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Montréal Summer Festivals Montréal festivals have a lot to offer in the summer Story by Michelle Besaw The days are longer, the nights are warmer, and for many people in the North Country, summer is eagerly anticipated. But once you've gone to the beach and burned and peeled your way to a better tan, what else is there to do? Our neighbors up north may have the answer. While Montréal is typically a great outlet for shopping, nightlife, and culture, summers in the city are thriving day and night from music festivals to firework extravaganzas. Just a short drive will offer plenty to do while your sunburn heals.
Montréal
has a lot to offer in June. The annual International
Fireworks festival kicks off promptly at 10 p.m. on June 17th with
a fireworks showcase from Switzerland, Italy, Argentina, South Africa,
Portugal, Canada, France, Australia, and the United States. Each country
shows off its fireworks on different evenings throughout June and July.
However, these are not your typical fireworks shows. Since 1987, the International
Fireworks Festival has been exclusively pyromusical displays. “Pyromusical
displays involve the careful synchronization of fireworks to a musical
score,” according to the festival website. Depending on seats, tickets
cost anywhere from $43.45 to $54.46, Canadian. “Pyromusical displays involve the careful synchronization of fireworks to a musical score.”
“Around the Place des Arts, several city blocks are closed to traffic to create a festive site with ten outdoor stages, street performers, cafés, bars, and bistros,” Simard said. The city lays a stage for 2,500 featured artists in five hundred concerts, 350 of which won't cost you a dime. Along with the two million “festival-goers,” you can enjoy what the Guinness Book of World Records calls the biggest jazz festival in the world. The 2006 indoor program will be disclosed on May 3rd; however, tickets for Bonnie Raitt, B.B. King, John Zorn, and John Pizzarelli are already on sale. If you have to plan family size getaways, the Jazz Festival will be the perfect playground. Giant piano keys, trumpet slides, and arts and crafts will entertain your youngsters while you enjoy the music. Street performers, like jugglers and mimes, as well as an interactive School Of Jazz will educate and entertain children for hours. “The city lays a stage for 2,500 featured artists in five hundred concerts, 350 of which won't cost you a dime.” As the Jazz Fest leads us into the first week of July, visitors can relax with a bit of laughter. The Just for Laughs Comedy Festival is from July 13 to 23. Started twenty-two years ago by Gilbert Rozon, its main purpose is to provide those who like to laugh with people who will make them laugh. “The Festival's mandate is to spread the idea amongst the collective conscience of its audience that humor, although presented in a similar fashion in content and form year after year, can be reinvented. It can stimulate its artists to provoke laughter in a daring manner that can and does go beyond the limits of the imagination,” as stated on the festival's website. Over seven hundred comedians participate in the festival at many venues.
Dragon, boat, and race. These three terms come together on July 22 to 23 to produce a Chinese-inspired festival. The Dragon Boat Race festival, celebrated for nearly three thousand years, commemorates the Chinese poet Qu Yuan. Elaborately decorated dragon boats with teams of twenty-five person crews race down the Olympic Basin at Parc Jean-Drapeau. Over two hundred teams from regions of North America participate to make the Montreal Dragon Boat Race the biggest festival racing event outside of Asia. As the website says, “Dragon Boat Racing has also become a very popular corporate and charitable sport, during which friendship, strength, and endurance are developed among the participants.” “Dragon Boat Racing has also become a very popular corporate and charitable sport, during which friendship, strength, and endurance are developed among the participants.” Free admission will open the door to live entertainment, arts and crafts, children drawing contests, shopping, ethnic delicacies, and colorful races in one of the fastest growing water sports. If you would like to turn your attention from the water to the skies, the St-Jean-sur-Richelieu Hot Air Balloon Festival will inflate your interest. From August 12 to 20, there are nine days of shows, animation, hot-air balloon flights, and Night Glows, where grounded inflated balloons blaze like lanterns. Balloons from all over Canada and the United States decorate the sky with vibrant colors and designs. Have fun on the assortment of rides, and watch balloons take flight from a view on the Ferris wheel.
The festival is fun for all ages. At Mr. Christie Children's Village, kids ages 3 to 10 can make cookies and take the train that goes through an Oreo cookie tunnel or take a trip on a pedal boat in the Oasis. Teenagers can enjoy the four elastic trampolines of the Jumpai; practice their basketball skills; play pool, floor hockey, or foosball in the table games area; or even enjoy a four player video game in the arcade area. Live DJs are on stage with hip-hop beats, singing, streetdancing, and comedy shows. Give your kids a last celebration of summer before they load onto the bus with the Children's Festival. August 19 to 20th at the Maisonneuve Park is a fun and free way to close the summer. Since 1999, the Children's Festival has given kids the opportunity to take part in a number of sports games, arts and crafts, inflatable games, and international music and dance. The festival promotes a free and noncommercial approach to celebrate youth. With its initial thirty thousand visitors in 1999, the Children's Festival has grown in popularity with 255,000 visitors in 2004. The festival is supported by municipal departments, city boroughs, the government of Québec, private sponsors, cultural and sports associations, and 2,200 volunteers. So when your wallet is empty and your kids are complaining about going back to school, the Children's Festival is a great summer outlet for youth entertainment. While the weather is hot, and the Montreal scene is hotter, take the short trip and enjoy what our neighbors up north have to offer. Before you know it, the summer will be over. Take the time to enjoy the festivals so you can say you did more this summer than just lay at the beach. |
FrancoFolies If you like music and a good time, the FrancoFolies is another Montréal Festival that may interest you. It is very popular with 18 to 30 year olds because the festival offers plenty of French rock, hip-hop, pop, and electronic music. FrancoFolies feature big names in both emerging and established artists of French and world music. There are more than two hundred shows with 150 free outdoor performances. One thousand artists from 11 countries come to the FrancoFolies to make it the greatest festival of French music in the world. From June 8 to 18, bands such as Loco Locass, Malajube, les Ogres de Barback, and Monoc'Serge will play in the finest show halls in downtown Montréal as well as in the free outside shows. For more
details:
The Tamtams in Montréal take place from May 7th to September 24th. It is a celebration every Sunday at the foot of Mont-Royal to enjoy the drums of peace. It's a place to listen to music and dance. The Tamtams won the 2005 Regional Peral Award by Travelocity of USA, and is selected among thirty thousand candidates to be one of the most genuine events of North America.
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