HALIFAX A folklore music shop in downtown Halifax, N.S. is marking a big milestone, with no plans to slow down anytime soon. Tom and Marla Dorward opened the Halifax Folklore Centre in 1971 and, this year, the pair are marking 50 years in business. Well, it s hard to believe that half a century has gone by, said Tom Dorward. We ve been in this location for 48 years and then had two years at a building across the street, which no longer exists. According to Tom, many of the buildings that surrounded the music shop five decades ago are no longer there – a testament, he says, to the importance of music to those in the area.
Nestled inside an ivy-covered Victorian house, the Halifax Folklore Centre's Tom and Marla Dorward have been quietly buying, selling, rehabilitating and building stringed instruments for 50 years, becoming a Halifax institution along the way.