It wasn’t quite a tempest in a teapot, but Hurricane Earl—which rolled into Digby early Saturday as a tropical storm—caused only minor disruption to the huge motorcycle rally underway in the town and to area residents.
Approximately 3,800 Nova Scotia Power customers were without power Saturday morning in Smith’s Cove, Doucetteville, North Range and Sissiboo Falls, said regional Emergency Measures Organization coordinator Don LeBlanc.
Nova Scotia Power’s live map indicated no power failures remaining in Digby County by 1:30 p.m.
Bay Ferries cancelled Saturday crossings of its Digby-Saint John service in advance of the storm.
“The best thing that happened was the track of the storm moved more to the east toward Shelburne County, LeBlanc said. “While we were able to dodge it with a relatively small number of power outages, we were very lucky.”
With extra fire, police and Emergency Health Services personnel in place because of the motorcycle rally, the town was well prepared, he said.
Wharf Rat Rally chair Glenn Dunn said Saturday the rally is ahead of last year despite Hurricane Earl’s intervention.
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“We have more vendors, Harley and Honda doing demonstrations, people are here because they love coming here. Digby is a beautiful spot,” he said. “People were canceling rooms and leaving and people were coming in and snapping up the rooms with a smile.”
The annual biker breakfast at the Wesleyan Church not only provided a full meal, but a place to dry out. Pastor Andrew Maves said the numbers were up from last year.
"It was quiet early (Saturday) morning but we were kept busy later on as bikers and community members dropped in for a chance to dry off, a warm meal and some friendly conversation," Maves said. "We used our computer for bikers to keep watch on Earl's progress as well. It was a great morning."
While some bikers braved the storm in their tents, others set up tents and stored their bikes in a fishing gear warehouse on First Avenue. In Digby, the Heritage Centre became a temporary shelter Saturday morning for about 40 to 50 people.
Mike and Michelle Vrensen from Salisbury, N.B., said they packed up their tent and moved into their friend's motor home at a campground in Smith's Cove.
"This is our fifth year at the rally and Earl didn't dampen our enthusiasm for a good time," said the Vrensens. "We found lots to do in spite of the rain."
The storm wasn’t a problem for many of the vendors, either. Jason Despaties of Big Monkey Kettle Corn said they just packed their gear into the truck Friday night. “It wasn’t much different from a normal end of day clean up,” he said.
When asked what he thought of the frenzy leading up to Earl, he replied it was “over-driven by media at too early of a stage.”
Despaties gave thumbs up to those who stayed in Digby.-
Although the storm led to cancellation of the rally’s planned Saturday morning events, Dunn said organizers would decide by 2 p.m. if it were safe to resume with performances.
