The Barn, an authentic Celtic Music venue with superb acoustics, is included in The Nova Scotia Book of Musts.
Operated by the Barn Music & Theatre Society. The Barn is located on the grounds of The Normaway Inn, 691 Egypt Road, Margaree Valley. The Barn features many of Cape Breton’s best fiddlers as well as emerging talents.
Concerts usually begin in late June and end in the latter part of October. Fiddle concerts are every Wednesday in July and August and Fridays in the Fall. We often have Friday concerts in the summer. Multi-instrumentalist Neil McDaneil performs most Saturdays and there are random dates with artists such as Fiddle Sensation Ashley MacIsaac.
Places To Visit
For information on the Margaree region, visit the Margaree tourism site.
Hiking: For Normaway guests, 2 trails on the Normaway property (maps at the Normaway Desk); Egypt Falls-perhaps top hiking attraction in Margaree. Avoid Google maps. Bit challenging especially when wet. Directions at Inn or Tourist (VIC) Office; Less than an hour to National Park: Acadian (Cheticamp) and Skyline Trails very popular.
Fiddle Music: Normaway Inn Music Room-often live music on non Barn nights; Southwest Margaree Hall-Friday night Square Dances (summer Fridays-19 and over); Baddeck Gathering Ceildihs-nightly at 7:30pm (mid June to mid October – 902-295-7663); Red Shoe Pub-Mabou (50 min., some afternoons and evenings); Doryman-Cheticamp (50 min, Saturday afternoons plus some evenings).
Fishing: Margaree River is one of 2 best known Salmon Rivers in Atlantic Canada. Guides and gear available through Normaway Inn and elsewhere.
Scenic Drives and Beaches: World class scenery on and off the Cabot and Ceilidh Trails. Beaches on the western side of Cape Breton are often warmest sea waters north of Virginia.
Whale Watch: Excursions from Cheticamp and Pleasant Bay.
Museums: Salmon Museum in Margaree; Bell Museum (inventor of telephone) in Baddeck; Day Trips to 18th century Fortress Louisbourg or Highland Village, Iona.
Golf: Golf Digest Top 100 courses in World- Cabot Cliffs #11 & Cabot Links #35 (35 min.), Inverness; Cape Breton Highlands Links #76, (day trip), Ingonish; Bell Bay, (50 min.) Baddeck, 1998 Best new course in Canada; LePortage (45 min) Cheticamp, very popular. All courses have great scenery.
Outdoor & Adventure: Cape Breton Backcountry Adventures; Margaree Centre- on and off-road Jeep Tours; CB West Paddleboards-Margaree Harbour ( river paddling); Live Live in Tents-Margaree Forks; Tubing, paddleboard, kayaks; The Lakes Campground, Lake O’Law (15 min), Go-karts, mini-golf; Margaree Fish Hatchery; Margaree Valley, Interpretive Centre.
History
Around 1984, singer Bernadette Goth approached the Normaway Inn’s David MacDonald to present live music. Early performers included Raylene Rankin & Howie MacDonald of The Rankins, Joanne Rankin, Robert Deveaux, Ashley MacIsaac,Hilda Chiasson, (Premier) Rodney MacDonald, most of The Barra MacNeils, Rita MacNeil, J.P.Cormier, Natalie MacMaster, Mary Elizabeth MacInnis and her father Buddy MacMaster who suggested staging shows the same night each week.
The Three Fiddler Concert Ceilidhs, included in The Nova Scotia Book of Musts, have been held weekly since the early 1990s. Concerts with square dances were held on Summer Wednesdays and Fall Fridays until Covid (2020) led to concert-only events. Recently we have added many additional nights, often Friday fiddle nights or Saturdays frequently with Singer/Multi-instrumentalist Neil McDaniel.
Over the years, paying spectators have been invited onstage. What a treat for fellow audience members to witness a Riverdance performance or hear one of the Celtic world’s best known performers, Jay Ungar whose Ashokan Farewell was the musical theme of 1990’s documentary, The Civil War!
