Tom Henihan
Express Staff
@SmokyRiverExprs
The Villa Beausejour will be in carnival spirit on Thursday February 8 as residents celebrate the French Canadian tradition of cabine de sucre or sugar shack.
“Normally I invite the other lodges from Heart River Housing, so Valleyview and High Prairie lodges come to have lunch and participate in the afternoon games,” says Villa Beausejour activity director, Leas Roby. “Usually it is a traditional French Canadian meal; beans and wieners with tourtire and sugar pie. “
The afternoon games start at 1.30pm and involve many of the traditional games played in the pioneer days such as log sawing, nail pounding and the ladies have clothesline hanging competitions.
“In past years I have had pie throwing, milking the cow. I have had all kinds of different activities but I normally have my log sawing and nail pounding because they like those two for sure,” says Roby.
Manoir du Lac residents and everyone from the community are welcome to visit to watch or participate in the afternoon games.
For the afternoon snack, the big treat is real maple toffee prepared by a woman from St. Isidore who also does it for the St. Isidore Carnivals.
“It is traditional maple toffee that they would normally put on the snow and roll it up. We don’t do it on the snow because Health Canada won’t let us,” says Roby.
Along with maple toffee, fried bread dough with caramel sauce or maple butter will be served, which is also a traditional snack typical of the sugar shacks back in Quebec.
“That is what it is all about. It is about the maple run that happens down east every year around February, and that’s when they do all their fun things out there, so we decided we would keep the tradition here.”