St. Albert Curd Festival draws 40,000
Villagers, visitors gather to celebrate all things cheese
The village of St. Albert did not let the fire and subsequent loss of its beloved cheese factory stand in the way of celebrating its namesake dairy product.
The annual St. Albert Curd Festival celebrated its 20th anniversary about six months after St-Albert cheese factory went up in flames in February. Despite the loss of the local cheese co-op, curds were available in abundance, offered free at a stand in a vendor village and sold at both on location stands and at the recently opened temporary cheese shop across the street from the 10-acre festival site.
Organizers estimate about 40,000 people descended on this village of 650 people during the four-day festival. It kicked off on Wednesday night with a comedy show. The festival offered cooking demonstrations, a beach volleyball tournament, a gokart track, a maze, a family zone for young children and, of course, the opportunity to nosh on all kinds of food, especially cheese.
The main draw over the weekend was the festival’s third annual inter-village challenge. The four hour competition spanning Saturday and Sunday pitted six-person teams from Bourget, Casselman, Crysler, Embrun, St. Albert and sponsors Tourisme Prescott-Russell against one another in a series of challenges, such as a relay race, fishing for jelly beans in an aboveground pool and a throwing competition.
Bourget team member Philippe Bisson, who has participated in the inter-village challenge since its inaugural year, said the fire at the cheese factory affected all six villages because they’re so close to one another.
“People from everywhere, they come to the factory to get their cheese. They know everyone from St. Albert. St. Albert, Embrun, Bourget, Prescott, Russell. We’re all related,” said Bisson.
By continuing the yearly festival, Bisson said, St. Albert was maintaining normalcy.
As usual, rivalries among the neighbouring communities competing at the festival were intense, said Benoit Bruyère, a member of Embrun’s team for the past three years.
“We are very competitive, but we often help each other, too. There’s this camaraderie that happens in this kind of festival,” said Bruyère.
Before Sunday’s final set of events, Bruyère and his teammates from Embrun strategized with Bourget’s Philippe Bisson and with the Crysler and Casselman teams in an attempt to keep firstand second-place Tourisme Prescott-Russell and St. Albert from picking up more points. Each team had its own set of bleachers to segregate fans, giving St. Albert an audible advantage, said Bruyère.
“They’re hometown favourites. Everyone in town is here to cheer them on, so it makes a big difference. They’re really loud.”
Strategy and all, Tourisme Prescott-Russell came away with first place. As the event’s sponsors, the team chose to forgo the $3,000 in winnings, instead opting to give the cheque to runners-up from Embrun.
Bruyère said the money will go toward a community splash pad.
At the end of the day, Bruyère said, the festival’s main focus is on supporting other communities, especially St. Albert.
“It think it’s safe to say we’re just one big family, actually. It’s one big community. When the factory burned down, it was like a part of our community burned down. We were really happy to hear the festival would go on, and they said, ‘We’re just going to build it back.’
“We knew that this was going to happen, so we had to come back and celebrate them building it back up.”