Fishirts to return with renovation of replica lighthouse

Two sisters are reviving what was a thriving business 20 years ago, and they are bringing it to an iconic building on the North Shore of P.E.I.

Tracy Gallant and her sister Cheryl Thomson are busy restoring the replica lighthouse on Court's Wharf in North Rustico. The building was originally the storefront for Court Brothers' Deep Sea Fishing, but it has been vacant for several years.

The building is not the only thing the sisters are reviving. They are also bringing back Fishirts, a company that Gallant ran back in the 1990s.

Fishirts created T-shirts by using actual fish to create a print on the fabric. The idea was based on a Japanese art form that originated as a way of recording fish catches.

Gallant ran the company for a few years, but with a young family to raise she found it was just too time consuming to keep it going. Now, with her family older, she's relaunching it with help from her recently retired sister.

The new Fishead Company store in the replica lighthouse will sell Fishirts along with other local art. The sisters will also run a coffee shop.

"We pretty much gutted this place," said Thomson.

"We built a kitchen. We tiled that. We levelled this deck. We're sitting on the water, and we get the fish from that water. It's perfect."

The Fishead Company Store is scheduled to open next weekend.

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