🪵 Landmark is suddenly off-limits

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Good morning, Saint John! It’s National Junk Food Day, less of a holiday and more of an excuse to surprise your coworkers with a gas station snack haul on the way to work.

Here’s the lowdown for the day:

Here’s we go!

-Geoff Walsh, Publisher

The Saint John Jewish Historical Museum is celebrating 40 years of making sure a big piece of this city’s story never gets lost. Luckily, Katherine Biggs-Craft has been there almost every step of the way.

She joined as a student during the museum’s opening summer in 1986, when the whole operation fit inside one small room. She never expected it to become her life’s work, but somewhere along the way, that’s exactly what happened.

“As the years went along, I knew I was where I was meant to be,” Katherine told SJ Today.

Today, she’s the museum’s executive director and curator, and that small room has grown into Atlantic Canada’s only Jewish museum. It has welcomed more than 142,000 visitors, created over 100 exhibitions and filled its calendar with concerts, book readings, film festivals and Holocaust commemorations.

Over four decades, Katherine has become deeply connected to the community. What keeps the job interesting, she says, is that there’s always something new to learn and someone new to share it with.

The museum also gives Jewish families who grew up here and moved away a way to stay connected to Saint John.

“I feel like the museum is the glue that keeps them grounded with their own stories,” she said.

After 40 years, Katherine still knows she’s where she’s meant to be.

The Canadian Jewish News has the full story on Katherine and the museum’s anniversary here.

Sure, East Side Mario's is great for birthdays, graduations and team dinners. But it's just as good for random Tuesdays when nobody feels like cooking and everyone could use a night out.

Bring the family, grab some friends or make it a date night. However you celebrate, you'll find generous portions, warm hospitality and plenty of Garlic Homeloaf waiting at the table. Proudly locally owned and operated in Saint John.

🪵 A bridge too far gone

One of St. Martins’ most recognizable landmarks is suddenly closed to drivers. The province barricaded the Hardscrabble covered bridge Friday after an inspection found it had deteriorated enough to raise safety concerns.

Pedestrians can still cross, while vehicles are being detoured along Yeomans Road and Big Salmon River Road. Mayor John Cairns says he found out the morning it closed. Detour improvements are promised “soon,” but replacing the historic bridge is expected to take at least a couple of years.

🚐 The museum has wheels

The New Brunswick Museum is taking the provincial collection on a summer road trip, which should beat leaving it packed away while its new Saint John home is built.

The new Summer of History Mobile Museum will pop up at festivals and community celebrations with artifacts, interactive exhibits and stories pulled from New Brunswick’s natural and cultural history. Each stop will also feature nearby museums and heritage organizations worth checking out once the travelling version rolls away.

The tour has already visited Potato World and Moncton, with Miramichi, Edmundston, St. Stephen and Caraquet also on the itinerary. Dates and locations are being announced stop by stop, so follow the museum on Facebook to see where history parks next.

📚 Clear your shelves for a good cause

A west side book market is getting ready to open with one very kid-friendly pricing policy: everything costs absolutely nothing.

Marlee Learmonth is collecting new and gently used children’s books for a Free Kids Book Market outside the Carleton Community Centre on Saturday, Aug. 8 from 2–4pm, or until the shelves are cleared. Books are geared toward children from pre-K to Grade 5, with the goal of letting each child choose a few favourites to begin or build a library at home.

There’ll also be story time, face painting, bookmark decorating, cozy places to read and family resources. Anyone with board books, picture books or early readers ready for a new home can email Marlee at [email protected] to donate.

We’ve been looking for more ways to get SJ Today readers together in real life, and this one sounds pretty fun. You’d take a quick personality quiz, get matched with five other local people for dinner, then find out which restaurant you’re heading to that morning. Afterward, all the tables would meet up at one surprise location.

Tickets would be $18, with everyone covering their own dinner and drinks. We’d try it, see how it goes and that everybody has a great time. We need at least 30 people to pull it off, but first we need to know…

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Put your business in the hands of your neighbours. Advertise with us and watch your audience grow!

🎭 Theatre Talk Tuesday

A Midsummer Night’s Dream | July 22 to 25
Loyalist City Shakespeare turns Place Fort La Tour into an enchanted forest for four final nights of Shakespeare’s comedy. Star-crossed lovers, mischievous fairies and one spectacularly confused group of amateur actors take over the harbourfront at 7:30pm nightly, with the historic fort and evening sky doing a fair bit of the set design.

Friends of Dorothy Drag Show | July 23
Dia Monde follows the yellow brick road into the world of Broadway and musical theatre with Dahlia Dior, Karlton Clitterpatch, Veohla and Rhonda Odyssey. The all-ages, PG-rated Pride Week show begins at 7pm at the Kent Theatre. Admission is pay what you can, with a suggested contribution of $5 to $10.

Coming Soon….

🎟️ Fringe schedule drops

Fundy Fringe has dropped its full schedule for August 18 to 22, with 13 original shows bouncing between the BMO Studio Theatre, Imperial Theatre Upper Lobby, Saint John High Mini Theatre and Tompkins Hall at the Saint John Arts Centre.

The lineup covers comedy, theatre, music, magic and whatever Stupid Sexy Clowns has planned. Other titles include Cute Depression Jokes, Postcards From a Magician, Mind Reading, Marriage & Other Milestones and Is Your Refrigerator Running?

Every show is uncensored, and every dollar from ticket sales goes directly back to the artists. With several performances running each night, this is one week when having too much theatre to choose from is a pretty excellent problem. Check out the full schedule here.

📍Discover tons more upcoming events across the Saint John region.

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📸 Shawna Morgan | 📍 Saint John Harbour

Thanks to Shawna for sending this right to us! You can get your photos featured by hitting reply or tagging @sjtoday.ca on Instagram.

🌅 5:56am | 🌇 9:03pm

Today’s Tides 🌊

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Want to catch Saint John’s attention? Baseline ads in SJ Today put your message front and centre, mingling with the latest news and stories. It’s a simple, effective way to be seen by locals. Ready to stand out? Let’s make it happen!*

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Thanks for reading SJ Today - If you found it useful, share it with someone who’s day would be completely made if they found some Swedish Berries on their desk this morning 🍬.

-Geoff Walsh - Publisher