Donald Teuma-Castelletti
LUSKVILLE Jan. 26-28, 2018
Families in the Municipality of Pontiac had the chance to try maple taffy, ride fat bikes, throw axes, show off their talents and much more all over town, at an annual event aimed to bring everyone out and into their community during the colder time of year.
There were plenty of options to get the whole family out and about last weekend in Luskville, when the Winter Carnival brought circus performers, a talent show, a lumberjack contest and more to different spots all over town.
“For this year, it was decided that the group would do a larger event,” said Charlene Young, a member of Groupe Action Jeunesse, who organized the carnival.

The weekend started with an amateur talent show on Friday night, where individuals or groups could show off their unique talent and get a chance to win all sorts of prizes, from water park passes to local experiences. Following this, a magician took the stage to show off his own talents, in a humourful way.
Saturday saw events for children start the day, as the PMP 0-5 ans had games and workshops for young families. At noon, a circus workshop and show began at the Notre Dame de la Joie school, where kids had the chance to test their balance, juggle a variety of items and even try out a trapeze that had been set up in the school’s gymnasium.
Though participation may have started quietly, by 1:30 p.m. kids were all over the place, waving rainbow-coloured streamers, receiving guided lessons on the trapeze and walking across the balance beams. Of course, kids being kids, many new games were invented and implemented with the different items in the gym, as hackey sacks were tossed through basketball nets and streamers repurposed as swords all over.
While many families had fun fooling around with the offerings, everyone was blown away when the group who was running the circus workshop, Productions 3,2,1 Cirque, put on their various shows. Jolain Bélisle and Christine Jeannotte, the couple who ran the workshop, put on quick acts upon the trapeze, as well as diabolo acts and more, making sure to work their young children into the feats, too. One show to get a lot of the childrens’ attention was when Jeannotte unveiled long silk scarves from the trapeze structure, and did an entire routine, climbing and weaving herself into them, sometimes sliding herself the roughly 25 ft. length of the scarves from top to bottom.
When that wrapped up at three, families had a community spaghetti dinner to look forward to in the evening. The grade six class at Notre Dame de la Joie put on the dinner in order to fundraise for their end-of-year trip, serving everyone at the Luskville Community Centre.
At noon on Sunday, a whole new set of events started at the Recreation Park, including a free skate at the outdoor rink, Get Art activities and wholly-Canadian maple taffy, rolled onto a stick as it’s chilled on a bed of snow. Fat bikes, where the tire is about four times the size of a regular bike, zipped all around the park, as guests were welcome to give them a ride through the snow, as well as an opportunity to win one by entering their name in a free draw.
As well, sleigh rides on horse-drawn carriages were offered, plus snowshoeing, cross-country ski activities, and hockey took place all over the park.
A big draw for many families was the lumberjack contest, where different activities took place, for both the children and grown-ups. Adults had the chance to compete in a water-boiling contest, where they must build a fire out of kindling, light the fire and then boil a tin can full of water, all the while battling the winds that whipped up just in time for the contest.
They could also try their hand at axe-throwing and a log crosscut, with both proving much more difficult than anticipated.
“We used to have this a long time ago and I suggested it’d be fun to bring it back,” said Young.
For the kids, there was a plastic axe toss, where they aimed to get the axe in a milk crate and a pool noodle crosscut, plus other age-adjusted tests of their lumberjack abilities.
Scores were tallied and tracked as the events went on for both age groups, before prizes were distributed when all was said and done.
This weekend of winter fun has been going on since the early ‘80s and has seen different groups organize it since. Groupe Action Jeunesse organized and arranged for the various events, just as they have since the early 2000’s.
Parents at the circus workshop said that they welcomed the addition of more family-oriented events in the community and look forward to what will be offered going forward.
“I feel like they’re taking an initiative to do more family-friendly activities,” said Lynne Maloney, one of the parents. “It’s a unique sort of experience, it’s local, free and different.”
“I like how it gets the kids moving,” added Marcy Amyot, another of the parents.