An Early Saint Jean Baptiste Day
Last night was Saskatoon's Saint Jean Baptiste Day fête at Ecole canadienne française. There were tables and chairs set up in the outdoor skating rink, and a fun show featuring music students from the school and the fransaskois artist François Tremblay. At first I felt a little out of place without having a family with me, but then I met some people in the food line up. I got in line behind François, who I don't really know, but while organizing Francofièvre last year I had gone to one of his shows. I casually spoke with him and the woman behind me. The first question the woman asked us was where we were from, and this is a typical question often asked to find out if your a 'true' fransaskois. Something you just have to ignore. After that there were a few awkward moments because she had never heard of François, nor the fact he was the guest performer that evening, and then for some reason she thought we were a couple. I ended up sitting with the woman (whose name I have now forgotten) and some others from the Friday 5 à 7. I really enjoyed listening to some of the young musicians I had been in touch with last year.

During the show the FFS director was the M.C. and spoke about the upcoming events this summer and in particular the francophone pavilion at Folkfest. This unfortunately will be one of the memorable events of the evening which you will understand if you say the word Folkfest with a French accent, and then imagine someone going on and on enthusiastically about it. Perhaps we should have used the name Mosaic like in Regina for Saskatoon's multicultural summer festival.

In any case Bonne Fête de la Saint Jean Baptiste for those who will celebrate it on the 24th.