4th annual Hom’Art Festival returns to Shediac, N.B., this weekend

The town of Shediac, N.B., is known as the lobster capital of the world, but this weekend it will be home to the fourth annual Hom'Art Festival.

Its name is a play on “homard” – the French word for lobster.

The festival’s president says the event is all about community.

“A couple years back, we wanted to help the artists who were having a hard time through the pandemic,” said Pascal Hache. “So we created this festival with the town of Shediac to bring the arts and make them available to people and kind of showcase them in the fall, so it’d be outside of the tourism season so we can really focus on the community and make it a free and open event for everyone.”

Hache said Hom’Art has attracted more than 100 artists from across the region, from buskers to street chalk artists.

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Rain in Saturday’s forecast has organizers revising their schedule, but they are confident things will run smoothly.

“The schedule changed last minute. It was challenging, but at the same time… it was great that everyone was able to adapt and we're going to make it happen,” said HomArt’s logistics director Brian Siddalld.

“Even if it's rain or shine, (it’s) still going to be super nice on Friday and nice on Sunday… and we expect thousands of people to just all come together,” said Mylene Comeau, the event’s assistant director.

The headline events for Friday and Saturday have traded places.

The festival’s concert is now on Friday and ArtLove, a live speed painting competition, is happening Saturday.

Hache said people won’t want to miss the competition.

“It's chill. There's a vibe. There’s music. People have their glass of wine, and they see the paintings come to life in 30 minutes, that's very special. And you don't get that opportunity to see an artist paint often,” he said. “It's great, the paintings at the end are amazing, they look great. The quality of what they can do in 30 minutes, it's pretty incredible. So I'd say that's one of our staple events and for those reasons.”

Organizers say people should check the event’s Facebook for any possible schedule changes.

Hom’Art kicks off Friday afternoon with buskers at Pascal Poirier Park.

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