Day 1 of Stars and Thunder a tribute to Francophones

Day 1 of the Stars and Thunder really was a tribute to the Francophone community in Timmins.

And for good reason, being it fell on Saint Jean Baptiste Day, a national holiday in Quebec but a celebration marked by Francophones nationwide.

Centre Culturel la Ronde and Caisse Populaire were co-sponsors for the night.

Executive Director of la Ronde Daniel Ouellet spoke to Rogers Media just after going on stage to a warm reception.

He says it means a lot for them to be a sponsor.

“One of our goals is to promote the French culture, so what better way to do that than an eight-day international fireworks festival, kicked off with Saint Jean Baptiste and a day for the Francophones,” he said.

“For us, it was really a no brainer. It was an easy decision, and with the amount of people here, we’re really pleased. We couldn’t have asked for anything better.”

So what does a day like Saint Jean Baptiste Day mean to Francophones? Ouellet says it’s a day of celebration for French culture.

“In Timmins and surrounding areas, we are a minority, so for us, it’s a day where we can come out and just celebrate in French and be able to have some great music and great entertainment in French and it’s just a great day for us.”

Ouellet adds they celebrate it every year locally, but never on a scale like this.

“This is awesome,” he said, “I was just telling my wife when we were sitting down, this is great, I wish we could get this many people to all our activities in everything we do, but even if it’s for one day and it’s for this one festival, it’s great to be part of it and we’re really happy and couldn’t ask for anything better.”

As for the music itself, Ouellet says he’s seen LGS perform a number of shows—including in Timmins.

“Swing always makes everybody dance,” he said in reference to LGS’ performance, “You know what to expect, they’re going to put (on) a party and everybody’s going to get up and dance. That was one of the reasons when the Mayor asked us, that was one of the names, because we know they’re a great band and get people going so it was really fun.”

The headliner was Michel Pagliaro, who Ouellet has never seen live before and was excited to see.

Not lost on the day was the list of other performers throughout Day One, a lineup stacked with more Francophone talent. This includes Timmins’ own Cindy Doire.

Yvan and the Bandidos and Estelle Deschamps &The RoadRyders hit the main stage as well.

The main event though was the fireworks display put on by Team France.

We have six more competitors to go, so buckle up. Because if Day One is any indication, this will really be a party Timmins residents and concertgoers will not soon forget.