Victoria-by-the-Sea, PEI

Alternative Routes
Blog posting #7
BriarpatchMagazine.com

by Shayna Stock, with photography by Dominique Fenton

The Causeway connecting Prince Edward Island to the mainland

Victoria-by-the-Sea, a town on Prince Edward Island of 140-some people in the summer (and half that in the winter), has me thinking about the need that many people feel to know where their energy is going, and to see its results. This need is the spirit of entrepreneurship, and it runs deep in Victoria.

We are here visiting a friend, Emma, whose family owns a small chocolate factory. With Emma, her mom, her brother, and a close family friend working behind the counter, it is clear that customers keep coming here for more than just the chocolate.

The term “people-sized” comes to mind. It is a term I had not heard before we began to talk to people about community in preparation for this journey, but it has come up a couple of times since.

We have created a society run by organizations so large that it is impossible for an individual to relate. The values, morals, and ethics — if they have any — of these corporations are abstract and unknowable. It can be disillusioning for some people to expend so much time and energy towards an impersonal institution that knows you only by your number or position.

But as we are discovering, there are pockets of people existing outside of all that, who are working hard to maintain small, family-owned businesses because of the deep sense of fulfillment that comes from being able to see and know where your energy is going.

One of these pockets is the small tourist town of Victoria-by-the-Sea. Part of the attraction for tourists is the spectacular location — on a tiny piece of land perched somewhat precariously on the Southern shore of Prince Edward Island.

The community playhouse in Victoria-by-the-Sea

Undoubtedly, another large part of the attraction is the large number of family-owned businesses that predominate in Victoria: tea rooms, craft shops, bed and breakfasts, restaurants, and a community playhouse.

It is the only place I have been where all the young people, even after leaving for school, return each and every summer to help the family out with the business.

It is not a lucrative way of life, but it is rewarding in a way that no salary can ever be. The satisfaction of seeing the results of your work, when you know the people with whom you are working as family or friends, goes far beyond that of a bi-weekly pay check.

Since the tourist season coincides nicely with nature’s seasons, this way of life also keeps people well in tune with their environment. Though their busy summers force them to squeeze as much life and work as possible into each day, many Victoria residents spend a lot of time inside during the long cold winters, hibernating, relaxing, and preparing for the next season.

There is an incredible sense of community here — that intangible feeling of belonging, even as a visitor, that comes from the very tangible inter-connectedness of everyone around you. When the playhouse suffers, so does the restaurant across the street, and the Inn next door. And when the bed-and-breakfast on the corner does well, the chocolate factory and the craft shops share that success.

This beautiful sense of human inter-dependency surrounds me like a warm blanket that inspires dreams of staying here forever.

Dom feels it too. He seems to have given up on his dream of overalls and the farm land in Nova Scotia, and is now making plans to set up a shiatsu practice next door to Emma.

Shayna and Dominique are traveling across Canada in search of community, and sharing what they find with Briarpatch readers. Read their introduction to the project here.