For the past couple of years, the town of Sackville has played a role in a revived Moonlight Madness, bringing kids events to Bill Johnstone Park and helping draw vendors and customers downtown. Sackville recreation director Matt Pryde says the last event in November was a success, with about 200 candy canes handed out by the local Santa representative. “So that gives us a decent indication of how many kids were around, and then you throw their parents and grandparents on top of that,” says Pryde. “So it was a busy night. All the businesses were really pleased.”
Tonight, the llama petting zoo will be set up at the park along with axe throwing, a kids dance in the activity centre, and more activities at the library. There will be also be free hot chocolate downtown, “and of course, all the businesses will have all their specials,” says Pryde. “And that’s all been shared online, through Facebook and on our website.”
Pryde says Moonlight Madness is great for showcasing new businesses, like Cheesecake Garage, which recently set up shop around the corner from the Kookie Kutter on Main Street. The shop sells homemade cheesecake bites, as well as full cheesecakes and other treats. Cheesecake Garage normally operates Tuesday to Friday, noon to 6pm, and Saturdays 10am to 3pm, but unfortunately the shop is currently closed due to the seasonal flu circulating in Sackville. (A sign on the shop window says they will be back in business on Tuesday, December 13.)
Pryde says Moonlight Madness also works for the local business stalwarts like The Vogue Cinema, which will be screening Christmas movie classic, National Lampoons Christmas Vacation starting tonight and running all weekend.
The Black Duck will have something new on offer as well tonight. Co-owners Sarah Evans and Al Barbour will be offering an evening menu on Friday from 5pm to 9pm. The pair is trying out “Ducks Aren’t Real”, a cafe open Friday nights and Saturdays and Sundays from 11am to 3pm.
The dining will be in the front cafe space, so that Barbour and Evans can manage the operation on their own. “It’s something that we can manage to cook and serve, and give everybody a nice time,” says Evans.
The pair opened up last weekend for lunch and brunch, and Evans says it was good to be back in the space. “It was fun. Great to be in there again,” says Evans. “Brioche french toast was a big hit.”
It’s hard to say what the future holds for Moonlight Madness now that the Town of Sackville is to be dissolved into the larger municipality of Tantramar. “We are still waiting for final words on the details of what the new town of Tantramar is going to look like,” says Pryde. “We took [Moonlight Madness] over in partnership with the local BIA a couple of years ago, just to try to give a little more life to the the event, and it seems to have worked out quite nicely. So I would like to think that we’ll still be involved one way or another, whether we’re taking the lead on it or if the BIA is able to step up and take a lead. I really don’t know. We’ll see what happens.”