The 38th Annual Chautauqua & French-Canadian/Métis is Friday, August 23 through Sunday, August 25 at the Old Crossing Treaty Park in Huot. The festival begins Friday at 6:30 p.m. with a potluck followed by a bonfire, music and storytelling at 8:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday the festival starts with the food tent opening at 11:00 a.m., a welcome from Virgil Benoit at 12:30 p.m., followed by musical performances from Double the Trouble and the Asham Stompers, and storytelling by Jan Smith, author of “Cooking on the Ox Cart Trail – 1858”. Saturday will also include a Catholic Mass at 5:00 p.m. at the shrine.
Jerry Amiot said the event will include traditional dishes such as toutière and crêpes. “This is our 38th annual Chautaugua & French-Canadian/Métis Festival this coming Friday, Saturday, and Sunday,” said Amiot. “It’s being held at Old Crossing Treaty Park midway between Crookston and Red Lake Falls. It’s nine miles from Red Lake Falls and seven miles northeast of Gentilly. The festival is featuring some of the cultures of the French-Canadian/Métis folks such as music, traditional dancing, cooking such as the toutière or meat pie in our food tent. On Sunday, we’ll have a gentleman serving crêpes, which is a well-known French food.”
The festival will feature Double The Trouble, 15-year-old twin fiddlers who began fiddling and jigging at the age of three, with performances Saturday and Sunday at 1:00 p.m. Their repertoire includes traditional Métis music, contemporary tunes, and original music. Also performing will be the Asham Stompers, a high-energy jig and square dance group from Manitoba, with performances at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. The Stompers help recapture and preserve the history of the Métis people through traditional dancing, including the Red River Jig which has been done in First Nations communities for many years.
Amiot said the festival and the Association of the French of the North’s (AFRAN) mission is to keep the French-Canadian culture alive and share their impact on the area. “The mission of AFRAN (Association of the French of the North) is we try to keep the culture alive and make the public aware of the presence the French had in this area and the impact on the settlement of the area,” said Amiot. “The Gentilly, Plummer, Red Lake Falls, Oklee area was a strong settlement of the French-Canadians when they migrated here from Québec. That’s where my grandparents and great-grandparents were from on both sides. We’re pretty much overwhelmed population-wise by the Scandinavians around us, but at the time I was growing up in the Gentilly area it was probably 90 percent French-Canadians around us.”
Admission to the festival is free, but they do pass the “jar” during the concerts in lieu of admission. “We welcome donations through the free will offering process,” said Amiot. “That’s done as the music is being performed. We don’t pass the hat. We pass the jars in lieu of admission. There are a lot of activities with artists and artisans. We have an encampment area that will feature some of the early skills, crafts, and demonstrations of the early pioneers in the area.”
