The Satellite Pages ree) ee DES tn Le bastion Journal des francophones de NANAIMO Issue 3 wot Uw LW te Editorial by: Joélle Rabu, previous AFN’S Board of directors and still active Maple Sugar Festival team member Do you remember that challenge put out to all Satellite Members back in January? You know the: "Let's fill the Centennial Building on the Friday night Carole Ann King dinner- show"challenge? Well, YOU did it! Yes, even though the Centennial Building is a barn, we transformed it into an old time Sugar Shack with a little bit of elegance, had a wonderful dinner catered by Master's Touch Cate- ring, and our guest performer from Québec, Carole Ann King, gave us a rousing good time! We could not have asked for a better show of people, better support or better enthusiasm. The Saturday night show with L'Acadie a I'Infini was sold out too and the Friday downtown plaza and Art Gallery activities were well attended. You all proved that no matter what the environment, we can get together and celebrate music, language and culture. Can't (and won't) begin to count the hours | put into the festival, everything is a blur from December onward! But I can re-count the feeling I had, as a volunteer, over the 5, very busy festival days. More than 1600 children from Comox to Salt Spring Island attended the school program, more than 9,000 people from all walks of life, from Kapuskasing, Ontario to Port Hardy, BC came through our doors, a cornucopia of performers from one Canadian coast to the other, graced our stages. Do we determine success by sheer numbers and attendance, or by how many of our amazing volunteers are sporting Band-aids on their tired, blistered feet, or by the big pat on the back by city council? Personally, I think not. For me, success lies in the legacy of the Maple Sugar Festival, the AFN and the resounding support from Nanaimo in general. Passing it forward. At many times during the event, I would glance over at Luc Bégin and his awesome team of high school students making Toffee on snow for the public. I would see Nicholas Pond and his many NDSS friends, clearing tables or helping children make a craft. I would see teenagers, Andra and Audrée with their welcoming smiles behind the pop and chips stand on the Saturday night show. I saw my own 13 year-old son, playing piano for the public, and young Gabrielle Langlois- Morin introducing artists on stage. Those moments are the reasons | volunteer for the festival, why I sat on the AFN board of directors. Passing it forward. What is my cultural identity, what will be my son's cultural heritage? It is not France, it is not Québec nor is it Acadia. I've been in British Columbia for more than 30 years now and I have learned to cherish what I help build and support in my own community. Like many others at the AFN, I can proudly say I have helped build a B.C. Francophone identity. Historically speaking, we don't have much Francophone heritage here yet, apart from the fact that the landmark Bastion was built by French people 150 years ago, that we have streets named Labieux and Prideaux, that we have waiting lists for our French Immersion Schools. We don't all have grand-mére making tourtiére every Sunday, or ma-Tante making crépes on Friday, or grand-pére showing us how to tap a maple tree. We don't have cousine playing the spoons with tonton on violin performing at the local social. Once in a (very) blue moon, we have Roch Voisine, Les Grands Bal- lets Jazz de Montreal or La Bottine Souriante coming to town. But do we just sit back and whine that we don't have enough of these magical, cultural moments? Do we complain that it's not the same as "back home"? Do we harp on the fact that we live in a majority English society? On the contrary: we make and share our own. We, the community, English and French speaking alike, are building the foundation for that "British-Columbian-Francophone" identity that my child and thousands of others will enjoy and continue to build for future generations. We are passing it forward. One day, we will hear our children tell their children "We're having a festival this week and we need your help in making the toffee, the tourtiére, the poutine. We need your help building the tents. We need your help with the budgets and advertising." And the only reason we will hear these words, is because a long time ago, some people started and maintained a Maple Sugar Festival in a small, (majority) English town. To quote from Field of Dreams : "If you build it, they will come." From the bottom of my (sometimes culturally confused) heart: Thank you for coming to your festival. You've done well, and please keep passing it forward.