(TLN)
The 11th annual Laval Firemen’s Festival, which is taking place from June 2 – 4 at the Centropolis, promises to deliver all the excitement that festival-goers have become used to in past years.
There’ll be outdoor shows for the whole family all weekend. The three-day event is being sponsored by belairdirect, which shares many of the same preoccupations as the Laval Fire Department with regards to raising awareness of fire hazards and safety.
The shows start Friday
The weekend will start off musically on Friday June 2 with two shows on the main stage in the middle of the Centropolis. The first show with Simon Kearney will be at 8 pm. He will be followed by a show by a group of musical firefighters known as Mozaïk, featuring special guest Jonathan Painchaud, at 8:45 pm.
Saturday and Sunday from 9:30 am to 4 pm the festival site will be filled with a range of activities. They will include educational kiosks on fire prevention and safety, a “smoke house” demonstrating what the interior of a dwelling is like during a fire, a car fire simulation, firefighter museum artefacts, fire truck displays, and more still. New this year will be demonstrations of the uses of thermal cameras and simulations of earthquakes.
Montreal Jazz Band
During the evening of Saturday June 3, residents of Laval are invited to come out and dance to the sound of the Montreal Jazz Band during an event devoted to nostalgia. A stage will be set up not far from some of the most “in” outdoor terraces in Laval. For the young during the afternoon of Saturday and Sunday, there’ll be mascots walking around, face painting and wandering clowns.
The ever-popular parade of fire trucks, sirens and warning signals blaring, is scheduled to start Saturday morning at 9:30 am at its point of departure at Mondo’s garage (19 Munck Ave.) in the industrial park. They’ll make their way towards their annual rendez-vous and arrival at the Centropolis at 10:30 am.
Firemen in the kitchen
Beginning at 11 am Saturday, there’ll be demonstrations of cooking by some of the firefighters, whose gourmet sense is well-developed from their years of preparing hearty meals in the kitchen while waiting for emergency calls at the fire station to come in.
Again this year, the Caisse Desjardins des Grands Boulevards de Laval is sponsoring the firemen’s cooking activity, during which the firefighters’ mission will be to make their best meal while reminding the public of fire safety tips while using the kitchen.
The Firemen’s Race
Whether it’s for 1.5, 5, 10, 21.1 or the full 41.2 kilometres, you may want to take part in the Firemen’s Race. The 41.2 kilometre leg of the event will be starting at 7 am at the Centre communautaire Boileau. The start for the 21.1 kilometre segment will be at 8:30 am at Église Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, the 10 km at 9:15 am at Rosaire-Gauthier Park, the 5 km at 9:45 am at the Armand Frappier Museum and the start of the 2 km will be at 11 am under the “big arch” at the Centropolis.
The races are sponsored by Pomerleau, the day’s lead sponsor. The various races will follow the shores of Île Jésus, while also crossing various areas of the Laval region considered emblematic. Each participant in the races will receive a special medallion and an energizing snack upon reaching the finish line at the Centropolis.
24-Hour Challenge
The 24 Hour Challenge is another event involving the firefighters that will be starting at 2 pm Saturday and ending at the same time the following day. Eight teams of 10 firefighters will spend 24 hours climbing and descending staircases in an imposing 12-metre-high metal structure set up at the Centropolis. Donation pledges taken by the participants will go towards the Fondation des pompiers du Québec pour les grands brûlés.
