Rendez-vous for a francophone celebration at MCCC

Les Rendez-vous de la Francophonie is a public event that encourages French Canadians to stand up and be proud of their heritage.

Celebrated across Canada throughout March, it is commemorated in Morinville tomorrow Thursday, March 2 with a full day of activities.

Les Rendez-vous is a slice of events organized every year to promote francophone cultural expression. This year’s national theme is La Francophonie in 3D: Diversity, Duality and Dynamism.

Designed as a social gathering, Rendez-vous is Morinville’s fourth annual French heritage festival. Activities include a flag-raising ceremony, children and adult performances, heritage displays, music and food.

To receive an authentic cultural taste, Celebration Flair Catering is whipping up a dinner of French crepes, salad and a French dessert.

The Morinvillle Historical and Cultural Society and Morinville Volume 4 History also pooled their resources to complete a heritage exhibit at the cultural centre.

“There will be 150 medals, hats, boating oars, historical newspaper clippings and a few surprises,” said Kathleen Ducharme, town culture and events programmer.

Winnipeg based singer-songwriter Jocelyne Baribeau is slated to perform two shows throughout the day. At 1 p.m. the classically trained singer entertains during a children’s show as her alter ego Madame Diva.

Later that evening at 7 p.m. the 2016 Western Canadian Music Awards Francophone Artist of the Year lets her hair down to sing a country folk concert. Rounding out support is guitarist Joel Perrault and drummer Ivan Burke.

A Kindermusik teacher and singer with the Manitoba Opera Chorus for a dozen years, Baribeau, who enjoys working with children and songwriting, was encouraged to create her own French-speaking show.

“When my children were growing up there were not a lot of options for French music,” said Baribeau.

The recording artist’s creation was Madame Diva, a spoof on her operatic career.

“The first time I performed, my whole show sold out. It hadn’t necessarily been the plan but I eventually recorded Madame Diva in 2009, Viva La Diva in 2012 and I just released Zing-e-zing on Feb. 18.”

The 45-minute French-speaking concert for children will be colourful and silly with an invitation to the crowd to manipulate Madame Diva’s puppets.

Up until three years ago, Baribeau’s claim to fame was through Madame Diva and her puppet creations.

“At that time I started working on separate projects for myself in the evenings. It took a while to get going but I recorded Entre toi et moi and I got a lot of nominations. It delighted me to no end. I was happy to see the hard work over the years paid off,” Baribeau said.

The one-hour evening concert will be an acoustic set of francophone songs.

“It’s a good balance doing both projects.”

All festivities including the evening dinner and concert are free. However, attendees must pick up wristbands at the Morinville Cultural Centre. They are available first-come, first-served until Thursday.