Festival du Bois unveils lineup for 36th edition at Mackin Park, March 7 to 9

Artists on the program include Yves Lambert et le Grand Orchestre, Franco-Ontarian rapper LeFLOFRANCO, and more

By emily lyth

Yves Lambert et le Grand Orchestre. Photo by Isabelle Longnus

BASED IN THE historic French Canadian neighbourhood of Maillardville in Coquitlam, the Festival du Bois is returning for its 36th-annual edition from March 7 to 9.

The fest’s just-announced lineup will take place once again at Mackin Park, where audiences of all ages can enjoy a variety of French Canadian, Celtic, folk, and world traditions through song and dance performances. Artists from Québec, New Brunswick, Ontario, Manitoba, and B.C. are making appearances at this year’s celebratory event.

On March 7, Festival du Bois opens with its traditional free contradance night in the Grand Chapiteau (Big Tent), featuring the Sybaritic String Band. Similar to square dancing, contradance is a type of fun, social folk dancing where partners form a long line and follow a caller’s instructions.

March 8 and 9 will see a total of seven acts hit the Main Stage and the dance floor of the Grand Chapiteau. Among them is Quebec’s Yves Lambert et le Grand Orchestre, a seven-piece orchestra led by legendary musician Lambert. Now at the 50-year mark in his successful career, Lambert was a founding member of Juno Award-winning Québécois folk band La Bottine Souriante, known for such hits as “La ziguezon”, “La cuisinière”, and “Dans nos vieilles maisons”. He’ll be playing songs from the band’s repertoire, along with other tunes, with his orchestra.

Fiddle player, step dancer, and singer Jocelyn Pettit is among the B.C.-based artists performing at the festival. She will be joined by Maillardville trio Alouest, which reinvents French Canadian traditions with an eye to the West Coast, and Kutapira, a band that blends Zimbabwean marimba with West African and Afro-Cuban percussion.

More performers appearing on the Main Stage include LeFLOFRANCO, a.k.a. FLO, a Franco-Ontarian rapper of Haitian origin who fuses hip-hop music with pop, electronic, and Caribbean influences; quartet La Déferlance, which plays a mix of lively Québec traditional music and original compositions; and New Brunswick punk-rock, country-folk band La Patente.

There will also be performances in the Petit Chapiteau (Children’s Tent) by the likes of youth entertainer Will’s Jams, dancer Isabelle Kirouac, multi-talented performer Micah, and science-education company Profaqua.

Other elements at Festival du Bois to look forward to include roaming performers throughout the park, workshops with festival artists, a special pancake breakfast, and food trucks serving up traditional French Canadian cuisine (think minced-meat tourtière, maple taffy on snow, poutine, and more).

Day-pass tickets are now on sale, with early-bird pricing in effect until February 2.  

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