{"id":172671,"date":"2023-08-15T10:19:09","date_gmt":"2023-08-15T14:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/?p=172671"},"modified":"2023-08-15T10:19:09","modified_gmt":"2023-08-15T14:19:09","slug":"townshippers-festival-makes-a-comeback-in-celebration-of-the-eastern-townships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/townshippers-festival-makes-a-comeback-in-celebration-of-the-eastern-townships\/","title":{"rendered":"Townshippers’ Festival makes a comeback in celebration of the Eastern Townships"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Townshippers\u2019 Festival is back after a three-year hiatus with a new collaboration with the Stanstead Recreational Association.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Townshippers\u2019 Festival is a bilingual event that dates back almost 40 years and it is coordinated by the Townshippers\u2019 Association - a non-profit organization that supports the English-speaking community of the Eastern Townships. The event is all about bringing together the French and English-speaking communities of the region, drawing in Townshippers\u2019 living near and far. The festival showcases the region\u2019s artisans, local entertainment, and community organizations to highlight its culture and dynamism.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Put on hold because of the pandemic, the goal with this year\u2019s Townshippers\u2019 Festival is to break the isolation that the community experienced over the last few years. The Townshippers\u2019 Association decided to combine this year\u2019s festival with the Stanstead\u2019 Recreational\u2019s Association\u2019s annual Septemberfest event, providing a two-for-one experience for festival goers.<\/p>\n

As concerns grow amongst Quebec\u2019s English-speaking communities over provincial legislation like Bill 96<\/a>, Michelle Lep\u00eetre, director of programs and communications for the Townshippers\u2019 Association, said that the Townshippers' Festival plays an important role in celebrating the relationship between the region\u2019s linguistic communities and raising awareness around their contributions to the growth of the Eastern Townships.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the nice things in the Townships is that we have pretty harmonious relationships between the linguistic groups, between the French and English communities. Traditionally, we\u2019ve always worked really well together, we like to support each other. I think it\u2019s a sense of pride for our region that we are able to do that,\u201d emphasized Lep\u00eetre. \u201cI think the festival is a way that we can do that too because we also like to highlight the role the Francophones around us play for our community and that they are a part of our community too. It\u2019s a way to highlight what works here and focus on the good things.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Lep\u00eetre, the Townshippers\u2019 Festival serves a number of important roles that build a sense of community in the region.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think one is really bringing the community together for a big festive event. That is always a fun thing for people to reconnect, even with people that moved away. There are Townshippers who left the Townships that still feel like Townshippers in their hearts that like to come back for this event to see old friends and old places that they remember,\u201d she explained. \u201cBut I think it\u2019s also a great opportunity for our community to really highlight some of the great things that we have and that we do, and some of the organizations and institutions that really highlight what the English community has always been about. The festival does a really good job of putting that on display.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Townshippers\u2019 Association always had the intention of bringing back the festival, said Lep\u00eetre, especially as the group recognized the fallout of the Covid pandemic.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe pandemic really affected how we interacted with other people. A lot of us felt isolated and we really missed these kind of events that bring us all together. I think, for that reason, it was really important for us to bring the festival back and make sure that opportunity for people to get together still existed in the Eastern Townships,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

Paige Frost, who has been coordinating the event with the Townshippers\u2019 Association, said that Townshippers can look forward to an even \u201cbigger\u201d event this year as the organization partners up with the Stanstead Recreational Association. Rather than hosting their respective festivals on two back-to-back weekends, the organizations decided to combine their events.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While this year\u2019s Townshippers\u2019 Festival is a collaborative effort, it will have all of the elements that it is typically known for, including artisan and community group kiosks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think it\u2019s really important to have the artisans and the community groups come to the event. Our artisans, for right now, are all from Stanstead. We\u2019re trying to stay in the area as much as possible, but in the past [we\u2019ve had artists from outside] of the area just to see new local artists and artisans in general that try to promote their work,\u201d explained Frost. \u201cFor the community groups, it\u2019s really important to have our English-speaking community groups there to promote their services, make sure that they stay running, and that people know that they can reach out and use those services that are available in the Townships.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frost mentioned that the Townshippers\u2019 Association hopes to draw a good crowd this year and reiterated the importance of bringing people together again.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCovid was a hard time for a lot of people, especially in the community. The little businesses, the services, a lot of things were lost. So to have everyone come back together to promote these things once again is what we\u2019re aiming for,\u201d she noted.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To hear more about the Townshippers\u2019 Festival listen to the full interview below:<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Townshippers\u2019 Festival is back after a three-year hiatus with a new collaboration with the Stanstead Recreational Association.\u00a0 The Townshippers\u2019 Festival is a bilingual event that dates back almost 40 years and it is coordinated by the Townshippers\u2019 Association – a non-profit organization that supports the English-speaking community of the Eastern Townships. The event is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":172677,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[57,218,219],"tags":[17176,22369,26458,17815,5298],"radio":[246],"origine":[274,259,260],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172671"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/113"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172671"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":172849,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172671\/revisions\/172849"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172671"},{"taxonomy":"radio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/radio?post=172671"},{"taxonomy":"origine","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/origine?post=172671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}