You’d think that wandering all over Halifax for 6 hours on an October night would be exhausting.  If that night happens to be Nocturne, you’d be wrong.  Well, maybe it would still be a bit exhausting, but it would also be awesome.

Last night was my third time going to Nocturne, and it seems like each year this festival grows bigger and bigger.  This year there were 5 zones: downtown Halifax, Halifax waterfront, Spring Garden Road, North End Halifax, and downtown Dartmouth.  5 zones, 6 hours, and a hell of a lot of art.

Truth time: I only made it to 4 zones, and I only lasted 4.5 hours.  To be fair, I was walking/standing for those 4.5 hours and it was getting really cold near the end of the night (it is October).  But the thing about Nocturne is that you can see as much or as little as you want.  I saw a lot of the stuff I wanted to see and some things that I just happened to see.

Highlights include: a play performed forwards and backwards (seamlessly) in the Attic storefront on Barrington Street; random fortunes in front of Casino Nova Scotia; a giant spider web in Victoria Park; printing posters at 2 different printing presses; Nocturne dark ale from Propeller Brewery; and a crazy/amazing apocalyptic tour of the Bus Stop Theatre.

The thing about living in a place like Halifax is that these kinds of festivals happen, and they keep getting better.  I know you don’t want to have to wait a year to experience Nocturne, but if you’re in Halifax in mid-October in 2013 you should check it out.