The City of Laval is marking the 15th anniversary of the Festival Petits bonheurs with a schedule of events for kids and their parents on May 10-11 at the Maison des arts, as well as at other venues throughout Laval.
The two-day celebration focusing on kids and families will include a range of free shows and workshops staged in several of Laval’s districts, with some especially important events at the Maison des arts de Laval.
“I invite all families to come discover this one-of-a-kind festival especially for the very young by offering to them a privileged access to artistic experiences of high quality,” says Laval city councillor for Renaud Seta Topouzian, who is responsible for dossiers involving children.
From the beginning 15 years ago, the festival’s main activities have been staged at the Maison des arts de Laval. “The city plays an active role in the promotion and access to culture among young generations,” said Topouzian.
Among the events:
- 11 shows and a dozen workshops, ranging from plastic arts to dance, as well as theatre and music;
- Talented artists from Laval, showcasing their skills and creativity;
- Outdoor shows;
- An immersive installation created especially for this year’sanniversary celebration.
It’s worth noting that also this year, the city’s public library network, as well as the Cosmodôme and the Armand-Frappier health museum, will be offering events of their own in conjunction with the Petits bonheurs festival.
The festival is taking place as the City of Laval is also marking a special anniversary: the 60th anniversary of its coming into being as a unified municipality that brought together more than a dozen towns and villages on Île Jésus, the geographical name for the island of Laval.
The new laval.ca: better than ever for the needs of the population
The City of Laval recently launched a new and updated website, with the goal of making access to information easier for all Laval residents.
Considered to be more responsive, quicker and better adapted to mobile communications devices, the new laval.ca offers online information and municipal services 24 hours a day, seven days out of seven.
“Each year, more than 5 million visits are recorded on our site,” said Mayor Stéphane Boyer. “Laval.ca is an indispensable tool to better inform the population.
“With this update, we are simplifying information research, while also giving ourselves the means to evolve with the needs of Laval’s residents,” he added. “This new website is modern, accessible and oriented towards the future.”
Among the improvements to the site:
- A more responsive search engine for faster information access;
- Optimized navigation, adapted to smartphones and tablets;
- A search tool based on addresses, for easier access to waste pickup schedules;
- Improved content referencing, for quicker information response;
- Improved interaction, allowing residents to leave comments more easily.
According to the city, laval.ca has been redesigned to allow better access to persons with physical or cognitive limitations. It is believed these improvements will make life easier for up to 60,000 Laval residents.
In keeping with an overall vision by the City of Laval, sustainable development was one of the factors taken into consideration when redesigning the new website. The city says the designers took measures that should result in a 50 per cent reduction in energy use.
The city believes that the new website will lead to significant savings because the old site required a considerable amount of maintenance. The new site has also achieved further savings by digitizing the process for filling out forms, while reducing the number of paper forms and postage costs. The city says the new website was tested out with users with disabilities before it was placed online.
