With the modest aim of compiling a comprehensive list of Cape Breton cultural events (!), the Spectator has been working hard on an Events Calendar feature, which launches today.
I’m using a WordPress plugin employed by many sites but I decided to spring for the “filter” add-on which makes the whole thing searchable — can I get an “Amen?”
Imagine it’s Friday night and you’re in River Bourgeois with $5, a mandolin and a hankering to join a jam session: you can use all those variables as filters to search the calendar and see if there’s an event out there with your name on it.
(Note: you can search by “Artist” but at the moment I can only attach one artist to an event, which is problematic. I am working on a fix for this.)
For readers, the calendar will be free of charge, I’m not putting it behind the paywall.
For event organizers, I will list, again free of charge, all cultural events (the definition of which is a work in progress but doesn’t include sports or codfish suppers, not that I have anything against either of these things, just that I needed some limits). I want my listings to be truly comprehensive — no cultural event too small or too niche-y!
That said, my software allows me to feature events, which means they remain at the top of the list (no matter how many other things are happening that day) and get special play in the various views (especially the “daily view” where they practically jump off the monitor and sit in your lap). To see what a “featured” event looks like, check out the Cinema Politica in Cape Breton event on November 30, which the Cape Breton Spectator is co-sponsoring. (If you’re reading this on November 8, you can also see what a featured event looks like on the home page where “Spectator Launches Cultural Listings” is getting big play under the mini calendar on the right hand side.)
So, as I said, I will list all events you send me free of charge but for a reasonable fee (which we can discuss when you get in touch) I will “feature” your event, with all the glory that entails.
I’m still working out details, so if you notice anything awry — venue addresses, dates, dollar amounts, genres — please let me know.
In the meantime, here’s a brief guide to the new feature:
Accessing the Events Calendar
There are two ways to do this from the home page. You may click on “Events” in the Menu Bar across the top of the home page (it’s the last item in the second row, after “Subscribe”) or you can click on the text “Click for full Events Calendar” which is in the Sidebar, under the “Mini” Events Calendar on the home page:
Here’s a closer view of the Mini Calendar. It will show you some (but not all) of a given day’s events. You can click on any day in the month. Or, as mentioned above, you can click on “Click for full Events Calendar” and it will — as promised — take you to the full Events Calendar.
You’ll know you’ve done it right when you see a page that looks like this:
To change the way you view the calendar, or to filter the events, you use the search bar and drop-down menu at the top of the page:
So what are you waiting for? Start planning your month!
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