Get involved
The 4-week long Evergreen Festival consists of of a variety of experiential, event-based and exploration-driven activities. Sign up is easy and participation is free.
Businesses can get involved with the following festival elements:
- Evergreen Market
- Evergreen Bright
- Evergreen Cocoa Trail
- Evergreen Getaways
- Evergreen Events
Get involved with Evergreen Market
A pillar of the festival is the Evergreen Market on the Halifax waterfront, an outdoor showcase of Nova Scotian artists, crafters, producers, and creators. Consisting of 24 temporary wooden ‘chalets’, the Evergreen Market will welcome vendors from across Nova Scotia to the festival.
Who can participate: Businesses, organizations, independent artists, producers and collectives
Where will market vendors be listed? discoverhalifaxns.com/evergreen-festival/evergreen-market
How to get involved: Learn more here.
Questions? Contact Jenna Rideout, Build Nova Scotia
Get involved with Evergreen Bright
Evergreen Bright is a walkable outdoor trail of twinkling holiday light displays and installations along the Halifax waterfront, throughout downtown Halifax, downtown Dartmouth, and beyond.
Who can participate: Any business with a physical location
How to get involved: Contact Jenna Rideout at Build Nova Scotia about creating a light display or installation.
Get involved with the Cocoa Trail
Local businesses are invited to offer holiday hot chocolates to help keep spirits high and bellies warm as folks explore the festival. Businesses are encouraged to be as inventive and creative as they wish to make their hot chocolate extra special!
Who can participate: Any business with a physical location
Questions? Contact Stacey Mungur, Discover Halifax
Create an Evergreen Getaway (Hotel Deal)
Hotels are encouraged to create packages that make it easy for locals and visitors to stay for a single night or an entire weekend of the festival!
Who can participate: Hotels
Where will hotel deals be listed? Hotel deals will be listed on this page, with a direct link out from the Evergreen Festival page.
How to get involved: Submit hotel deals through your iDSS member profile.
Questions? Contact Holly Chessman, Discover Halifax
Submit an Evergreen Event
Unique events and programming are a part of the Evergreen Festival experience. To get your event listed on both the Discover Halifax event calendar and the Evergreen Festival event calendar, submit online and make sure to select the category for “Evergreen Festival”.
Who can participate: Holiday events happening in Halifax from November 24-December 17, 2023
Where will events be listed? Events will be listed on both the Evergreen Festival page and the Discover Halifax event calendar.
How to get involved: Upload your event through your iDSS member profile (Discover Halifax members) or submit your event here (non-members).
Questions? Contact Stacey Mungur, Discover Halifax
Get involved with Evergreen Stage
Evergreen Stage programming is brought to you by JazzEast Rising, the same team that brings you the annual Halifax Jazz Festival.
Questions? For information about Evergreen Stage programming contact programming@halifaxjazzfestival.ca
More information for businesses
Why participate?
– Encourage safe movement throughout the city during the tourism shoulder season.
– Join your community in supporting and celebrating our local economy, culture, and one another.
– Increase visibility for your business during the holiday shopping season.
– Incremental sales for existing and pop-up businesses and operators.
– Be part of making the city feel alive.
Evergreen Promotional photo assets & graphics
Free photo, video and graphic assets, available for businesses and organizations to use to promote the festival:
– Evergreen graphics
– Photo & video assets
Follow Evergreen on social media
Instagram: @evergreenfestns
Facebook: @evergreenfestns
Participating Business FAQ
In what ways can a small business without premises participate?
The primary opportunity for small businesses without existing premises is to apply for a space in one of the temporary chalets within the Evergreen Market.
However, another excellent opportunity is to partner with a business that has premises to deliver a pop-up experience. Imagine a craft pop-up at a hotel or a local beauty business at a spa. There are many opportunities to work together to create some magic.
If you are a business interested in participating but are unsure of where to start, reach out and we can help match you with potential partners!
Will the festival have any ties to Quinpool, North End, and/or Downtown Dartmouth?
The Festival will strategically leverage the Halifax waterfront as the draw, however, the idea is to entice people here and then sell them on experiencing everything (and every place!) the holiday season has to offer in the Halifax region.
All areas of Halifax can and should participate. We recommend creating an event that can be featured within the upcoming website events calendar. For food & beverage establishments, we recommend signing up to participate in the Cocoa Trail program. Or, if you have another idea for getting involved, let us know!
I want to create a special event or illumination for my business – can I do that if I’m a hotel or restaurant or retailer?
Yes, absolutely! All businesses are encouraged to decorate and put up lights! Please email jenna.rideout@buildns.ca with the subject line “Evergreen Bright” to get involved.
Who do you contact if interested in learning more about performing on the Evergreen Stage?
Curated by Jazz East Rising Association, the Evergreen Stage will be a showcase multidisciplinary live programming throughout the Evergreen Festival. For more information contact programming@halifaxjazzfestival.ca.
What happens if the weather is bad?
Festival runs rain or shine, but events or activations affected by the weather will be rescheduled or cancelled on a case-by-case basis. We will use the festival’s social media channels to communicate changes with the public.
Will the festival feel alive during the day or primarily evenings and weekends?
Only the market will follow specific open and closed hours. While the light installations will be most active in the evening and act as a strong draw, there are no restrictions as to when a business may activate its own programming.
How do you intend to ensure the marketing promotes the full area of downtown Halifax? What are your plans for encouraging travel to the rest of the city?
We will be featuring participating businesses and events from outside the downtown core on our website. We’d also encourage businesses to engage with the Evergreen Festival accounts on social media as much as possible. We will be reposting information about participating businesses wherever it makes sense.
How will you collaborate with local groups to bring diversity and inclusion to the festival?
The vision for the festival was to be as inclusive as possible and to celebrate as many cultures and beliefs as possible. We encourage any interested local group or event to reach out to discuss how we can get you involved.
There will always be room on the event calendar to feature any local events throughout the downtown core and beyond.
Wherever we can, we will try to help bring parties together to find collaborations and shared spaces to activate. There is no shortage of ways to get involved.
How do you plan to use the marketing budget to support local media outlets?
The main marketing priorities for the festival are to build public awareness of the event and to support local businesses, which includes integrating our amazing local media within the plan.
Where will hotel deals be listed?
Hotel deals will be listed on this page, with a direct link out from the Evergreen Festival page.