Avenue Maguire springs into festivities with Les Printanières
Cassandra Kerwin
cassandra@qctonline.com
Celebrations of Avenue Maguire’s 125th anniversary continued with Les Printanières de Maguire on May 30 and 31. The shops, restaurants and performers adjusted to the evechanging weather.
Despite rain in the forecast for May 30, the sun was out, yet not many people showed up. Due to the forecast, the SDC Maguire announced a change in the schedule. Festivities ran from noon to 5 p.m. on both days, rather than 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. on May 30 and 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. on May 31. These changes displeased some people who planned to celebrate on the terrasses and in the shops on Friday or Saturday evening.
MP for Québec-Centre Jean-Yves Duclos, MNA for Jean- Talon Pascal Paradis, city councillor Maude Mercier Larouche and director general of the Caisse Desjardins Saint-Louis- de-France Kathleen Bilodeau visited Avenue Maguire on Friday afternoon. SDC Maguire director general Brian Aubé gave them a tour, visiting a few merchants.
“It is important to start the spring and summer season on the right foot,” said Aubé. “The weather has not really been on our side, these past few weeks, dropping buckets of rain over our heads. For our events, we have taken measures. We modified the schedule a bit, and we are ready to set up tents. We asked certain merchants and shops to hold their kiosks inside rather than on the side- walks.” This explained the lack of crowds on the streets on Friday, despite the sun and warm temperatures. On Saturday, rain poured down.
“My grandmother has been doing the family grocery shopping at Roset’s since it opened in 1947,” said Alexandra Bélanger. “I have so many memories on this street that I am happy to share them with my own daughters.”
During the weekend, visitors sampled foie gras and duck rillettes from Canard Goulu, shopped at Boutik Suisse, savoured chocolates at Eddy Laurent or enjoyed a refreshing ice cream at Chocolats Favoris or the Bar Laitier Maguire. Street performers were invited to showcase their skills and talents.
The history of Avenue Maguire dates back to 1900, when Father Alexandre-Eustache Maguire requested a shorter route to the St-Colomb–St- Michel de Sillery cemetery on Boul. St-Cyrille (now Boul. René-Lévesque). Over time, businesses opened along this newly constructed road. The first tramway reached it in 1910, passing along another new street, Rue Sheppard. Today, RTC bus 11 follows this route.
Since his passing in 1934, Father Maguire has been forgotten by the general public, and the pronunciation of the name of the street has shifted from “Maguire” to something closer to “Magoirre.” No matter how it is pronounced, it has a lot of options for local shopping and dining.
Editor’s note: To learn more about the history of Avenue Maguire, see Bill Cox’s July 7, 2021 Street Views column.