From sea shanties to garlic, and more at Quebec’s unusual festivals
MONTREAL — Tourists from all over the world flock to Quebec every summer for a stacked lineup of festivals that includes Montreal’s jazz gathering and Quebec City’s Festival d’été.
The province’s festival scene also includes a number of offerings that are a little more unusual.
Here’s your chance to sing a sea shanty, try out some garlic and even witness racing big rigs at one of Quebec’s smaller festivals.
La Fête des chants de marins (Sea Shanty festival), Aug. 16-20
An hour-and-a-half northeast of Quebec City lies the riverside village of Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, where shipbuilding and fishing were once a way of life.
Every year, the village honours its maritime heritage with a festival featuring sailors’ traditional work songs and the larger body of music inspired by the sea. The festival usually features singers from overseas, but this year, in honour of Canada’s 150th birthday, the event will instead focus on homegrown nautical songs sung in English, French and Inuktitut, according to festival director Thierry Plante-Dubé.
Visit chantsmarins.com for details.
Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue Garlic Festival, Aug. 26 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Fans of garlic say it has great health benefits, crosses cultures and even repels vampires — although maybe that’s just the bad breath.
Nevertheless, thousands of garlic-lovers flock every year to the farmers’ market in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, about 30 minutes west of Montreal, for its annual festival devoted to garlic.
Festival-goers can visit some 25 kiosks manned by local and organic garlic-growers and check out the event’s tastings, culinary demonstrations, workshops and contests, according to organizer Patti Murphy. Visitors will also be invited to help judge the festival’s first garlic poetry contest. The prize for winning this “people’s choice award” will be — what else — garlic. Visit facebook.com/festivaldelailSteAnne.
Big-rig drag racing in St-Joseph-de-Beauce, Sept. 1-3
Vacationers looking for fresh air and peace and quiet are probably best to avoid St-Joseph-de-Beauce on Labour Day weekend, where some 20,000 people gather each day to watch massive, diesel-spewing trucks race each other down a blocked-off city street along a 275-metre course, aiming for glory.
accelerationcamionstjoseph.com/en/