A Vermont Lake Champlain Quadricentennial SIGNATURE EVENT

The St. Albans Franco-American Heritage Festival - celebrating the rich cultural heritage of Franco-Americans and the natural history of Vermont's Lake Champlain region - will kick off on June 18 in the evening with a gala event and art show at the Lois McClure, dockside in St. Albans Bay.

Regional, state, and local dignitaries, sponsors will be invited, and tickets to the gala will be available for purchase.

Festivities continue on Friday and Saturday, June 19 and 20, with many events taking place in outdoor venues in St. Albans City and Town. The Lake Champlain Maritime Museum's 1850s replica canal schooner, Lois McClure will remain at port in St. Albans, and will be open for public viewing.

Free concerts featuring some of the most talented traditional Franco-American and
 Canadian musicians are planned, including Smithsonian Folkways artist, Franco-American singer/songwriter Michele Choiniere, recipient of the 2007 Vermont Governor's Heritage Award.  Don Roy, an award winning Franco-American fiddler from Maine will also perform. He has played at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, the Library of Congress, and at major folk festivals throughout the US and on a Prairie Home Companion.  Josee Vachon will share her Franco-American upbringing through traditional and contemporary folksongs from Québec and Acadia.  Josee has earned numerous awards and performance accolades across her 25 year career.

History will be "on stage" too.  Plan to take in historical re-enactments, lectures, roving actors reenacting period characters, genealogy exhibits, a traditional 'soiree', history walks, children's activities and much more.

In May the St.Albans school system will also host a traditional workshop on French culture and music, and children attending that workshop will be invited to perform during the Festival.

Most of these events will be free and open to the public.
  Event locations include, in St. Albans City: Taylor Park and the St. Albans Historical Museum, and in St. Albans Town: Bay Park and Knights of Columbus Hall.

Click here for details and schedule.

Celebrate Champlain Festival Schedule of Activities
Saturday, July 11

Battery Park

10:00 AM – 4 PM: PuzzlePalooza Thousands of oversized wood and paper puzzle pieces will be on display as part of the Vermont Arts Council’s statewide community arts project, Art Fits Vermont.  Pieces created by artists from Vermont, New York and Quebec will be joined to create the World’s Largest Puzzle.  The official Guinness World Record count will take place at 2 PM.

Church Street Marketplace

11:00 AM – 5:00 PM:  New Vaudeville Spectacular featuring Bindlestiff Family Circus, Foolz, The Hokum Brothers, and, from Quebec, strolling performers Ensemble Karel., 12-piece marching band, Fanfarniente della Strada, and the comic characters, Toxique Trottoir - The Botero Family.

Church Street Stage

11:30 AM – 4 PM:  Performances including Le Vent du Nord, Clayfoot Strutters and many others

Champlain Valley Stage in City Hall Park

12:30-5:00 PM: Performances including Alan Greenleaf & the Doctor, Atlantic Crossing, and Nulhegan Chief Luke Willard’s Willard Way. FREE

Downtown and Lakeside locations

12:00-4:00: Taste of Champlain Food Festival.  Strawberry Festival featuring regional fresh berries, shortcakes, and other berry confections.

Contois Auditorum, Burlington City Hall

12:00-1:30 PM: Champlain Salon--Our Next Hundred Years: The Future of Diverse Communities in the Champlain Valley. A daily lunchtime series of imaginative explorations of how history informs our future. With producer and host Fran Stoddard. FREE

9:00 PM: The Bindlestiff Family Cirkus presents Freaks & Foolz Cabaret Bawdy vaudeville in an intimate setting (adults only).   Tickets: $10.

Waterfront Park

1:00 PM:  Iroquois Lacrosse Weekend. Get an introduction to the tradition, history and skills in a special clinic. Waterfront Park  FREE.

Waterfront Park Main Stage

Noon:  No Border Concert—Native American blues, rock, and traditional music: Including Grammy-winning Iroquois singer-songwriter Joanne Shenandoah, and Gary Farmer & the Troublemakers. Also, special appearance by Heritage and Harmony, international choral group of Quebec, French, and Vermont kids.

6:30 PM:  Queen City Concert Series: Ween and Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra:  Antibalas promises irresistible rhythms—Ween’s the ultimate cosmic goof of the alternative rock era, a prodigiously talented and deliriously odd duo whose work travels far beyond the constraints of parody and novelty.  Tickets: $33 advance, $35 day of show.

Main Street Landing Perfoming Arts Center, Black Box Theater

9:00 PM:  Territoires Feminins (Women’s Territories). Created and performed by Quebec Abenaki dancer and choreographer, Marie Claude Rodrigue. Includes brief nudity. Tickets $15.

Flynn Center for the Performing Arts

8:30 PM: The New World. Acclaimed French/Algerian choreographer Heddy Maalem will stage a special commissioned world-premiere performance and pageant featuring more than 50 professional Vermont, Quebec, and Native American dancers—all accompanied by Dvorak’s New World Symphony. (50 minutes) Tickets $10 and $20.

5:00 PM: Champlain 400 Parade
Unfolding along Main Street and climaxing at Union Station, this first-ever performance parade features hundreds of dancers, choreographers, magicians, stilt-walkers, giant puppets, and much more. Assemble at 3:00pm. FREE

After the parade:  Champlain Concerts, Performances, and Pageant. Artists will stage events in multiple venues (artists and locations TBA).  Check printed program or website for details and locations. FREE

September 20, 2009:  Festival of the Nations.  Puzzle pieces created by Vermont and New York artists will be joined to span the half-mile long Champlain Bridge from Crown Point, NY to Chimney Point, VT. Bring your piece and join the Vermont Arts Council and our partner, Arts Council for the Northern Adirondacks for the 7 AM event.

Visit the Vermont Arts Calendar to view additional events.