Canadian Thanksgiving Day confliction?

It is a national holiday, but we don’t take it quite as seriously as U.S. Thanksgiving. Businesses are closed, but not retail or restaurants. I’ll share a funny story by way of illustration. My first Thanksgiving in Canada, we drove to visit my new husband’s best friends. We were on the road for 8 hours from Calgary to Kelowna. I thought, this is great! Just like the States! Trains, planes and automobiles, gotta get there no matter what it takes! We arrived, and the next day, ON THANKSGIVING DAY, there was no turkey in sight. His friends casually asked whether I would prefer to go for Indian or Chinese food. I was so crushed, and I’m afraid it showed. On all our future joint Thanksgivings, we cooked all day and had all the proper foods, right down to the cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. Actually, for many years, I did it in October and November both.

So - Canadians know how to do Thanksgiving “right”, but they find it a bit amusing how all-consuming it is in the U.S. You’ll be fine, you will not starve and the festival will be well attended. Have a great trip!

P.S. I suspect they planned the festival for that weekend specifically because it is a long weekend. Most of the music festivals I’ve been to in Canada have been on long weekends

Service industry -- restaurants, etc. -- will be open Thanksgiving Monday. Some retail may open, depending on the province and region. Government services will close, which includes alcohol stores (again depending on the province.) The event is rooted in harvest festivals and the harvest is somewhat earlier in the North, or at least that's my guess. It definitely is not about shopping. Even for avid bargain-hunters, the second week of October must be a little early for discount fever.

Restaurants will be open. Gas stations, drug stores open.

Retail and large grocery stores will be closed, tho you may find some smaller places open in touristy areas. Trust me, I've worked retail in NS my whole life.

https://novascotia.ca/lae/employmentrights/holidaychart.asp

Thanks for the replies. Sounds like we'd have no problems. I did some more searching on my own and ran across this web site www.statutoryholidays.com/2018.php. It lists Statutory Holidays in Canada. Thanksgiving Day is listed as: "National except NB, NS, NL". So, a non-national National holiday? If this is authoritative, I guess its another example of Canadian history that sounds a little bit odd to my American ears. Until recently I had always assumed that at some point in the 1800s, everything north of the border (except Alaska) simply "became" a united and consolidated Canada in one fell swoop. Now that I've spent a little time with actual Canadian history I understand that was not the case, so it is not too difficult to understand how the quirks of history can create nonuniformities. Of course the US is likely full of its own historical quirks and nonuniformities despite being "united". Happy Thanskgivings and safe travels to all who celebrate it in whatever form.

We have Thanksgiving in New Brunswick, and they do on Nova Scotia too. Its a day off for offices and some stores, but you'll have no trouble. We did the Celtic Festival a few years ago and stayed in Baddeck. Loved it.

There is some weirdness on that list - we certainly do observe Remembrance day here in NS - everything is closed (other than the aforementioned restaurants/gas stations...). Canada Day everything is closed here in NS (except gas, etc...) but up in Ontario, I believe retail is open. Ditto Rem Day - we stay closed here, but I think in Ontario stores open up in the afternoon. Victoria Day and the August Civic holiday are a mishmash here in NS - I've worked retail stores that have stayed open, and others that have closed. Retail is also closed in NS on Boxing Day, but many other provinces stores are open.

Anyhoo - you have picked a great time to come up and see the Autumn colours - Thanksgiving weekend is one of the best times to go.

If you want any NS info, drop me a message!

Thanks to Darren and Nicole.

When I lived in Canada I always thought the purpose of Cdn Thanksgiving was to watch Toronto or Hamilton win the Grey Cup. No?

Yeah, Nigel, in my part of Canada, it’s just a day off work for most people, no huge fuss or travelling hundreds of miles to be with Mum and Dad. I remember visiting a cousin in New Jersey once on American Thanksgiving and was astonished at the amount of food on the table at dinner. Apart from the turkey and ham and other odds and sods, there were 11 vegetables !

My purpose on Thanksgiving is to stuff myself with food, then take a nap...lol. No football in this house.

Nigel - Grey Cup is in November, Canadian Thanksgiving is at the beginning of October. I thought it was the Americans who have all the football games on Thanksgiving?

This year's Grey Cup was here in Ottawa, Nov. 26, it snowed - a lot! - Shania Twain entered the stadium on a dog sled to perform in the half-time show.