It was a sweet treat for families who attended the La Cabane á Sucre du Nord on Saturday, March 18.
The annual Sugar Shack brought families from across the region and beyond. Over 639 people came out to celebrate Francophone culture with French-Canadian foods, sweets, activities and music.
For some, it's a tradition to attend the event, while for others like Jacelyn Dsnoyers, it was a first.
Dsnoyers attended the event with her husband and two children, and although she is not Francophone herself, she married into a Francophone family and teaches music at École des Beaux-Lacs.
“It's an amazing event; just to see the community come together,” noted Dsnoyers. “I think there are a lot of French roots here… It's really neat to come together and to practice these traditions that might otherwise be lost, from the music to the food and the ‘joie de vivre' as they say.”
Those feelings were shared through the event, said Mireille Lavoie-Beaupre, community officer for the Bonnyville-Cold Lake French Cultural Centre (ACFA).
On more than one occasion, Lavoie-Beaupre was approached by families attending the Sugar Shack, claiming they loved the atmosphere, the activities and the feeling of belonging.
“The beauty of the Lakeland is to go outside and enjoy the outdoors, and to be able to offer that to the community while promoting the French culture is just wonderful. It's an incredible feeling,” she said, describing the event as a “big family reunion.”
Seeing everyone come together, children enjoying toffee on the snow or clambering up the toboggan hill for another run gave the event a warm, safe and community-like feel, Lavoie-Beaupre noted.
“The atmosphere is indescribable… that feeling of togetherness. There is not one thing in particular that stands out.”
Adding a bit of cultural flair was fiddler Daniel Gervais and his fellow musicians. The trio started the afternoon playing around a campfire, sitting on hay bales while they waited for the arrival of the sound system.
Families were busy enjoying their lunch of beans, crepes, potatoes, and hot chocolate, or waiting in line for their chance to make toffee on the snow while they listened to laughter and the sound of French inspired melodies.
“It's not even all of that together (that makes the event). It's the atmosphere, the feeling that people create altogether,” described Lavoie-Beaupre.
The weather and the sound of Canadian geese flying overhead pulled it all together for Lavoie-Beaupre.
She said, “We are so lucky. We are just so happy that, as an organization, everything worked on our side. We are also lucky that as a community, we fulfill a need and people are coming back year after year for more.”
