They start arriving an hour or more before the show begins -- even if they have little or no idea what a tidal bore is, or have never seen one before, like Linda Young a tourist from Arkansas.

“We missed a couple of chances in places along the way in here, so we're hitting it at the right time today,” said Linda Young, a tourist from Arkansas.

Arriving at the right time -- high tide -- is the key.

There used to be a motel and restaurant near Truro, N.S., where people watched the tidal bore come in.

After it was torn down, Colchester County saw it as an opportunity to develop an interpretive site for the Bay of Fundy.

“People have been coming here for years to see the tidal bore and they realized this was a good spot to capture that,” said Fundy Discovery Site manager Kathy Fisher. “To promote the area and get people to stay in the area a little longer.”

People stand in awe as the bore slowly moves in the narrow opening of the Salmon River.

When it reaches the main crowd, the power and size of the wave causes some people  to gasp.

“Someone here on the bank told us that they had seen it before and that it was anticlimactic,” said Joan Neil, a tourist from Boston. “But we were astounded … we really found it quite amazing.”

Susan Farrer, a tourist from Maryland, said she was surprised by what she saw.

“It was much more dramatic than I expected,” said Farrer. “And we came here to see what I thought would be a little ripple and it was much bigger and took longer than I expected.”

Cameras of every size and description come out, trying to capture the event.

The view from above is simply breathtaking.

“It doesn't matter how often I see it and I've probably seen it more than anybody, but I still am excited to see what’s going to happen and how it's going to affect the river, that particular day,” said Fisher.

The initial tidal bore wave can sometimes be as high as a metre or more. After it passes, the river can fill to high tide within an hour. Certainly not what you’d expect from something called a bore.

“Furthest thing from it,” said Laurie Warnke, a tourist from Ontario.“Misnamed big time. Should been a tidal woo-hoo!”

The good news is, the show is free, and it happens every day. Just check the local tide schedule.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Dan MacIntosh.