History
New Minas was predominantly a farming and agriculture community until construction of the Highway 101 expressway in the 1970s. As it was located between the population centres of Kentville and Wolfville, New Minas soon saw a shopping centre and numerous big box retail outlets and fast food shops established to make the village the retail centre for the eastern Annapolis Valley. The village is also serviced by the Windsor and Hantsport Railway and has several food processing and agricultural businesses.
Over the past ten years, New Minas has been witness to a commercial boom which has seen many large retail outlets set up shop, while pre-existing retailers and many others have rebuilt into larger venues. One of the woes of the village is its heavy concentration of minimum-wage, service industry jobs. Other similarly sized communities nearby have a much wider range of income opportunities: Wolfville is an area supported by higher-education jobs with Acadia University, and Kentville is an area who supports itself with an industrial park, hospital and an orientation toward professional centres.
New Minas is also 'Soccer Capital of Atlantic Canada', boasting arguably the nicest soccer venues in the Annapolis Valley. Annually, the village hosts the New Minas Invitational Soccer Tournament in August, where in the past as many as 210 teams have participated from all over Atlantic Canada. The 3-day tournament is now a festival of sorts, known as 'New Minas Days' during which there are other non-sporting events, including a fireworks show. The village has also played host to the Senior Canadian Men's Soccer Championships during which many renovations were done to the soccer facilities, resulting in the superior venue that it is today.
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