2023-09-10 23:16:18
All along Rue Saint-Joseph towards the Grandes Estrades, as around the other streets of the route, spectators gathered on both sides of the public road to admire the sleek beasts, the cars they were shooting and other animated floats.
The equestrian association Friends of the Maskinongé Horses alone paraded more than 15 horses. Mounted by riders or harnessed to pull carriages, dozens of horses of Canadian breed, Belgians, Arabs and Percherons, with braided tails and combed manes, showed all their presence.
The president of the Western Festival organizing committee, Nadia Moreau, wanted a beautiful parade, and she got it. With around fifty paintings, it set off from the festival stables at 1 p.m. and toured the great Far West metropolis that Saint-Tite is becoming, for 10 days in September. When “a village of 4000 souls” attracts 600,000 visitors in such a short period, the face of it changes completely.
This was recalled by Stéphane Beaulac, presenter at Rouge FM, who commented on the parade at the intersection of Saint-Paul and Notre-Dame streets, trying to create a little atmosphere while waiting for the floats and other paintings. .
The marching bands, the cadet corps, the mascots, the cheerleaders, the Royal Canadian Navy, the dancers and line dancers followed one another, interspersed with carriages where elected officials and other dignitaries were pulled in twos, four or six horses.
Among the most surprising allegorical floats, let us note that of Urban Adrenaline which had a skateboard and scooter ramp wandering around, with four acrobats in action. They paid for their recklessness with a few falls, but without serious consequences.
Festival violinist Pascale Croft rocked her instrument throughout the parade, adding virtuoso solos to traditional country tunes. The TR Cheer team performed some breathtaking acrobatics along the way.
The Saloon float, led by the festival’s dance coordinator, Guylaine Bourdages, was followed by dozens of dancers who punctuated the entire journey with their steps. Even the newlyweds from the festival made an appearance.
At the end of the parade, on the FWST allegorical float, Nadia Moreau was no longer on the ground. “I’m on cloud nine regarding the parade!” she said following receiving numerous comments from spectators. The 2023 parade stands out as one of the largest in recent FWST history. “There was a lot of effort put into it, we adjusted the budgets, we had more tables than usual. I got comments like I’ve never had on a parade route,” she says, satisfied.
“To the eye”, estimates the president of the organization, “there were many, many, many people”. Above all, these people arrived a day early to attend the Tim McGraw show on Thursday evening. Although the official figures will not be available until later, it is a very good opening weekend, if only in qualitative terms, believes Ms. Moreau.
Among the new features of the festival, note that the big bingo which will be held at the Country Club Desjardins on Monday evening will be hosted by the incomparable Rita Baga. “This year, for each of the files, we gave ourselves the mandate to find ways to renew ourselves and give a little wow to our festival-goers,” says Nadia Moreau. The bingo team therefore launched the idea, and the arrival of the famous drag queen at FWST arouses the pride of the organizers.
To stay in the realm of games of chance, the lucrative 50/50 draws which are usually reserved for festival-goers who can purchase tickets in the street or in the stands now have their virtual version. On Sunday followingnoon, the online prize pool was growing rapidly, approaching $130,000. The draw for this jackpot will take place on September 17, during the rodeo finals.
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