Festival Franco-Ontarien would be just like a block party, if tens of thousands of people lived on your block.
“It’s not like Bluesfest where you go with your spouse or your friend and see a concert. People come to the Franco and sit on a blanket and speak with each other, and there’s a concert in the background,” said festival spokeswoman Melany Gauvin.
“It’s kind of unique in Canada that we can have this kind of celebration because everyone is bilingual or knows someone who can speak French. We live together and we party together.”
Around 40,000 people passed through the gates at Festival Plaza and many more attended free concerts, the parade and saw the buskers in the ByWard Market over the four-day festival.
Just like this year, Gauvin said they would be trying to book another big act like African reggae singer Alpha Blondy, who brought a massive crowd out for his Saturday night concert.
“We saw all kinds of people that we’ve never seen at the festival, so for sure we’re going to go with an international universal concert,” said Gauvin.
