The Mi'kmaq and Acadian Festival and Reunion takes place at the Fort Point Museum August 20 and 21. Local MP Gerald Keddy announced the funding August 9 at the museum.

 Put together by the Mi'kmaq Burial Ground Research and Restoration Association the festival is considered a cultural interaction between Acadians and Mi'kmaq people to mark their heritage and history since the founding of LaHave.

 The money, from the Department of Canadian Heritage, helps pay for musical entertainment, advertising, elders to conduct workshops and children's canoe lessons taking place during the festivities, association president Ellen Hunt said.

 The event is also a reunion of descendants of both cultural groups who have traced their origins back to the local area in the early 1600s. Other activities include arts and crafts demonstrations and spiritual ceremonies.

 To learn more about the association, check out: http://www.mbgrra.org on the internet.

 Ms Hunt said the LaHave festival is the only one of its kind in Nova Scotia. She credited the assistance of the Lunenburg County Historical Society, which runs the Fort Point Museum.

 The popularity of the event is gaining momentum, suggested another association official.

 Hank Middleton said festival attendance tripled last year from the previous year. He said for the main meal they almost had more people than they could handle.

 Piggybacking on the efforts of preserving heritage, Municipality of Lunenburg Mayor Don Downe announced $1,900 in funding to the Fort Point Museum.

 Mr. Keddy's been busy with Canadian Heritage funding announcements for the local summer festival circuit in the last few weeks.

 His office released a pair of statements in one day announcing about $37,000 combined in Canadian Heritage for two other August events. Most of that money, $30,000, went to Lunenburg's Folk Harbour Festival Society, while the rest went to Bridgewater's South Shore in Motion event.

 Prior to those news releases, Mr. Keddy hosted a press conference to announce $19,500 for Bridgewater's South Shore Exhibition.