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Slide The City has officially cancelled any plans of coming to Halifax. The giant water slide people say in a statement they haven’t been able to find an alternate location after not clearing Citadel Hill (which they originally announced for their summertime bacchanal). “The good news is that all the crunches, plucking and ‘man'scaping you were doing to have your summer body ready have not been in vain—you look great!” The company says it will issue refunds, and plans to try again next year.
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The winter of no fun has claimed one last victim: Exhibition Park. The provincial Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal is permanently closing the 30-year-old facility, which received heavy damage over the last winter. CBC reports the building would need $3 million in repairs and another $6 million in upgrades to maintain public safety. This year’s Maritime Fall Fair is also cancelled. Sorry, Exhibitionists.
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Health Canada has approved the RU-486 abortion pill for use in Canada. The application for the pill has been before Health Canada since 2012, National Abortion Federation president Vicki Saporta tells CBC, “so it is long overdue that they approve this very safe and effective method of early abortion care that millions of women around the world have been able to access since 1988.” Some countries allow the drug—which will be sold under the brand name MIfegymiso—to be dispensed by pharmacists, but women in Canada will still need a prescription from a doctor to purchase the drug.
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Halifax Shipping News reports the barges to be used in the Big Lift have arrived in the harbour. The Ocean Arctique tug tandem towed in the barges—named abys and timberland (barges traditionally have cool street names that make them sound tough, according to Maritime custom). The floating platforms will be used for segments of the Macdonald Bridge being removed and lowered down to the water, as well as carrying the replacement sections to be installed over the next year.
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Today we raise a tiny cup of donair sauce to Johnny K’s Donair—the joint venture between Mezza Lebanese Cuisine’s Nahas brothers and HFX Sports Bar’s Marcel Khoury celebrates its soft opening today on the legendary Pizza Corner. Tonight and Friday, Johnny’s will be serving authentic donairs from 7pm-midnight, with regular hours (11am-5am) and a full menu kicking off Saturday.
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Neville MacKay also welcomes you to check out his brand new space today. The sweet scents of My Mother’s Bloomers will no longer fill the air of Spring Garden Place mall—but you won’t have to go too far to find them. Bloomers now calls the iconic 5486 Spring Garden Road (the former Mills building) home.
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Independent Living Nova Scotia’s fourth annual Art of Disability Festival kicked off this morning at Dartmouth’s Alderney Landing, bringing artists, performers and craftspeople together for a one-day event. "I think there are some people who might be hesitant of talking to, you know, people with disabilities," explains coordinator Nicole McDonald. "So, by them coming to this event, it gives them a great opportunity to interact with us and see for themselves that we have talents and we can just be like anybody else in the community."
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You officially have less than 48 hours to exercise your right to vote in this year’s big, badass Best of Halifax readers’ poll. Show your favourite DJ/filmmaker/craft brewer/salon/Twitterer how much you care with a couple of clicks, and you could win a Halifax prize pack. Vote here, and we won’t bug you to do so again until next year.
+1 Sure Thing
Western Canadian Music Award Winners Sweet Alibi are a soul/folk/country trio, touring across the country ahead of their upcoming release Walking in the Dark and they’re playing The Company House tonight. The trio haven’t released an album since 2013’s We’ve Got To, but if their past releases are any indication, what’s to come will be explosive. Sweet Alibi soar with stirring harmonies and tight, twangy guitar riffs. Think Adele if she were a scorned Winnipegger.
Fireworks fans, consider spending your Natal Day with The Bandit (from our "Bang for your buck" look at local firework options).
