Twelve Outaouais festivals share $1.17 million in provincial funding

Tashi Farmilo

Twelve festivals and tourism events across the Outaouais will share $1,169,000 in provincial funding this summer and fall, backing a regional calendar that spans hot-air balloons at dawn, international fireworks competitions, elite women's cycling, a professional rodeo, and acoustic folk music played in the living rooms of a small village.

The season opens with the Festival de l'Outaouais en Fête, which receives $38,000 and runs June 19 to 24 at Parc des Cèdres in Aylmer. This year marks the festival's 50th edition, celebrated with a fully francophone programme of rock, pop, rap, trad, and country, alongside fireworks, an ecological parade, rides, and children's activities.

July belongs to the cowboys. The Saint-André-Avellin Western Festival, a professional rodeo in the Outaouais, takes home $73,000 for its July 16 to 26 run in Saint-André-Avellin. More than 200 cowboys and cowgirls descend on the Papineau countryside for a ten-day event that extends well beyond the arena, with theatre, country music, equestrian competitions, and a family zone running with pony rides and inflatable games.

Festival Parasol, which receives $59,000, also lights up July at the Hôtel-Casino Lac-Leamy site in Gatineau. It operated for more than a decade as the Festibière de Gatineau before rebranding and expanding into a multi-themed open-air event with evenings ranging from country nights to Latin fiestas to Piknic Électronik sessions.

Les Grands Feux du Casino Lac-Leamy receives $152,000 for its July 29 to August 15 run at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau. The event has lit up local summers since 1996, firing its shows from a barge on the Ottawa River on Wednesday and Saturday evenings, with teams from countries including Japan, Australia, Mexico, and Canada competing before a public that votes after each display.

In Saint-André-Avellin, the Twist Fibre Festival runs August 7 to 9 and receives $30,000. Founded in 2012 by Amélie Blanchard, a former television producer turned goat farmer who found no worthy wool festival in Quebec and decided to build one. TWIST draws more than 20,000 visitors, with over 130 exhibitors and around 40 workshops conducted in both French and English. In a predominantly francophone corner of the province, Blanchard built a festival that draws enthusiasts from both linguistic communities around a shared passion for fibre arts.

The Petite Nation en Fête festival in Thurso, funded at $44,000, runs August 12 to 15. Thurso happens to be the hometown of NHL legend Guy Lafleur, and the festival carries something of that same local pride, hosting several evenings of outdoor concerts featuring prominent Quebec artists alongside food trucks and a main stage set up in the heart of town.

September is the Outaouais's busiest festival month. It opens with the Gatineau Hot Air Balloon Festival, September 3 to 7 at Parc de la Baie in Gatineau, the single largest recipient at $485,000. Now in its 38th year, the festival draws around 200,000 visitors over five days and generates an estimated $15 million in economic spinoffs for the region. It launched in 1988 with one day, 47 balloons, and 34,000 attendees; the following year, Céline Dion performed on its stage.

The Riverside Festival, also held on the Museum of History grounds, picks up $128,000 for its September 11 to 13 run. Since its founding in 2013, the three-day electronic music event has established itself as a major draw in the region, with past headliners including Tiësto, Subtronics, and Alok performing on an open-air stage.

The Tour de Gatineau, September 16 and 17 through the streets of downtown Hull, receives $26,000. A professional women's road cycling race sanctioned by the Union Cycliste Internationale, it draws competitors from the UCI World Tour and Continental circuits representing more than nine countries. Admission for spectators is free.

The Festival Ripon Trad, funded at $27,000 and running September 17 to 20 in the village of Ripon, may be the most intimate event on the list. Concerts take place not only under a main marquee but inside the private homes of residents, who open their doors to visitors for acoustic performances across a weekend steeped in traditional Quebec music.

The Aéro Gatineau-Ottawa airshow, scheduled for September 18 to 20 at the Gatineau-Ottawa Executive Airport, receives $72,000. Organized in partnership with Vintage Wings of Canada, the event brings together more than 100 aircraft, with the RCAF Snowbirds, CF-18 Hornet, and SkyHawks parachute team among the regulars. The Friday evening show adds a drone display of 150 synchronized lights above the airfield.

The season closes with the Montebello Mountain Bike Festival, September 25 to 27 in Montebello, at $35,000. Riders of all levels navigate more than 25 kilometres of trails through century-old pines on the historic Papineau lands, halfway between Montreal and Ottawa, past a natural cave passage and sweeping views of the Ottawa River. The event has also spawned a sister winter gathering, the Montebello Fatbike Festival, which has been running since 2022.

Mathieu Lacombe, Member of Parliament for Papineau and Minister of Culture and Communications, said the breadth of the lineup is precisely the point. "These gatherings promote the region and encourage culture and sports enthusiasts, as well as food lovers, to come and marvel at the talent of our artists, athletes, and food producers."

The Festival de l'Outaouais en Fête kicks off a $1.17 million provincial investment in twelve Outaouais festivals this summer and fall, celebrating its 50th edition among a regional calendar packed with music, sport, and culture. Photo: Yves Elou Légaré, Aylmer Bulletin Archives