IN THIS ISSUE | | ➡️ Water trikes coming to Charlottetown | | ➡️ 2022 Review | | ➡️ Warm Up Wednesday announcement |
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QUICK HITS | | 💊 Medical School Construction: Work is now underway at 550 University Avenue to construct a 135,000-square-foot building to house UPEI’s medical school. Charlottetown’s planning department issued a permit on Dec. 14 for phase one of the project, which includes site preparations and foundation work. The school is slated to open in the fall of 2024. | | 🎳 Bowl for Kids Sake Returning: Big Brothers Big Sisters of Prince Edward Island is reintroducing Bowl for Kids Sake in 2023 after a two-year hiatus. The annual event is the charity’s premier fundraiser, netting in excess of $100,000 each year to go toward mentoring programs. Islanders will soon be invited to enter their teams for the event, which will take place on March 18 and 19 in Charlottetown, Summerside, and North Rustico. The campaign officially kicks off Jan. 23. Once it’s ready, I’ll include a link to the online signup form in a future issue. | | 🚌 Expanded Rural Transit: TransitPEI is expanding weekday service between Tignish and Summerside, and between Summerside and Charlottetown beginning tomorrow, Dec. 29. Islanders interested in learning more about TransitPEI’s service or looking to book a ride can visit their website. T3 has updated the bus route schedules to show the new changes. | | 🎉 City Hosting NYE Celebrations: Charlottetown is welcoming Islanders of all ages to Founders' Food Hall & Market on the waterfront for a full day of New Year’s Eve activities. The day gets started at 11:30 with ice cream making (registration required), followed by live entertainment at noon. The afternoon will be filled with live music, face painting, hot chocolate, etc. Fireworks will light the sky around 7:00. The city has a full list of events posted here. |
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BUSINESS | Water trike rental business setting up shop in Charlottetown next summer | |  | | Winter is just setting in, but one Islander is looking forward to warmer days ahead when he can introduce a new way to experience Charlottetown’s waterfront to Islanders and tourists.
Marina Water Trikes Inc. will be setting up shop in May on Charlottetown’s waterfront. The business, owned by Mohammad Dalbah, will rent water trikes out by the hour. The trikes, which are people-powered by foot pedals, will give riders a unique self-guided view of Charlottetown from the water. Users will be able to navigate the two-seater trikes to wherever their endurance will take them.
Mohammad was introduced to water trikes by his parents after they sent back photos and videos of them having a blast on water trikes while vacationing in Turkey. A year later, Mohammad went to Turkey and had a chance to try them out firsthand. He was immediately sold on the idea of bringing this sort of attraction to the Island. He says they are a safe and sustainable way for people to enjoy the water.
An electrical engineer by profession, Mohammad was bitten by the entrepreneurial bug a few years back when he launched his first business offering yard maintenance services. He credits his training at UPEI’s School of Sustainable Design for giving him the tools to start a business because the school has such a strong focus on entrepreneurship.
His plan is to launch promotional content for his new business in late February or early March as details, such as the exact location of the business, are finalized. |
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GIVEAWAY | Introducing Warm Up Wednesday | |  | | From now until the end of winter, readers of Island Edition will have five weekly chances to win a $5 gift card to a local coffee shop. It's easy to enter each week: use your unique share URL to refer at least one person to Island Edition. That's it! The first five winners will be announced next Wednesday. | | Your URL: *|RH_REFLINK|* |
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2022 REVIEW | | 😷 Pandemic: The pandemic reached our Island in 2022. On Jan. 14, PEI reported the first two pandemic-related deaths. The number of deaths has since climbed to 82. Over 53,000 Islanders tested positive for the disease in 2022, with 350 people ending up in hospital, and 30 of them ending up in the ICU. Provincial COVID Testing and Case Data. | | 🌀 Fiona: Hurricane Fiona hit our Island as a post-tropical storm in the early morning hours of Sept. 24. By daybreak, nearly 100 per cent of the Island was without power, our shorelines scarred from violent waves. Peak wind gusts of 133 km/h were recorded at Red Head Harbour on the Island’s north shore near Morell. Maritime Electric is still tallying up final costs to restore power, but early figures show the cost being around $35M, mostly in labour. The utility moved 35,000 trees, replaced 1,133 broken poles, fixed or replaced 445 damaged transformers, and restrung 140 kilometers of downed wires. It took 19 days to fully restore power. | | 🌉 Confederation Bridge: The Confederation Bridge celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2022. A full generation of Islanders now have no memory of life here without a fixed link to Canada. Ownership of Strait Crossing Bridge Limited, the company which operates the bridge under contract with Ottawa, changed hands in 2022. Vinci Concessions Canada Inc. increased its ownership share of SCBL from 20 per cent to 85 per cent back in the spring. Ottawa owns the bridge, but it’s operated under a lucrative 35-year agreement held by SCBL. To round off the year, Ottawa announced last week that taxpayers will fork over $4.1M to SCBL to freeze bridge tolls for 2023. |
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WHAT'S GOING ON? | | Thursday | | | 🎶 Schooner Sessions w/ Mark Douglas @ Old Triangle / 7:00PM | | 🎶 Al Tuck w/ Shane Pendergast @ The Haviland Club / 8:00PM | | 🎶 Heather + Magnolia @ The Sportsman's / 10:00PM ($10 at the door) | | 🤔 Year in Review Trivia / 7:30 PM: Olde Dublin Pub is hosting a 2023 year in review trivia game. All questions are 2022 related. | | Levee Schedule | | 🤝 2023 Levee Schedule: Peter Rukavina maintains a list of levees taking place around the Island on New Year's Day. He also wrote a handy How to Levee guide for newbies. | | Want to share your upcoming event? Get in touch with the details. |
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#PEIslandEdition | Charlottetown at Night 🌆 | | Apurva Patel shared this long exposure photo of Charlottetown City Hall on a snowy night to his @exploringpei Instagram page. | |  | | Tag @PEIslandEdition or use #PEIslandEdition to get your post featured in Island Edition! |
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WEATHER | | Wednesday | 🌤️ H -5°C 🌡️ L -6°C
💨 W 15 km/h, gusting 33 | | Thursday | 🌨️ H -2°C 🌡️ L -3°C
💨 W 7 km/h, gusting 15 | | Island Edition Storm Watch | 👀 No watches or warnings in place. Sunday looks like we could get a drenching of rain, so it's worth keeping an eye on that. |
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