Tears came to a few eyes on Monday afternoon at Fort Beauséjour, as the first ever Tantramar celebration of National Acadian Day got underway. “The feeling I’m getting from the community is that it’s been long awaited,” said Sackville resident Jean Pascal Lavoie. “People are very excited to be here.”

Lavoie is an Acadian, and director of the Beaubassin Cultural Society based in the Sackville region. He said it was nice to see families with many generations out to the event, all feeling welcome. “Francophones have not had their place as much in the past,” said Lavoie, noting that events like the one on Monday are part of “a change of perspective on Francophone culture in the region,” in recent years.

Tantramar mayor Andrew Black, resident Jean Pascal Lavoie, and Amherst town councillor Leon Landry at Fort Beauséjour on Monday. Photo: Erica Butler

Lavoie points out the numerous events in and around Tantramar, including a number happening across the border in Nova Scotia, in Minudie, Parrsboro and Amherst. In fact, a contingent of supporters from the new Cumberland Acadian Society in Amherst were on hand to promote their new society, and an upcoming National Acadian Day event on Thursday in Amherst.

The holiday is sometimes known as ‘Quinze Août’.

“It’ll be our very first Acadian festival,” said the society’s vice-president, Michel Gaudet. The event starts at 12:30pm with a parade from Amherst town hall to Victoria Park, and continues through to 6pm with live music, a barbecue, a petting zoo, a magician, caricatures, and and puppet show. “Everybody’s invited,” said Gaudet, “whether you’re French or English, it does not matter.”

Michel Gaudet, vice president of Cumberland Acadian Society, with a display at the Tantramar National Acadian Day celebration at Fort Beauséjour. Photo: Erica Butler

The Cumberland Acadian Society is a new group in the region and has been growing quickly. “Hopefully it keeps growing,” said Gaudet, “because next year is the Congrès Mondial, we’d like to be able to expand it and hopefully include more of our communities into the event.” The Congrès Mondial Acadien happens every five years and is next slated for August 2024, based in south west Nova Scotia Acadian communities of Argyle and Clare.

Deputy Mayor Greg Martin was in attendance on Monday, happy to see the town host an event in his neck of the woods, and at Fort Beauséjour, which he says is a little known gem in the new amalgamated town. The town also served up some ice cream from nearby Truman’s Blueberry Farm.

Tantramar mayor Andrew Black opened up the event on Monday, and said this would likely not be the last time the municipality celebrates ‘Quinze Août’.

“I think we’ve always tried to honor our Acadian heritage through monuments we’ve developed or things like that in our community,” said Black. “We’ve raised the Acadian flag for Acadian day. But we’ve never done an Acadian celebration… I think part of that is now we do have these expanded borders, and Fort Beauséjour happens to be in our municipality, and this is a perfect spot to have an event like this.”

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