The Maple Sugar Festival will have added significance this year as it will be the first with Nanaimo under the Welcoming Francophone Communities banner.
The Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada initiative added the Harbour City as a participating community in August, said Camille Veron, Association des Francophones de Nanaimo executive director, and the festival, celebrating French Canadian culture, takes place at Beban Park Social Centre from Friday to Sunday, Feb. 21-23.
"We applied last year … we got nominated, and now we just signed the agreement," Veron told the News Bulletin about Welcoming Francophone Communities Initiative. "We're going to offer more services and activities to help the French-speaking newcomers who arrive in Nanaimo settle and to meet the community and have good integration."
There will be food trucks featuring poutine and more, as well as traditional French Canadian fare, such as tourtière, sugar pie, baked beans and tire sur la neige – maple toffee on snow.
Face-painting, games, the Mid-Island Lego Users Group and other activities will available for children, as well as a new addition.
"This year, we're really excited because we're going to have a new creative room that will showcase exhibitions and workshops for all ages on Saturday and Sunday … [including a] violin workshop with traditional dance," said Veron. "There will be on Sunday, Kamishibai workshops [Japanese-inspired street theatre]. There will be a mural that people can participate in all weekend, painting."
Musical acts will include a variety of locals including Pierre Schryer Trio, James Vickers, Collage Trad, Shauit, Missy D and Kutapira.
Admission is $15 for adults and $5 for children and is valid for the entire weekend.
Doors will be open from 6-9:30 p.m. on Feb. 21, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Feb. 22 and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Feb. 23.
For more information, visit http://msfnanaimo.org.
