Summerside

City in the southwest of Prince Edward Island, Canada, in Bedeque Bay, on Northumberland Strait, 56 km/35 mi west of Charlottetown; population (1996 est) 14,500. The province's second-largest community, it was incorporated as a city in 1995, having been incorporated as a town in 1877. The area was settled from 1840 when it became a major wooden shipbuilding centre, an industry which did not survive the transition to steel ships. A second industry, which began in 1909, the farming of silver foxes for fur, was devavstated by changes in fashion. Now the city is a seaport, resort, and exports seed potatoes and dairy products. A Royal Canadian Air Force station was housed in Summerside 1940–89, and after the closure of the base it was turned into an industrial park with some focus on aerospace activities, as well as a tax centre.

The Waterfront Jubilee Theatre was established in 1996. There is also the College of Piping, which teaches Scottish and Celtic cultural activities.