JOSHUA ALLAN
The 1019 Report
What’s better than a day of celebration?
Try a year!
That is how St. Lazare’s 150th anniversary festivities will roll out over the course of 2025, organizers unveiled at a press conference last Wednesday.
Notable events to commemorate the milestone anniversary will include a hockey game featuring former Montreal Canadiens players in the winter, giant kite flying in the spring, barbecues and the “largest parade ever seen in St. Lazare” in the summer and a tribute to some notable figures throughout the town’s history in the fall.
The municipality will organize several festivities spanning the four seasons in 2025, with a cluster of events for each, said Paul Lavigne, president of the St. Lazare 150th anniversary celebration committee at the press conference.
The celebration will kick off on Friday, Feb.14, with a tailgate barbecue, followed by the hockey game, where a team of former Montreal Canadiens will face off against St. Lazare’s best players in the 35 and over age category at the Complex Sportif de St-Lazare.
The full roster of Canadiens’ old-timers will be confirmed in January.
The highlight of the spring festivities will be a giant kite flying activity at the St. Lazare air field. The event, which will take place on May 24, will bring together some 25 of Quebec’s best kite flyers to let these giant gliders soar.
“The kite activity is not something that’s available in southern Quebec,” Lavigne told The 1019 Report, adding that the committee predicts that the event may see up to around 4,000 guests.
In the summer, the committee said it will be teaming up with Festi Ouest organizers to highlight the history of St. Lazare. Lavigne promises a “grandiose” event.
“I can confirm that it will be a show that’s never been done before in the region,” he said.
Lavigne also added that the “largest parade ever seen in St. Lazare” will take place Sunday, Aug. 24, 2025. The parade will “bring together associations, merchants, the builders, the pioneers and our founding families of St. Lazare in a colourful and nostalgic parade.”
The fall portion of the festival will see tributes paid to some notable names throughout the town’s history who played roles in the foundation and growth of St. Lazare.
The 150th anniversary will feature numerous community dinners, brunches, workshops and other activities over the course of the year.
Locally-brewed alcoholic beverages will be available at all events throughout the year, courtesy of the Trois Lacs de Vaudreuil-Dorion microbrewery, the Distillerie 3 Lacs and Le Bourg des Cèdres winery.
The Trois Lacs microbrewery will even be introducing a commemorative beer for St. Lazare’s 150th anniversary, which will see its preview debut at this year’s Festi Ouest 2024 celebrations next week.
Ninety per cent of all anniversary-related events throughout 2025 will be free of charge and will not require pre-registration.