Shipyard, Elkanah Zwicker/ Titus Langilee, Henry Schnare." Today The town is also known for a history of wooden boat building, it was the main industry of Mahone Bay in its earlier years. The Mahone Bay Museum explains and shows this history in detail. Until recent years the town's shipbuilding and boat-building heritage was celebrated by the "Mahone Bay Wooden Boat Festival". The view across the harbour is of three prominent churches: St James' Anglican; St John's Evangelical Lutheran; and Trinity United. It has become an iconic image of Nova Scotia, frequently photographed and featured on postcards and calendars. The town has a number of upscale shops and restaurants which almost universally are designed to appeal to the tourist trade, and sometimes shut down during the winter months. The town also has a plastics factory. Demographics In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Mahone Bay had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. Government The Town of Mahone Bay is governed by a Council composed of a Mayor and six Councillors elected at-large. The mayor is David DeVenne. Day-to-day activities are managed by a Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) who is accountable to Council. Municipal governments in Nova Scotia are elected every four years and the most recent round of elections took place on October 17, 2020. The provincial legislation that creates and empowers the municipality is the Nova Scotia Municipal Government Act. Municipal Council is responsible for all facets of the municipal government, including directly delivered and shared or regional services. Directly delivered services include services such fire, public works, roads, as well as the municipally owned and operated electrical and water utilities. The municipality participates in shared services, such as library services and policing. The town's municipal operating budget was $2.7 million, and the town owned electric light utility of $1.9 million and water utility of $575 thousand resulted in a total proposed budget of $5.2 million in the 2017/18 fiscal year. Mahone Bay is represented by one riding in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly and shares representation with one riding in Canada's House of Commons. See also List of municipalities in Nova Scotia References External links General Service Areas in Nova Scotia Communities in Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia Towns