Questions, answered

On the morning of Tuesday the twenty-ninth of September, at ten, Atlantic time. Weekend passes go on sale first, and the earliest ones carry super early bird prices.

• Weekend pass: Saturday and Sunday
• VIP weekend pass: 19 and over, with a place at the Saturday supper
• Diptych: the Mascarade and the Shediac Renaissance Faire
• Triptych: all three festivals

Friday evening at Parlee Beach is included with every pass.

Yes. Children aged 4 to 12 pay the child price, and children under 4 come in free. The murder mystery is written for adults; the rest of the weekend is for everyone.

No. Prices are plus HST, and booking fees are added at checkout.

By email, right after you buy. If they aren’t in your inbox, look in your spam folder. Show them on your phone or bring a printed copy.

Only if any passes are left, and at a higher price. Buy in advance and your card and carnet are bagged and named before you arrive, which is the difference between joining the assembly and queueing outside it.

Yes. Before the Mascarade, write to us with the new holder’s name and email, and we’ll update your order.

Buy only from us, or through a transfer we’ve made. We can’t honour passes bought from strangers, and a copied pass only works once. A Mascarade is no place to discover that your invitation was counterfeit.

Passes are non-refundable. If we cancel the whole weekend, we refund the pass price.

The Mascarade goes ahead in any weather. A pause or closure for weather or safety isn’t refunded.

Friday evening: Parlee Beach, for the Sand Follies.

Saturday and Sunday: the Neptune grounds, 693 Route 133, Pointe-du-Chêne (Shediac), NB E4P 4Z9.

• Friday the twenty-eighth of May, from five in the evening until midnight: the Sand Follies at Parlee Beach, included with every pass
• Saturday the twenty-ninth, from eleven in the morning until midnight: the assembly at the Neptune grounds, with the Masked Ball after dark
• Sunday the thirtieth, from eleven in the morning until seven in the evening: the Grand Promenade, and the mystery resolved

The full programme is published here and on our socials before the weekend.

Saturday and Sunday: parking is a five-minute walk from the grounds. Follow the signs and our volunteers.

Friday: park in the Parlee Beach lots. The provincial park may charge its own entry fee.

The beach and the grounds are about 25 minutes apart on foot, or three minutes by carriage of the modern kind.

Your hand is your card and your carnet, and you can have it before the doors open:

• at the Sand Follies, Friday evening at Parlee Beach
• over breakfast at the WitZuit canteen at Parlee Beach, between half past seven and eleven in the morning, on Saturday and Sunday
• at the door from nine, on Saturday and Sunday

Bring your passes and, if you’re 19 or older and plan to drink, your government-issued photo ID. Chits for food and drink are sold at each of them.

It does. Guests in full period dress use the High Deck, which is the shortest lane, and it lets you choose your station rather than draw one blind. Costume buys agency, not rank.

A valid government-issued photo ID: a driver’s licence, a passport, or a provincial photo ID card. We check your age once, and the ribbon says so for the rest of the weekend.

Yes, as often as you like, with your ribbon on and your hand with you.

We check every bag, and someone will ask you who you are. Answer however you like: a title, a trade, a rumour, or a riddle will all do nicely. The only wrong answer is your real name.

You have drawn a card. It says who you are this weekend. Your suit is your House. Your number is your station. Rise if you can. Everyone is watching. Get your carnet sealed. Get it signed. Bring it back Sunday.

Hearts is Society. Diamonds is Commerce. Spades is Sea. Clubs is Land. Between them they ran nineteenth-century Shediac, and they have not stopped competing since.

No. Wear the ribbon, watch the dancing, eat well, and go home delighted. The game is there for the people who want it, and it finds them.

A mark on your carnet, given by the hosts of whatever you take part in. Collect them through the weekend and bring the carnet back on Sunday, when the Houses are scored.

Less than you would like, and more than you expect. The higher your card, the more society permits you and the less it allows you to do for yourself. A King who wants a pie has to send someone.

Everything is cooked in-house, across the five Shediac Wonderland kitchens. Supper rooms, a tea table taken seriously, chocolate and confectionery from Adorable Chocolat, and enough between meals that nobody faints decoratively.

With chits. Every counter and every bar takes chits only. Buy them:

• online, before the Mascarade
• at the Sand Follies on Friday evening
• over breakfast at the WitZuit canteen, between half past seven and eleven in the morning
• at the door from nine, and at the chit tables on the grounds, which take cash, debit, credit, and tap

Chits are good all weekend and aren’t refundable.

Most of them take cash and cards, including tap. There’s no bank machine on the grounds; the nearest is across the street at the Golf gas station.

No, with the usual exceptions: baby food, formula, breast milk, and anything you need for medical reasons. Bring an empty refillable bottle; there’s a water station on the grounds.

In the licensed rooms, if you’re 19 or over and wearing the ribbon. Our staff may refuse service to anyone, and will do it politely enough that you almost enjoy it.

No, but a mask is the least one can do. Anywhere between 1811 and 1865 is welcome, and so is a modern coat with a good mask over the face above it.

A few, mostly about safety and good taste. They’re on our Policies page.

Yes, if it does nothing. Canes, walking sticks, fans, parasols, and non-functional flintlock or duelling props are welcome once they’re ribboned at the Cloak Room.

Blades stay home, including sword canes that draw. Fencing steel belongs to the hosts running the demonstrations.

Our team ties and seals the prop so it can’t be drawn or swung. It takes a moment, it looks rather good, and it is not optional.

For Friday at the beach, yes. On Saturday and Sunday the assembly is under cover with seating provided, and the lawns are yours if you’d rather sit on them.

Everyday bags and reticules of every size are fine. Suitcases and oversized bags aren’t. Every bag is checked at the door, and the full list is on our Policies page.

The weekend goes ahead. Saturday and Sunday are largely under cover, Friday at the beach is not, and the rain has never yet stopped a quadrille.

Yes, most of it. Children, parents, and grandparents can all take part, and the family areas are the ones where the absurd is allowed to win. The murder mystery is written for adults, and a few rooms are marked 19+ in the programme.

Yes. Strollers, wagons, wheelchairs, and mobility scooters are all welcome.

At Parlee Beach on Friday, everything is reachable step-free, on firm ground. Wheelchairs can get onto the decks of the beach bars, though not onto the sand beneath them, so the Follies are best watched from the deck.

The grounds at the Neptune are outdoors, on grass that can be uneven in places. Accessible parking and accessible washrooms are available.

From March 2027, an accessibility form will be on this page. Tell us what you need and we’ll arrange it before you arrive, so nothing has to be improvised at the door.

On the day, look for the blue tent beside the door. The Retiring Room is open all weekend too, for anyone who wants a quiet hour away from the noise.

No. Crowds, candlelight, brass bands, and dancing are no place for a dog. Service animals are welcome; emotional-support animals and pets aren’t.

Yes, plenty, and the Retiring Room is beside them.

Both, like Shediac. Most of the weekend is in English, some of it is in French, and some of it is in both.

No. Friday belongs to the beach, Saturday to the assembly and the Masked Ball, and Sunday to the Grand Promenade and the end of the mystery. Come for all three and you get the whole story; come for one and you get a very good day.

Here and on our socials, before the weekend.

Shediac and the surrounding area have hotels, cottages, B&Bs, and campgrounds. Book early; the long weekend fills fast.

Through festivals.shediacwonderland.ca. Choose the Mascarade, then tell us what you’d bring. Merchants, hosts, musicians, and volunteers all use the same door.

If you saw a confirmation after you clicked Submit, we have it. We review in batches and write to the people we select once their category has been read through.

Until the Mascarade has an address of its own, write to mascarade@shediacwonderland.ca and say it’s about the Mascarade. It reaches the same team.

Follow us on our socials, and watch this page. Tickets, the programme, and the accessibility form all appear here first.