to show it.”

After all, with Annie Valentina, you tend to get what you need.

TECHNOLOGY

Attack of the killer widgets

BY ALEC BRUCE

Halifax computer engineer Colin O’Flynn makes one thing perfectly clear: Your fridge can’t hurt you.

Not yet.

The future is a different story.

“Think about down the road, and the stuff you’re going to buy,” says the Dalhousie University assistant professor and co-founder of New AE Technology Inc. “I’m talking about the ‘Internet of Things.’ Even your thermostat is a pretty complicated computer, which might be connected to your doorbell. Someone could hook up to that and get into your Wi-Fi.” In 2016, the researcher and his colleagues at the Weizmann Institute of Science, near Tel Aviv in Israel, made global headlines by hacking Philips Hue smart bulbs installed on that campus.

“We can cause lights to flicker at a range of over 70 metres while driving,” O’Flynn, Eyal Ronen, Adi Shamir and Achi-Or

Weingarten wrote in one report, adding, “Philips has already confirmed and fixed the takeover vulnerability.”

That was the point of the exercise: To draw attention to growing security weaknesses in the online-enriched, but otherwise ordinary, devices we take for granted.

Through New AE, the computer scientist’s proprietary technology enables technicians to attack their own products and, theoretically, solve problems before they occur. Over the past couple of years, the enterprise has sold more than 1,000 units to private and public organizations.

Says O’Flynn: “The biggest thing is ransomware. Someone demands $100,000 to keep the lights on. Then, what do you do?”

tadams@metroguide.ca Halifax Magazine @HalifaxEditor @HalifaxMagazine

MAY 2019 halifaxmag.com | 13

ENTERTAINMENT The hottest things to see and do in Halifax this month

MAY 5

John Cleese An unforgettable evening with the man who has written, produced, directed, and starred in some of the greatest comedic hits of the last forty years, including Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Fawlty Towers, and A Fish Called Wanda. See him at Scotiabank Centre. ticketatlantic.com

MAY 17–26

Memorial Cup The Halifax Mooseheads host the champions of the Quebec, Ontario, and Western majorjunior hockey leagues as they battle for the national title. Scotiabank Centre hosts. ticketatlantic.com

CONTINUING

Art Gallery Of Nova Scotia

CONTINUING UNTIL JUNE 2

Atlantic Canada’s largest art museum features The Shore, Wind and View in Gaff Point. These paintings by Hangama Amiri explore childhood memory, cross-cultural dialogue, and feminism. artgalleryofnovascotia.ca

Neptune Theatre The Color Purple is an inspiring family saga, inspired by the classic Alice Walker novel, Tara Jackson stars as Celie in Neptune’s most-talked-about production of the season. Music and lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, and Stephen Bray. neptunetheatre.com

MAY 26–JUNE 9 MAY 29

HFX Wanderers FC Halifax’s new Canadian Premier League team takes on York9 FC in its first home game. The Wanderers feature a mix of l o ca l t a l e n ts a n d i n t e r n at i o n a l competitors, playing at a pop-up stadium on the corner of Sackville and Summer streets. Go to halifaxmag.ca to read “Welcoming the beautiful game.” hfxwanderersfc.canpl.ca

Scotia Festival Of Music Celebrating its 40th year, this festival of chamber music pairs local talents and international stars for two weeks of intimate concerts. Guests include conductor Bernhard Gueller, violist Sharon Wei, violinist Airi Yoshioka, cellist Denise Djokic, bassist Joe Phillips, soprano Susan Botti, performance artist Alan Syliboy, and many more. Concerts at the Dalhousie Arts Centre and the Peggy Corkum Music Room. See “Notes of change” on page 26. scotiafestival.com

tadams@metroguide.ca Halifax Magazine @HalifaxEditor @HalifaxMagazine MAY 2019 halifaxmag.com | 15

| FEATURE |

WOMEN WHO

SHAPED HALIFAX HISTORY RECORDS A LOT ABOUT THE MEN WHO BUILT THIS CITY, BUT LITTLE ABOUT THE WOMEN WHO WORKED AT THEIR SIDE

BY KATIE INGRAM

E

nos Collins, Joseph Howe, and Alexander Keith are names most Nova Scotians recognize. But what about the wives of those men: Eliza and Sarah Ann Keith, Margaret Collins, and Susan Ann Howe?

“A historical trend we see is that it was important men who were deemed worthy of study, and their historical records preserved,” says Claire Halstead, a post-doctoral research fellow in the history department at Saint Mary’s University. “By focusing on important men, such as politicians, women were often omitted.”

Or, in the case of Susan Ann Howe, glossed over.

Catherine Susan Ann Howe, née McNab Born May 12,1807 in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Catherine Susan Ann McNab went by her middle name of Susan, or Susy Anny to her husband.

In 1817, the McNab family (including her father Captain John McNab, mother Eleanor, and brother James), moved to McNab’s Island in the Halifax Harbour. At the time, her uncle Peter McNab II owned the island. She stayed there until her marriage, as the book, The Haligonians: 100 fascinating lives from the Halifax region said it “took the charms of Joseph Howe to get her off the island.”

An in-demand bachelor in his day, Howe would often row to the island attempting to woo Susan and win her family’s affection. This took work, as the family worried about Susan’s welfare if she married him. This changed once Howe bought newspapers The Acadian and the NovaScotian.

Following this purchase (according to the biography Joseph Howe Volume I: Conservative Reformer, 1804–1848), John McNab wrote to his future son in law, proclaiming him a “young man of the strictest honour and principle which I feel more contented than if he possessed wealth.”

Joseph and Susan married on Feb. 2, 1828 at St. Paul’s.

Along with raising the couple’s 10 children (several of which died as children) Susan also played a big part in the NovaScotian’s success. At

16 | halifaxmag.com MAY 2019

the time, female editors were rare. While her husband travelled around the province to spread word about his paper, Susan was often behind the editors’ desk, earning her the second nickname “Little Editor.”

“It is important then, that if we want to focus on [one of these women], that we research and emphasize her own merits and hard work as a woman rather than simply as someone’s wife,” says Halstead about the study of historic women. “It may be the context in which she lived, but there are many lenses.”

Historical records show Susan worried about her husband and his political activities; she preferred to stay out of the spotlight, but supported him nonetheless. He, in turn, seemed to dote on her and often wrote her letters. During one attempt at public office, Howe didn’t receive a single vote, but, since the day was wife’s birthday, he referred to it in one letter as a “a lucky day for me in all the concerns of life.”

The worries her family had prior to her marriage were well founded, as money troubles plagued the couple. Howe didn’t always leave Susan with much money when he travelled. In 1851, when her husband was away, she applied three times in a month for financial assistance in the sum of £18.

When Howe died in 1873, Susan was destitute; she had to rely on the government and her children for help.

In 1885, the Nova Scotia government granted her a $500 pension.

In her note to Provincial Secretary W.S. Fielding, she thanked the government for the “kind thought” and assured him “the welfare of Nova Scotia was from early manhood, very dear to the heart of my husband.”

On July 5, 1890 Susan died “in perfect peace,” at the age of 84, according to her obituary in the July 7 Halifax Morning Herald. She is buried alongside her husband at Camp Hill.

Sarah Ann Keith, née Stalcup and Eliza Keith While records of Susan Ann Howe are few and far between, there are even fewer for Sarah Ann and Eliza Keith.

Halstead says this is probably because, like many other women, their lives were connected more to the private sphere or the home. At the time, a husband’s role was often more public due to business and political ventures.

“Because their husbands were deemed more important for the history books, this neglects the importance of their relationship and also, my guess, would be that [they] performed some form of societal work that someone of her social standing would have been expected to do,” says Halstead.

In 1822, future Halifax mayor Alexander Keith was a 27-year-old embarking on a series of adventures. He moved his brewing business from Argyle Street to Lower Water Street and, on Dec. 17 married 26-year-old Sarah Ann Stalcup (her maiden name is sometimes spelled Stalkup). From their marriage bond, it appears she wasn’t employed prior to their wedding, as her job is listed as spinster and his as brewer.

That is pretty much all that is known about the first Mrs. Keith, besides the fact they didn’t have any children and she died 10 years into their marriage at age 36. Her obituary in the Aug. 24, 1832 Acadian Recorder said her death was due to a “painful illness.” She is buried at the Old Burying Ground on Barrington Street.

Eliza was born between 1812 and 1815. First cousin to the famous brewer, they married in 1833, about a year after Sarah Ann’s death. They had nine children together. The Life and Times of Alexander Keith: Nova Scotia’s Brewmaster, says Eliza would have managed Keith Hall, while her husband ran the brewery. She would have overseen servants, raised the children, and accompanied her husband to social events.

This is something that Halstead says was common at the time.

Women were often relegated to at-home tasks and duties, so the house defined their lives. Meanwhile, business and political achievements defined their husbands.

Following Keith’s death in 1873, he willed that Keith Hall and its belongings couldn’t be sold until Eliza passed away.

Eliza died on Dec. 27, 1895 at age 81, according to the monument in Camp Hill Cemetery, where she rests alongside her husband. Nova Scotia Vital Statistics says she died at age 83. Vital Statistics lists her job at the time of a death as “lady” and the cause of death as “general debility.” General debility is a catch-all term for physical weakness that can lead to other health problems, such as pain or memory loss.

Margaret Collins, née Hailburton Margaret Collins follows this trend of being a personal-life footnote in someone else’s story.

On June 27, 1825 Halifax businessman and banker, 51-year-old Enos Collins married Margaret Haliburton at St. Paul’s Church. Margaret, then 25, was the oldest daughter of Judge and Chief Justice of Nova Scotia Brenton Haliburton. According to Canadian Encyclopedia, people considered Collins one of the richest men in Canada at the time.

The couple settled into Collins’ home (Gorsebrook) and had nine children. As with Eliza and Sarah Ann, history records little about Margaret’s life; she would have had duties that fitted her upper-class status, like overseeing the household. In Canada’s Entrepreneurs: From the Fur Trade to the 1929 Stock Market Crash, the writer says the couple “entertained the governor and other leaders of the community.”

Margaret died in July 1868 at about 68 years of age. Her obituary in the July 3 British Colonist doesn’t give many details of her death or birth year, simply referring to her as Collins’s wife and Haliburton’s daughter.

Collins himself died in 1871 and the couple is buried at Camp Hill.

While historic records of these women can’t be updated, Halstead says a gap in history is now recognized.

“We’re getting better at it since the turn [toward marginalized groups and people] in historical studies, which placed an emphasis on women’s history and studying the important roles and contributions of women in the past,” she says. tadams@metroguide.ca

Halifax Magazine

@HalifaxEditor @HalifaxMagazine

MAY 2019 halifaxmag.com | 17

The

ultimate

Nova Scotian craft-beer

PHOTO: BRUCE MURRAY, VISIONFIRE STUDIOS

six pack

2 Crows Brewing co-owners Mark and Kelly Huizink and Jeremy Taylor.

18 | halifaxmag.com MAY 2019

We asked Halifax Magazine readers what breweries they’d put in their ultimate Nova Scotian craft beer six pack and hundreds of you weighed in through our web poll. Based on your answers, we present the ultimate Nova Scotian six pack. (But this isn’t a popularity contest; we considered every suggestion, and then made the final call.)

2 Crows Brewing Halifax

BY KIM HART MACNEILL

THE ESSENTIAL COLLECTION OF LOCALLY MADE BREWS

“It’s a good thing that they seem to enjoy each other’s company,” says Mark Huizink, gesturing at the gloved 2 Crows employees on the production floor surrounded by boxes of citrus.

The pair will spend the next few hours juicing cases of grapefruit and lemons for a gin-barrel-aged sour. Yesterday they peeled and chopped 100 pounds of guava and strawberry. “If this brewing thing doesn’t work out they’ll have a great career at Jamba Juice,” laughs head brewer Jeremy Taylor.

Taylor and Huizink joke, but the quality of the ingredients is important to them.

“I think we do push the envelope and stuff, but I try to be super respectful of the brewing too,” Taylor says. “We add some odd things, but it’s always to the benefit of the recipe, with the flavour profile in mind.”

Haligonians aren’t the only ones who notice the hard work. The brewery walked away with gold, silver, and bronze awards for various beer categories, and the best-in-show trophy at the Down East Brewing Awards in March. The competition fetes the best in Atlantic brewing.

In late April, 2 Crows rolled out a barrel-age sour collaboration beer with Dageraad Brewing from Burnaby, B.C., the 2018 Canadian Brewing Awards Brewery of the Year.

Bad Apple Brewhouse Somerset, N.S.

Many microbrewers dream of seeing their cans at NSLC. What stops most is the corporation’s rule that selling you product means supplying all stores across the province. But a new pilot project may change that.

The Nova Scotia Craft Brewers Association and NSLC are collaborating on the Hyper Local Project. Seven Annapolis Valley breweries can list a product in two to 13 stores across the region.

“It’s to bring awareness to the buy-local push,” says Bad Apple owner Jeff Saunders. “You’ll never be known to people outside your town if you don’t have a way to get it out there.”

Bad Apple already sold Boxcutter double India pale ale at NSLC and now adds Stearman American pale ale. “We weren’t selling a lot because [Boxcutter] is a beer that maybe the market wasn’t ready for,” Saunders says. “Now we’re actually selling our flagship beer.”

Cider also looms large on Saunders’ canning list. Watch for the return of Bad Apple’s dry apple cider and Tartan (a tart cranberry cider), plus new addition Apearently Funky, a pear cider.

Big Spruce Brewing Nyanza, N.S.

Ask Jeremy White how he’d increase craft beer’s 4.5% of Nova Scotia’s total beer sales and you’ll be on the phone for hours.

MAY 2019 halifaxmag.com | 19

| COVER STORY |

During a recent trip to Vermont for a beer festival and some brewery tours, he visited the Alchemist, brewer of Heady Topper, one of the craft beer world’s most lauded beers.

During his 10-minute wait in line, the brewery sold $8,000 US worth of beer. “I’ve only had five $8,000 days in the history of my front door,” White laughs. “Heady Topper, right in front of my face, had an $8,000 day in 10 minutes. On a Wednesday. In the winter.”

Nova Scotia has about 333,000 more people than Vermont but sells far less local beer. That troubles White. “The problem is that people have been marketed into believing big beer is what beer is,” he says.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do to get beer on lips.”

White will give more customers even more reason to visit his Nyanza brewery and organic farm this summer. Starting May 15, a Big Spruce-owned food truck will sling ethically produced and locally procured eats five days per week.

“We’re going to make the simple stuff that people come to expect from a food truck, and pair it perfectly with our beers,” says White.

Expect double cooked fries, burgers, and a pulled pork and ham sandwich with a 63-degree egg (an egg slowly cooked in a warm-water bath).

6

Boxing Rock Brewing Shelburne, N.S.

“Hey, Mario!” a voice shouts across the room at the Fredericton Craft Beer Festival in March. Behind Boxing Rock Brewing’s taps, Henry Pedro looks up from the beer he’s pouring and smiles in his red brewer’s overalls.

Pedro, Boxing Rock’s co-owner, heard the joke more than a few times that weekend but says it’s worth it.

Weyermann Specialty Malts in Germany awards the coveted coveralls to breweries who win a national or international award for a beer made with its malts. Stayin’ Alive bock won gold for Traditional German Style at the 2017 Canadian Brewing Awards.

Pedro’s overalls aren’t the brewery’s only news. This summer, expect to see regular releases from the Boxing Rock Test Kitchen within Local Source Market on Agricola Street.

“It’s one thing to make a pilot batch in your brewery and have the staff try it,” says co-owner Emily Tipton. “It’s completely another thing to make a one-barrel batch in the test kitchen and get feedback from paying customers.”

essential Nova Scotian beers

Bitter Get’er India (black IPA)

Dirty Blonde

Fantacity (witbier)

Big Spruce Brewing Nyanza, N.S. 6.6% Brace yourself. This beer brings bitterness, bite, and a hit of fresh-roasted coffee. Adding dry hops gives it a heady hop aroma and stubborn aftertaste.

Nine Locks Brewing Company Dartmouth, N.S. 5% Crisp and crushable. This American take on a German weizen style tastes of bread with a dry finish and hint of honey sweetness.

2 Crows Brewing Halifax, N.S. 5.1% The coriander and orange-peel flavour in this light wheat beer taste like a warm summer night. It’s light as a feather with subtle Citra hops that boost its citrus flavours and scents.

Nor’Easter (strong ale) The Vicar’s Cross (double India pale ale)

Black & Tackle (Russian imperial stout) Bad Apple Brewhouse Somerset, N.S. 9% A stout so black you can’t see through it with a flashlight (seriously; try it). Dark malts give it a depth of flavour and the high alcohol content warms your belly.

PHOTO: STEVE SMITH, VISIONFIRE STUDIOS

Boxing Rock Brewing Shelburne, N.S. 8.5% Tropical and citrus hops hide this strong ale’s serious alcohol content. This beer starts off sweet and bready and finishes with beautiful bitter.

FirkinStein Brewing Bridgewater, N.S. 7.5% A strong beer that’s got enough caramelly malts to back up its bitter Cascade hop flavour.

Pine, citrus, and floral scents will rise up out of your glass to tempt you in.

20 | halifaxmag.com MAY 2019

| COVER STORY |

Stop by on the first Tuesday each month: Tipton and Local Source staff pair nibbles and beer samples from 5–7 p.m.

FirkinStein Brewing Bridgewater, N.S.

When Devin Fraser and Adam Sarty started selling their beer via home delivery and farmers’ markets in 2015, they didn’t imagine it would lead to this.

The pair still work day jobs at the Michelin tire plant, but everything else has changed. The taproom, which opened in July, operates six days per week and hosts live music Thursday through Saturday.

“I try not to work Friday night and Saturday night because I don’t want to burn out, but we had a new band in Saturday and I promised I’d see their set,” says Fraser. “The next thing I know it’s 11:30 and I’m still there. It was a packed house, and everyone was dancing and having fun.”

Locals and visitors alike will soon have a new reason to visit the taproom. The Brew Crew, a group of 50 patrons, will brew small-batch beers under the watchful eye of Fraser and Sarty.

“We don’t have enough capacity to do a full range of the brews we want to make,” says Fraser. “So we got a small [brewing] system to play on. When we talked to the customers, everyone wanted to jump in.” Watch for the first keg in May.

Nine Locks Brewing Company Dartmouth, N.S.

Growth looms large on the minds of cousins Shaun and Danny O’Hearn, co-owners of Nine Locks.

Last year, a summer one-off beer, Apricot Blonde, took off on social media and sold fast. Customers begged Nine Locks to make more, but the brewery was at maximum capacity filling keg orders across the province and keeping NSLC shelves stocked.

“When we originally built the brewery three years ago, we built it with 180 hectolitres of fermenting space,” says Shaun. “Within three months we added 60 more. Last summer we added another 180.” For those counting at home, Nine Locks can ferment 420,000 litres of beer at once.

That’s why the O’Hearns and brewer Jake Saunders went to the Craft Brewers Conference in Denver, Colorado, in April to research a new canning line. “Our current can line is having a hard time keeping up with production,” says Shaun. “It runs about 22–25 cans per minute and we’re canning every day. This summer we’ll be canning every day, double shifts.”

Given the relaunch of Apricot Blonde, a new pale ale, and blonde ale four-packs coming to the NSLC in May, the time is right for Nine Locks to beef up its canning abilities. tadams@metroguide.ca

Halifax Magazine

@HalifaxEditor @HalifaxMagazine

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MAY 2019 halifaxmag.com | 21

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Gahan House Nova Centre OPENING SOON - Newly established in Halifax’s convention hub, the Nova Centre, Gahan House Nova Centre is sure to be your favourite destination in the heart of Halifax. Gahan’s atmosphere combined with their food and beer menu can’t be matched, there’s no better place to enjoy a fresh, handcrafted ale because their seasonal’s brewed on site and are available on tap and in crowlers to take home.

Gahan House Nova Centre, 1615 Grafton Street, Halifax, NS 902-444-3060 Gahan.ca

Wayfarers‘ Ale Society Wayfarers’, a tribute to a medieval English custom where travellers (Wayfarers) would knock on the door of local churches and receive a horn of ale and piece of bread to refresh them along their way. One customer noted, “I absolutely recommend a visit to Wayfarers’. Excellent brewery tour, excellent beer and a great overall story.

A standout brewery amongst all the craft brewers.”

1116 Kars Street, Port Williams, NS 902-542-7462 wayfarersale.ca

Killick Session Lager

Spindrift brewing company Our pale session lager is a balanced, approachable Helles that is light blonde in colour, crystal clear, and pours with a dense white head. Cracker-like malt character and grassy, floral hop character make for a refreshing beer for all occasions. An easy-to-drink, easy-to-love beer for everyone.

Wheel House Radler

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Spindrift brewing company Our Radler is a blend of real grapefruit soda and a pale base beer. It is a zippy, sweet, and refreshing citrus blend that goes down easy. Big, fruity flavour without compromising the taste of the beer. Perfect for decks, poolside, barbeques, and mowing the damn lawn.

Spindrift Brewing Company, 21 Frazee Ave, Dartmouth, NS 902-703-7438 spindriftbrewing.com

Propeller Brewing Co. A North End neighbour since 1997. Stop by for a pint or a flight in our Tasting Room at our Gottingen Street Brewery, with special cask releases every Friday. Plus, check out our new basement arcade! Full cold beer stores on Gottingen and on Windmill Road in Dartmouth.

2015 Gottingen Street, Halifax NS drinkpropeller.ca @PropellerBeer

Boxing Rock Since 2013, Boxing Rock has been brewing our legendary Nova Scotia Craft Beer on the South Shore. Visit us to enjoy samples of our beer in our hospitality room - try our awardwinning Vicar’s Cross Double IPA, our Hunky Dory Pale Ale, or one of our many seasonal brews. Enjoy beer flights and pints on our outdoor deck in the summer! Also visit us at our Bottle Shop and Test Kitchen in Halifax’s North end inside the Local Source Market. Check out our website.

78 Ohio Road, Shelburne, NS 902-494-9233 boxingrock.ca

| FEATURE |

REVITALIZED AT WHAT COST? THERE IS $10 MILLION AVAILABLE TO STREETSCAPE SPRING GARDEN ROAD; CAN INDEPENDENT BUSINESSES SURVIVE THE PROJECT?

BY ROSS ANDERSEN until eight years later when Halifax Regional Council committed to $17 million for renovations. When construction finished on Argyle Street in late 2017, more than $10 million remained.

In January, HRM planners held public consultations to receive feedback on how to spend that $10 million. The Spring Garden streetscape development would fall within the boundaries of South Park and Queen streets. The public saw three options including: enhancing sidewalk bump outs (extending the curb to give pedestrians shorter crossing and force drivers to slow), restricting left turns in either direction, and eliminating daytime road use by cars. The proposals also include loading and delivery zones on side streets.

“There are a lot of people who are expressing excitement around the idea of deemphasizing automobile use,” says Elora Wilkinson, Spring Garden Road project manager.

Wilkinson says more than 6,000 vehicles (including 850 Halifax Transit buses) per day use Spring Garden Road east of South Park Street. Eliminating cars, she says, will create a better flow of pedestrians, buses, and cyclists. Wilkinson admits that option is the boldest, and it wouldn’t end there. Phase two of the project will include exploring the option of tearing up Spring Garden Road to bury power lines. This could mean around-the-clock construction.

PHOTO: WIKAPEDIA/CITOBUN

PHOTO: NOVA SCOTIA ARCHIVES NO. NSIS 11369

When Jennifer’s of Nova Scotia opened its doors in 1978 it was one of several independent retailers on Spring Garden Road. Now it’s one of the last.

Jennifer’s sells artisanal products from across the Maritimes, most handmade in Nova Scotia. In its windows, the boutique displays range from glassware from the South Shore to Cape Breton pottery.

Kurt Bulger remembers when there were many independent stores like Jennifer’s. He worked there as a teenager in the early ‘80s as the handyman around the shop before working his way up to manager and now co-owner. “It’s what made Spring Garden unique, and this road has outlived the trends and battles of big box retailers of North America,” says Bulger.

Spring Garden looked a lot different before the influx of chain retailers. And now with a streetscape project in the works, Bulger is concerned. “I’m actually quite worried that in the next five to eight years we will not survive the direct intervention of the city, and what it’s trying to do to Spring Garden Road in the streetscape and the improvements,” he says.

The streetscape project dates back to 2009, when municipal planners wanted to invest in Spring Garden Road and Argyle Street for a similar project, but funding fell through. The project wouldn’t come to fruition

Some 6,000 vehicles per day use the east end of Spring Garden Road, far more than planners anticipated decades ago.

24 | halifaxmag.com MAY 2019

PHOTO: ROSS ANDERSEN

Kurt Bulger, co-owner of Jennifer’s of Nova Scotia.

“There’s a lot of mixed feedback from businesses. I think everyone wants something, what that means we’re not exactly all aligned on,” says Wilkinson.

Bulger isn’t the only business owner who is concerned. Philip Holmans, who owns World Tea House on Argyle Street, was days away from bankruptcy during the now-completed Argyle streetscape project.

Now he warns other businesses of the risks streetscaping projects can pose to independent owners.

“I believed in the streetscape project and I believed in the downtown revitalization project,” says Holmans.

Holmans was so confident of the return on the city projects, he opened a second shop in Bedford on the scheduled completion date of the Halifax Convention Centre. He knew he would have to make sacrifices during construction seasons, but there were consequences he didn’t anticipate.

“We saw huge losses of up to 80% of our income. I had to take equity out of my house and lay off most of my staff just to keep the lights on,” says Holmans.

Just as his business was recovering from the loss it took during the convention centre’s construction, the Argyle streetscape began. People were avoiding Argyle Street because of construction and business was slow. Holmans says he is still significantly in debt. He had to sell the Bedford location to avoid bankruptcy. If it not for a cry for help on social media that led to a surge in business, he says he would have had to close his doors on Argyle Street. Some owners took advantage of the construction to rebrand, others relocated.

“We did our best at that time to give them the heads up; you don’t really know how it’s going to be until construction season starts,” says Wilkinson. She adds that businesses on Argyle Street have seen a lift in sales since the streetscape and she’s optimistic Spring Garden will have the same effect.

Despite the inconveniences construction season brings to residents and businesses, planners say the positives will outweigh the negatives.

In April, a fourth option was presented and approved by HRM Council, also known as the hybrid option. This design takes aspects from the three previous options, while addressing some of the concerns raised during the consultations. Turn restrictions will be implemented,

sidewalks will be extended by 57% and a designated loading zone will be maintained. The design will also leave room for piloting a temporary transit corridor and consider one-way side street conversions.

For stores like Jennifer’s, that timeline is critical.“Two construction seasons would wipe me out, one would be bad enough,” says Bulger.

Wilkinson doesn’t expect shovels to be in the ground until 2020 at the earliest. She says that will give time for businesses to prepare.

Wilkinson says that it is unlikely Spring Garden Road will be closed indefinitely, but day and night time construction isn’t out of the question. Pedestrian traffic will always be open and stores will always be accessible.

For Holmans, he admits he assumed the revitalization projects would be good for business. He saw it as an exciting investment into the community and the return of pedestrian traffic would mitigate any losses during construction seasons.

“If the city had prepared the independent business community before construction started, I wouldn’t have been in such a deep hole,” says Holmans.

Now, World Tea House is fully staffed again and business has never been better. But the rebound took time. Most of the foot traffic picks up when the street is closed to traffic during street festivals. Holman’s thinks that is where Spring Garden is really going to shine.

Bulger admits a makeover on Spring Garden Road is overdue. He sees the benefits that independent businesses will get in return, but he’s concerned at the toll of getting them. “Refresh the street, get the power lines in the ground and widen the sidewalks,” he says. “It accomplishes what they want.”

Bulger doesn’t think the concerns of merchants are fairly reflected in HRM’s decisions. Supporters say consultation is a big part of the process, with the final decision hinging on how the public majority want to see their tax dollars spent.

“People believe that there can be something transformative done to Spring Garden and we can be bold,” says Wilkinson. “It can only get better.”

tadams@metroguide.ca

Halifax Magazine

@HalifaxEditor @HalifaxMagazine MAY 2019 halifaxmag.com | 25

| FEATURE |

Notes of CHANGE FOUNDER CHRIS WILCOX CELEBRATES 40 YEARS WITH SCOTIA FESTIVAL OF MUSIC BEFORE RETIRING

BY ANDREA NEMETZ

During his 40 years helming Scotia Festival of music, Chris Wilcox (top), helped bring music legends like Pierre Boulez (left photo, right side) and Robert Marcellus (right photo, left side) to Halifax.

26 | halifaxmag.com MAY 2019

It’s 237 steps from Chris Wilcox’s apartment (bursting with art, quirky collectibles, and a playful white cat) to the Peggy Corkum Music Room on Lady Hammond Road.

The building, renowned for its excellent acoustics and Steinway grand piano, is a second home for the man behind Scotia Festival of Music, which celebrates its 40th anniversary season from May 27 to June 9.

This is Wilcox’s last year as managing and artistic director of the two-week chamber-music festival he started with his one-time teacher Robert Marcellus (principal clarinet of the Cleveland Orchestra) as artistic director.

But he won’t step away completely. “Chris is what makes Scotia Festival so special. He has a sixth sense for bringing people together in an interesting way, finding the right piece and the right people to play it,” says Simon Docking, who is taking over as artistic director, calling the transition a “deliberate cross fade.”

There’s a sense of community at Scotia Festival, with its unique mix of professionals and young artists who come together for two weeks of coaching, daily concerts, and fun, says two-time Grammy winning violinist James Ehnes.

“Chris has a real knack for finding personalities that buy into the program,” he explains. “When chamber-music players invest in one another, the total is greater than the sum of its parts.”

Ehnes, who performed at the festival in 2016 and was artist-inresidence in 2017, says Wilcox lives by his own rules: “When he gets an idea, he spreads his enthusiasm for that idea. He never questions can we do it, he just says ‘I’ll figure it out.’ It’s such a great quality in a presenter.”

A Manitoban now living in Florida, Ehnes enthuses about how Wilcox makes everyone feel special and so much part of the family in such a short time.

Over the years, that family has included soprano Maureen Forrester, composer Philip Glass (in 1999 and 2018), violinist Yehudi Menuhin, violist Walter Trampler, pianists John Browning and Marc-Andre Hamelin and French Horn virtuoso Philip Myers, who will be part of the 2019 festival, among other celebrated musicians.

Acclaimed composer and conductor Pierre Boulez stands out among the festival’s star-studded performers for Wilcox. He brought “the biggest name in classical music in the second half of the 20th century,” from Paris to Halifax in 1991, along with Boulez’s 36-member Ensemble Intercontemporain, “the finest contemporary-music ensemble in the world,” on its first Canadian tour.

Chris Wilcox (right) is also an accomplished clarinetist, originally moving to Nova Scotia to join the Halifax Symphony.

Wilcox describes himself as “beer-drinking second clarinet player,” so their relationship seems unlikely. He began writing to Boulez in the mid-1980s and forged a strong connection with the man he says “changed music history as a composer.”

Boulez’s description of Scotia Festival as being “like a living thing,” is a quote Wilcox treasures, as he does the memory of Boulez attending every student concert and helping set up chairs for rehearsals.

Born in Winnipeg, Wilcox is the son of Eldon Wilcox, a CBC Radio announcer, and Leone, “a farm girl who was in love with music.”

“Without her, Scotia Festival wouldn’t be here,” Wilcox says, noting his mother came to Halifax to be with him and became personnel supervisor at the Atlantic Symphony. “We started Scotia Festival in her kitchen.”

Growing up, Wilcox was an Elvis Presley fan who loved Dixieland Jazz and collected Louis Armstrong records.

A keen athlete, he opted not to take up Michigan State’s invitation to play varsity basketball because he discovered the school had a very different approach to the game.

“It felt like a stampede of cattle.”

He started playing clarinet at 18 and two years later was studying in Cleveland with Marcellus, widely considered to be the most influential clarinet teacher of the last half of the 20th century.

Wilcox landed a gig with the Expo ’67 band in Montreal. He then moved to Nova Scotia to play with the Halifax Symphony, which became the Atlantic Symphony.

Marcellus, in Halifax to take part in Wilcox’s Scotia Chamber Players series, suggested launching a chamber-music festival strongly based on education as well as performance.

The first festival in 1980, featuring cellist Lynn Harrell and pianist Browning in Rachmaninoff’s Cello Sonata, stunned the audience.

Marcellus was in tears, asking “What have we done?” another of Wilcox’s favourite quotes.

Docking says access to the festival’s 50 annual shows is what makes it special.

“It’s very Nova Scotian,” says the Australian who moved to Halifax in 2001 with his wife, Jennifer Bain, a musicology professor at Dalhousie University. “If you meet people in the lobby, you talk to them. Audience members talk to the performers. Young artists are billeted. There’s a wonderful, informal collegial community, which doesn’t happen many places.”

Simon Docking is Chris Wilcox’s handpicked replacement as artistic director of Scotia Festival of Music.

The Young Artist Program is another special thing about Scotia Festival, says Docking. “Forty to 50 fantastic young musicians have access to these fabulous performers in coaching and master classes and the performers thrive on it, forming relationships that last years.”

Ehnes agrees, noting he has kept in touch with the young people he met.

Docking is an active solo and chamber musician who plays keyboards with Symphony Nova Scotia. He performed at the opening concert of the Music Room in 2002 and has been involved with both Scotia Festival and the Music Room Chamber Players series for many years, programming 80% of this year’s Chamber Players concerts.

Wilcox started hinting Docking take over the festival about eight years ago.

“It was important to Chris to have someone who knows the Halifax music scene. I’m a come from away, but I’ve been here long enough to know the music scene and what a miracle something like this is.

I’ll do my best to see that the festival he built, which is so precious and so wonderful, flourishes,” says Docking.

Ehnes believes Docking is the perfect person to take over “an organization I care very much about. It will be in great hands.”

Wilcox officially retires on July 31 and says he’ll be busy playing squash and bridge, and doing some writing, possibly a memoir.

And regularly walking those 237 steps to the Music Room.

tadams@metroguide.ca

Halifax Magazine

@HalifaxEditor @HalifaxMagazine

MAY 2019 halifaxmag.com | 27

DINING

Building community with coffee JIM DIKAIOS, OWNER OF JAVA BLEND COFFEE ROASTERS, TRACES THE FAMILY BUSINESS’S EIGHTDECADE HISTORY

BY HALEIGH ATWOOD

When Jim Dikaios was in his early thirties, his father showed him two 150-pound bags of coffee beans in the storage room of Java Blend Coffee Roasters.

“This is all we have left,” his father said.

“Once this goes, we’re done.”

As coffee prices soared in the late ‘90s, Dikaios’s father, owner of Java Blend at the time, found himself selling beans to wholesale clients for less than he was paying for them.

As a result, he owed his coffee importer more than $100,000.

Wanting to help his father, Dikaios called another importer who had shown interest in selling to them. A small batch of Colombian beans arrived. To his surprise, not only were they cheaper, they tasted better.

Dikaios realized two things: his father’s importer had taken advantage of his loyalty and coffee quality can fluctuate due to factors such as region, importer, and yearly harvest.

“At that moment, I was hooked on wanting to 28 | halifaxmag.com MAY 2019

make the best coffee for our customers,” Dikaios says.

He left his background in marine biology behind—a relief for his seasickness—to help his father save Java Blend. Eventually, they paid off their debt and salvaged the business.

Theodore Sideris founded Java Blend in 1938. He was a Greek man who believed everyone should have access to freshly roasted coffee. It was a revolutionary concept in Halifax. The original shop, located on Hollis Street, served restaurants and cafés looking for something better than commercial-grade coffee.

When Dikaios’s father Peter bought Java Blend in 1971, Sideris stayed on as a mentor.

Dikaios remembers walking to work after school, cringing whenever he saw Sideris sitting in the window, munching on a handful of coffee beans as if they were peanuts.

“He would always ask about my math marks,” Dikaios says.

In the café, two framed photographs hang above the milk and sugar station. In each sepia-tinged image, Sideris, a balding gentleman in a suit, peers out from under bushy eyebrows. In one, he is standing next to Dikaios’s father, surrounded by coffee equipment.

Sideris’s daughter, Anita Graham, still frequents the cafe. She is pleased that Java Blend is going on 80 years old. “He would have been very happy to hear it is still in personal hands,” she says.

By 1985, Java Blend had outgrown its Hollis Street location moving to its current spot on North Street. For a time, there were cafés in the Maritime Centre, Penhorn Mall, and Westend Mall. The franchise model didn’t last, and when Dikaios took over from his father, there was only the cafe and roastery on North Street. Now, Dikaios has a vendor stand at the Halifax Seaport Farmers’ Market and a warehouse in Burnside where the majority of

DINING

Top: Theodore Sideris founded Java Blend in 1938. Left: When Peter Dikaios bought Java Blend, Sideris stayed on as his mentor.

the beans are roasted for his 250 to 300 wholesale clients.

Java Blend offers between 15 to 20 types of coffee (including house blends and singleorigin coffees)sourced from multiple importers around the world. Dikaios owes part of his success to his team’s ability to select, not only speciality coffees, but coffees they can sell at a respectable price to their customers.

Laura Arsenault, front-of-house manager, also praises the team. “We have phenomenal staff that are hardworking, kind, and approachable,” Arsenault says.

Dikaios says he wants to be a good citizen, giving back to those who have supported him. The café has an annual free-coffee day, asking people to leave a donation, which goes to a local food bank.

Dikaios has watched the North End evolve.

He’s happy to welcome new businesses, including other roasteries such as Nova Coffee, Anchor, Just Us, and North Mountain.

One of the newest roasters, Federico Pasquinelli, operates an Italian-style espresso shop on Isleville Street. Most likely the smallest café in Halifax, Espresso 46 is a window in a brick warehouse from which Pasquinelli serves his own specialty blend.

A coffee-machine technician, Pasquinelli was a part-time roaster at Java Blend before starting Espresso 46. Initially, he worried that his plans would upset Dikaios.

“I didn’t want to step on anyone’s toes,” Pasquinelli says. “I talked to Jim straight away to ask what he thought about opening this place. He told me to go for it and he lent me the coffee machine. I’ve always found his passion for coffee very sincere.”

Dikaios has other hobbies, like cycling and photography. A few years ago, he traveled to Majorca, Spain, with a group of cyclists to bike 120 kilometres per day for two weeks.

His two daughters live in Montreal, and he and his wife take time off to visit them. But, in many ways, Dikaios remains a product of both Java Blend and the North End. He was raised in a two-storey house across the street from the cafe. He grew up attending Oxford School and playing ball hockey on King Street. He worked at Java Blend with his father as a teenager and young adult, and throughout all this time, he hasn’t lost the bug for seeking and serving quality coffee.

When it comes to the experience Dikaios hopes customers have at Java Blend, he simply gestures to the gentle hum of the cafe.

“This is it,” he says.

There is a gentleman sitting in the corner who comes in everyday to read his newspaper.

A group of students meet to discuss an upcoming project. Solitary people plug away at their laptops. Staff greet customers, answer questions, fill five-pound bags of coffee, and nod as someone lingers to inform them loudly that they’ve been coming here “since you were on Hollis Street!” The space is filled with chatter, music, clinking glasses, fingers striking keys, beans being ground, and espresso being poured.

“It’s just a regular café with a lot of familiar faces,” Dikaios says.

tadams@metroguide.ca Halifax Magazine @HalifaxEditor @HalifaxMagazine

HOW THEY MAKE IT To provide enough coffee for all of Java Blend’s wholesale clients, Jim Dikaios uses three industrial-size coffee roasters.

There is a 25-kilogram roaster at the cafe on North Street, as well as a 25-kilogram and a 12-kilogram roaster at the warehouse in Burnside. Each one is programmed with all of Java Blend’s coffee recipes.

Dikaios selects the recipe, and then the roaster applies varying degrees of heat at different stages of the roasting process. Dikaios and staff determine these recipes, or roasting profiles, through a combination of past knowledge and experimentation.

It takes around 15 minutes to roast a batch of coffee, and then the beans go onto a cooling tray and dumped into a machine that fills one or five pound bags. After that, the coffee is off to wholesale clients, some of whom order 100 pounds per week.

MAY 2019 halifaxmag.com | 29

OPINION

OVERFLOWING PLATES AND EMPTY STOMACHS FOOD WASTE IS A WORLDWIDE PROBLEM, BUT THE SOLUTION ISN’T HARD

BY MARIANNE SIMON

When I was a child in India, I never experienced the hunger pangs that gnaw at the innards of children from very poor families as they fall asleep on empty stomachs. But I have some idea of what it must feel like. The growling stomach keeps them awake; after a long time they fall asleep out of sheer exhaustion. What will they dream of?

Some time ago, I attended a party. The laughter, gaiety, and intelligent conversation made the evening pleasant. Then came the food. Colourful, artistically arranged, mouthwatering dishes covered the table. I began to wonder how we could ever eat it all. When the party was over, I noticed that we had eaten only about half of the food.

That night I lay awake thinking of wasted food. I tried to figure out how many hungry children could have been fed with the food that was left over. The thought made me sad.

The pictures of hungry children loomed large in front of me.

The kind that we see on TV screens during commercials asking for donations to help children in the developing world.

The pictures are disturbing, but they don’t melt hearts any more. Maybe because we see them so often, and our empathy is depleted. We don’t seem to feel deeply about anything any more, and we suffer from compassion fatigue.

Statistics are mind boggling. According to the Global Nutrition Report, 2015, 800 million children go hungry, 2 billion are micronutrient deficient, 1.9 billion are overweight and obese, 160 million under age 5 are stunted. Around 66 million primary school-age children attend classes hungry across the developing world (World Food Program, 2012).

Approximately 3.1 million children die from undernutrition each year (UNICEF, 2018).

The Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Food Program (WFP), and the International Fund for Agriculture Development, say in their report The State of Food Insecurity and Nutrition in the World 2017 that 815 million people (or one in every 10) around the world experience chronic hunger. This is while the developed world wastes one-third to half of all the food it produces.

According to a report by Statista on the per-capita food waste worldwide in 2017 (in kilograms per year), Australia wasted 361 kilograms, the United States 278 kilograms. The

30 | halifaxmag.com MAY 2019

average Canadian consumer wastes 170 kilograms of food a year. How can anyone justify this?

I think about ways to avoid wasting food. One way is to serve each person as much as he can eat and no more. As an Indian, I would like to mention how it is done in many restaurants there: a sumptuous full course meal is served on a banana leaf.

A clean banana leaf is placed on the table. Small steel bowls are arranged in a row at the top edge of the leaf. These are for the curries and other dishes with thin sauces. Then the servers arrive and fill the bowls. All the other preparations, served little at a time, are placed on the leaf in a second row.

Steaming hot rice is served last with a spoon or two of clarified butter poured over it.

The servers keep a constant watch over the guests and refill the bowls as and when they become empty. Everyone eats his fill and what is left are the empty steel bowls and a used banana leaf. The bowls are washed and used again and the leaf goes into a compost pit. Perfectly earth-friendly and no wastage at all. Even some of the five-star hotels have restaurants that use this method.

I know it would be hard to sell Haligonians on this particular method but there are other ways to save food.

What about cooking or ordering or taking just enough for the people around the table and getting extra only when plates are cleaned?

Not everyone wastes food. But most of us do. Parents have a responsibility to make their children aware that in many parts of the world millions go hungry. Let them remember their hungry brothers and sisters when they empty their half-full plates into the garbage bin.

The world population is forecasted to reach 9.6 billion in 2050. The question is, how are we going to produce enough food for everyone? By reducing food wastage, we can improve the food security worldwide. And we can all easily do our part.

tadams@metroguide.ca Halifax Magazine @HalifaxEditor @HalifaxMagazine

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