Crowds enjoy the 2016 St-Roch Experience. Photo credit: Sam St-Onge.
By Staff Writer
St-Roch Experience, 2016. Photo credit: Sébastien Dion.
There’s a new player on the Québec City festival circuit, and judging by its inaugural outing, it’s going to be a winner.
Saint-Roch Expérience shut down rue Saint-Joseph in the Saint-Roch district Sept. 15-17 and opened up a new avenue of appreciation for the neighbourhood’s cultural and culinary secrets.
Organized by the aptly named 3E évènement-expérience-émotion, the festival gave the sometimes underappreciated Saint-Roch a much-deserved opportunity to shine a spotlight on its established and emerging musical venues, the talents of its local artists and artisans, and the undeniably diverse offerings of a growing selection of remarkable restaurants.
To anyone who has lived in Québec City for more than a decade, the ongoing transformation of the Saint-Roch neighbourhood has been a sight to behold. To those with even a passing interest in local history, it’s a story worth uncovering.
Start with a visit to Bibliothèque Gabrielle-Roy, the epicentre of rue Saint-Joseph and an unparalleled local source of books to borrow in both French and English, and the flavor and potential of this particular part of town becomes instantly clear.
The aforementioned 3E teamed up with la Société de développement commercial (SDC) St-Roch to branch out and show visitors what else the neighbourhood can do. The answer is: plenty!
The highlight had to be the culinary tour of rue Saint-Joseph, which featured more than 40 kiosques, cooking workshops and family activities with something for everyone to enjoy on Saturday, Sept. 17.
A stroll down the street was of course free of charge, and enhanced by wandering musicians, theatrical performers and demonstrations of a variety of arts.
What the festival organizers and participating restaurants got absolutely right was to offer great tastings at each kiosque at completely reasonable prices: two to three dollars for a slice of pizza, a sandwich or similar bouchée that left visitors with a taste to walk through that particular restaurant’s doors the next time the opportunity presents itself.
If it sticks to this formula, Saint-Roch Expérience will indeed be a winner in the long run. Crowds along rue Saint-Joseph grew steadily from the time the restaurants started to set up their tables and barbecues along the barricaded street in the morning straight into mid-afternoon, when it became difficult to elbow one’s way to the nearest offerings of vegan salads, gourmet coffees, tacos and desserts.
All appetite aside, Saint-Roch Expérience was also about music, with a full roster of shows at Impérial Bell, District Saint-Joseph and L’Anti Bar & Spectacles enticing the daytime festivalgoers to stick around or come back to add sound to the other sensory experiences and emotions to be savored at a festival that is sure to gain ground as it gains experience.
Québec City is already known for its world-class festivals. Saint-Roch Expérience is a welcome addition as a festival in a class by itself.
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