The Fisheries Department initially estimated it would cost nearly $25,000 to fix up the lighthouse, but the actual price will be substantially less. (Submitted by Gayle Hawker)

The lighthouse at Peggys Cove will soon get a new coat of paint — if the weather co-operates.

The paint job will start as soon as the weather allows, Department of Fisheries and Oceans spokesman Stephen Bornais said Thursday.

"Well, the forecast isn’t looking good out until next week. But fingers crossed, we just need three or four days of good forecast and we can get this job done," he said.

The lighthouse has been shrouded by fog for the past week.

The contract for painting and concrete repairs to the iconic structure has been awarded to a local company, Bornais said, and the job will cost less than $12,000.

DFO, which owns the lighthouse, had originally estimated it would cost closer to $25,000 to paint, and said it did not have the money to do the job this year.

Residents and tourists to Peggys Cove complained that the lighthouse was becoming an eyesore and one day later, the federal government said the lighthouse would be painted this summer.

Bornais said visitors to the fishing village will have to put up with a few days of having scaffolding set up around the 15-metre lighthouse.

John Campbell, who sells chowder and trinkets to thousands of the tourists who flock to Peggys Cove every year, said the paint job should have been done long before.

"It should have never been this hard to get the Peggys Cove lighthouse painted. But I am thrilled that it is finally getting taken care of," said Campbell, owner of the Sou'Wester Restaurant and Giftshop.

Peggys Cove is one of Nova Scotia's top tourist draws. About a million people visit the site every year, according to the Tourism Industry Association of Nova Scotia.