St-Valentin vies to be the capital of true love
Small Quebec village hosts festival tied to namesake holiday
Plunked in the middle of snow covered cornfields and dairy farms of southern Quebec, where traffic on main street slows to make way for all-terrain vehicles, the village of St-Valentin has quietly transformeditself into Canada’ s Capital of Love.
For the 24th year, the town near the Lacolle border crossing is trading on its name to hold its annual Saint Valentine’ s Day festival, from Feb .7 to 14, with events of all kinds related to matters of the heart.
On Thursday, they held the mayor’ s yearly blood drive. On Friday at 7 p.m., the priest held a special mass, where a benediction was given for all-terrain vehicles and their riders.
“It can be a dangerous sport,” festival president Pierre Vallières said. “He blesses the ATV riders to keep them safe.” Blessings for the Club quad des Patriotes were followed by a fire, barbecue and music.
Valliéres’s grey bungalow on the edge of town is decorated with red hearts and flying cup ids. President for the last five years (“I was the last to show up at the volunteers meeting ,” he jokes) as well as a city councillor and church volunteer, he estimates the festival will bring in roughly 1,500 people during the week, including about 500 for the weekend’s family-themed events that include an outdoor playground with free hot dogs in the minus-6 temperatures for the kids, pony rides, and animals from nearby Parc Safari, featuring haughty camels chewing their cud.
The crowd will nearly double the town’s population of 649 for the weekend.
“For a couple with young children, outings you can do together for Saint Valentine’s Day are limited,” said Jessica Tremblay, who came from nearby Lacolle with her husband, four-month-old and 2-year-old in tow. Small town conviviality brings an intimacy in keeping with the spirit of the holiday, she said.
“Everybody says hello to everyone. You can say hello to a stranger and they don’t look at you like you’re strange. Everybody knows each other here.”
The town’s post office receives about 1,000 envelopes a year at this time of year, addressed to the Post master, St-Valentin, with cards for loved ones inside. Postmaster Liliane Barbeau applies the town postal mark:
‘St-Valentin, QC, Capitale de l’Amour, Canada Post” in red or black ink, depending on the colour of the envelope, and sends them on.
“We get them from China, Japan, Mexico, and all over Quebec ,” B ari beau said. They change the postal stamp each year. The town has its own official Canada Post stamp, too.
Love has brought unexpected bed fellows to the town. St-Valentin twinned with the town of SakutoCho, Japan’s self-proclaimed City of Love, in 1997. The towns swap exchange students and culture. On Sunday, there’s an exhibition commemorating Japanese weddings, complete with official wedding kimonos installed with care by a Montreal er of Japanese origin, at the town’s city hall, which also serves as library and post office, and, on Saturday, home to a hawk and two African porcupines.
“Two years ago, the mayor’ s first grandchild was born on St. Valentine’s Day,” town director-general Serge Gibeau noted. The town is trying to branch out into the marriage business, catering to those who want to kick off their life journey together in love’s capital. One couple tied the knot on Valentine’ s Day. While the town can’t guarantee everlasting bliss, “I haven’t heard of any divorces yet,” Gibeau said.
Eventually, St-Valentin wants to offer full-service weddings, complete with food, reception and lodgings. You can get married at city hall, or at the gaze bo Brouil lard and her husband, Gaétan Fortin, opened a rental house, Au Co eur Pass ant, in the centre of town amid the wood clapboard houses off main street, for those looking for a tranquil getaway.
Two years ago, the mayor’s first grandchild was born on St. Valentine’s Day.
“It’s a place of peace, and love,” said Brouil lard, who knows of love, if not necessarily peace — she has six boys and 14 grandchildren.
Sunday saw a brunch at the local sugar shack, L’Èrablière StValentin attended by 600 people, proceeds going to the local parish. There is also a“Love Mass” Sunday at the church, where eight local couples will be honoured for their longevity, including one married 55 years and another for 65.
Before Astrid Am merla an moved to St-Valentin 32 years ago, arriving on Feb. 13 in a snowstorm, her friends back in Holland warned her not to, saying she was headed to a land of cold, hardship and boredom. They were right about the first one, but not the rest, she said.
“(The villagers) welcomed us with open arms,” Ammerlaan said in her warm barn, as Edgar the donkey nudged her for pets. “Everybody was so helpful. We felt blessed.”
She and her husband ran a dairy farm with 120 head of cattle, and raised six children who are grown now, but still come back every weekend for family and home. They raise sheep now, and geese, and Edgar, and Ammerlaan has more time for her love of spinning wool. An open-house exhibiting “sheep-to-wool” process has become a new feature of the StValentin Festival.
As always, the festival will end with a dinner-show spectacle attended by hundreds at the sugar shack, this year featuring Quebec singer Ima. She might want to check in with her doctor soon, however,
“The last two singers we had got pregnant right after we signed them ,” festival president Vallièr es said. “So we think that’s a sign.”