Alliston Herald

Today's Weather

Clear and 7°C

>>more weather info

Festival a celebration of francophone roots

BY Nicole Million July 03, 2009 11:07

The wolf is coming back to Lafontaine.
July 17-19 will mark the seventh annual Festival du Loup, presented by the Meute culturelle de Lafontaine, which celebrates the heritage, language and French-Canadian culture of the Lafontaine area.
The event starts July 17, with museum exhibits set up at locations across Lafontaine. The Kitchen Party with Le Club de l’Àge d’Or takes place at Église Sainte-Croix Parish Hall at 7 p.m.
Festival du Loup is based on the legend of the wolf, noted organizer Michel Payment, which began with the immigration of people from Quebec to this area.
“They came in waves and didn’t really associate with each other. Eventually, the parish priest preached about being more neighbourly, and then this wolf started to do things in the area. It united the people to try to get rid of it,” he said. “It was, at the time, an element that created the community, that united them.”
Payment said the purpose of the festival is to try to do the same now.
“It is trying to put an accent on the dying French culture in the area,” he said. “A lot of the kids just don’t think French is cool, so we’re trying to revive it and show them that there are things going on in French culture that can be just as cool as in English culture.”
Payment encouraged both francophones and Anglophones to come out and have a little fun.
“We have kids’ games, arts and crafts, a farmers’ market, young talent, bus tours to a couple of local farms, and at night we have Cajun band Swamparella,” he said.
“It’s a mixture of French and English, (so) nobody will feel alienated in that environment.
For more information, visit www.festivalduloup.on.ca.

nmillion@simcoe.com

More Midland Mirror Articles

Volunteer searchers make a difference
BARRIE – 'We don’t get any satisfaction from boasting about ourselves; we get satisfaction in the eyes of the person we find.'

Lacrosse league looking to build on ‘great’ first season
MIDLAND – Registration for men’s loop scheduled for March 26-27.

A bylaw fit for a banana republic

Heat of battle no excuse to mock young player’s injury

Students get little help from budget

Skating to the Hits
PENETANGUISHENE – Young figure skaters perform before full house at Penetanguishene arena.

Road salt must be kept away from Wye River

Art raffle
MIDLAND – St. Theresa's teacher helping raise money for Haiti earthquake relief.

Gemmell strives to rise above the crowd
MIDLAND – Leaping ability helps St. Theresa’s athlete stand out in two sports.

Changes at MSS criticized
MIDLAND – Field trips relied on to hone social abilities no longer part of Life Skills program.

SIMCOE.COM is an online publication serving the communities of Barrie, Alliston, Collingwood/Wasaga Beach, Wasaga, Stayner and Orillia in central Ontario, Canada. All rights reserved. Reproduction, modification, distribution, transmission or republication of any material from simcoe.com is strictly prohibited without prior written permission from Metroland Media Group Ltd.