Issue link: http://publications.winnipegfreepress.com/i/514227
44 Fêtes and Follies n summer, costumed interpreters recreate the fur-trade era at Fort Gibraltar and la Maison du Bourgeois. The replica of a North West Company fort built along the Red River in St. Boniface becomes party central during Festival du Voyageur each February, when rural outposts such as St. Malo join the fun, but there are soirees in all seasons in Manitoba's French communities. St. Laurent is home to one of the largest Métis populations in North America, as well as Manitoba's version of the Loch Ness Monster — Manipogo is said to haunt the waters of Lake Manitoba near the town about 80 kilometres north of Winnipeg. Celebrate Métis culture during Métis Days on the August long weekend, when jigging, fiddling and bannock are the order of the day. In the fall, Mud Fest á Sainte-Adolphe is dubbed "a family messtival" for good reason. The event includes mud sliding, mud-pie making, a muddy tug-of-war and a "mudcake" breakfast. The Canadian National Frog Jumping Championships are the highlight of Folies Grenouilles & foire Agricole/Frog Follies and Agricultural Fair in St. Pierre-Jolys in July. Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles helped launch the first Frog Follies in 1970 and the party has grown by leaps and bounds, with a slo-pitch tournament, agricultural exhibits and live music that will have you shaking a leg. The community of St. Georges, about 140 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg on the Winnipeg River, was established in 1882, when Father Joachim Allard enticed three families from Chateauguay, Quebec to settle in the scenic area. In July, the Chateauguay Festival pays homage to the pioneers with pickerel fishing, a sandcastle-building contest and plenty of entertainment. Visit the St. Georges Museum and enjoy outdoor recreation along the Blue Water Trail section of the Trans Canada Trail. An easy cruise 100 kilometres west of Winnipeg on Hwy 2 takes you to St. Claude, where citizens have celebrated Fête de la Bastille/Bastille Day every summer for more than 100 years. Residents traditionally hold a community supper and gather at the cenotaph to honour local soldiers of the First World War. The community is home to the Manitoba Dairy Museum and St. Claude Gaol Museum, where a 1912 jail cell is a popular photo backdrop. St. Claude also lays claim to the world's second-largest smoking pipe I > Visit joiedevivremanitoba.com — a six-metre-long roadside attraction erected to commemorate settlers from the pipe-producing Jura region of France. Head west of St. Claude to Notre-Dame- de-Lourdes, where a bronze statue of town founder Dom Paul Benoit stands in front of the local church. Each September, Salut Voisin!/Howdy Neighbour Weekend tees up a golf tournament, entertainment, fireworks and pig races in honour of both Benoit — who led settlers from France and Switzerland to the area in 1891 — and a group of Chanoinesses (nuns) who followed. Trace their history at the Pionners and Chanoinesses Museum, and visit the town's grotto, erected to honour a pledge made by a local nun who prayed the village would be spared from a 1940s polio epidemic. > fortgibraltar.com > ritchot.com > frogfollies.com > rmofgrey.ca > notre-dame-de-lourdes.ca FORT GIBRALTAR PHOTO: DAN HARPER You don't need to speak the language to catch the joie de vivre. Taste it in the food, hear it in the music and let its spirit get your blood pumping on even the coldest days of year. 44