La Fete du Printemps, a theater and music festival planned this weekend in Biddeford to celebrate French-Canadian arts and culture, is a wonderful testament to this community’s enduring commitment to retaining its identity.
The festival, slated for Friday through Sunday, will feature traditional French-Canadian music, an English play by a Franco-American Maine native about growing up playing hockey, and French language theater, including a play performed by French students at Biddeford High School.
York County has no lack of support for efforts to keep people’s heritage alive ”“ not only of the French-Canadians who once flocked here for the mill jobs that built these cities, but also of the Greeks and Irish, among other ethnicities, who did the same.
St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox church in Saco has a flourishing festival every summer that draws crowds from throughout the area to enjoy traditional dancing and dishes, while the Irish pubs were recently packed in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day.
The French-Canadian influence still seems to be the strongest, however, with La Kermesse festival defining Biddeford-Saco for more than 25 years now. The spoken French language is still often heard at restaurants, shopping centers and grocery stores throughout York County, and the Rusty French Club in Sanford is well-attended by those looking to use their French or reconnect with it. Claire Auger, who oversees the club, was recently recognized, along with her husband, Gilles, with induction into the state’s French Canadian Hall of Fame. Both have been instrumental in preserving and passing on the history of this area’s French-Canadians, and their recent honor is testament to the dedication of York County people to keep the culture alive.
Beginning three years ago, Biddeford’s City Theater hosted a weekend of French language performances, featuring celebrated local author Normand Beaupre’s “La Souillonne,” and various other vignettes from Maine performers such as Greg Chabot and Michael Parent. The showings, offered in a mix of French and English, were well-received and some of them will be offered again.
This year, however, marks an important turning point as the French language arts community has finally touched upon the key to preserving the culture: Youth. The organizers of La Fete du Printemps were wise to realize that by featuring only French-Canadians who are nearing or beyond retirement age, the culture would die with them and their aging audience.
Instead, festival organizer John Maxson connected for the first time with Biddeford High School French students, many of whom come from French-Canadian backgrounds and don’t even know it.
BHS French teachers Alan Casavant and Dean Morin have been enthusiastic about connecting their students with the organizers of this event. Casavant said he has witnessed the erosion of the French culture, as his students are often ignorant even of having last names of French origin. Participation in this event will certainly give them a feeling of connection to the greater community, and we hope, encourage them to learn more about their own ancestors.
Students seem excited about participating in the production of “Les Trois Anges,” and hopefully their friends will come out to see the play, as well as younger students who may have an interest in French culture.
The students, teachers and all the organizers of this fete should be applauded for stepping up to keep the heritage alive. Maxson in particular is following his father’s footsteps, carrying on a family tradition of passing on the French-Canadian culture. His late father, Edouard Maxson, was president of St. Jean Baptiste de Bienfaisance, a French-Canadian fraternal society formed more than 100 years ago and was active with the Museum in the Streets project, erecting plaques that tell the stories of downtown Biddeford buildings.
History and culture are often lost as a generation of grandparents tries to pass it on to closed ears of youth, leaving the child with regret when they grow a little older and seek a deeper sense of who they are and where they came from ”“ only too late to learn.
La Fete du Printemps will serve to plant the seed of culture in a few of Biddeford’s youth, and hopefully it will pique their interest enough to convince them to continue learning about where they came from ”“ and pass it on.
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Questions? Comments? Contact Managing Editor Kristen Schulze Muszynski by calling 282-1535, Ext. 322, or via e-mail at kristenm@journaltribune.com.
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