Guillaume Laflamme, LJI Reporter

Families from all over the Pontiac were invited to downtown Fort Coulonge on Saturday for the town’s annual street festival – Village en fête.
The event, organized by Fort Coulonge, is a celebration of the start of the festival season for the region.
The town’s Bryson Street was filled with all sorts of attractions, including a touch-a-truck, inflatable obstacle courses, pizza, face-painting and even helicopter tours over the Fort Coulonge area.
“It’s a community celebration every year around this time. Normally, it’s Father’s Day weekend, but we had pushed it up for this weekend,” said Claudee Galipeau, who has been organizing the event for the last seven years.
“We always say the initial Village en fête event is sort of a ‘summer’s here and we’re kicking it off.’”
Galipeau explained that the event is both a chance for the local community to enjoy their afternoon, and also an opportunity to bring business to the downtown core of Fort Coulonge.
“The original mandate was that it would help the businesses within the downtown core,” Galipeau said. “And then it just cauliflowered into this big town celebration.”
The helicopter tours, provided by a Montreal-based helicopter school and tour agency, were one of the biggest attractions at the festival.
“The view is beautiful, I’m doing it again tonight,” said Fort Coulonge mayor Christine Francoeur. “It’s going to be my second time. Every time I come I bring my grandchildren with me.”
Francoeur explained the spring festival has been around for more than a decade, and serves as a thank you to the community for supporting local businesses, as well as a chance to expose the local community to some of the many amenities the Pontiac has to offer.
“I think the parents appreciate it because they can have so many activities and they’re free,” Francoeur said. “It’s a bit of a rainy day [ . . . ] But we can’t control the weather. But still, people are still showing up with their umbrellas.”