THUNDER BAY – Say au revoir to a weekend of music, community, and celebration as the Bonjour Festival wrapped up Saturday with Family Day at Waverley Park.
Over three nights and one packed family day, festivalgoers experienced everything from country tunes to reggae, carnival games, workshops, and even morning Pilates in the park.
The final day was all about families and connection. There were food trucks and stalls from local restaurants in the city, French school boards and the Centre francophone programs. Kids and parents alike got hands-on with activities like a skateboard workshop, circus sessions with Les Cousins, and a writing workshop with hip-hop artist Waahli, who had performed on night two.
“I'm a person who would like to connect with the people in the communities,” said Waahli. “Like doing the workshop this morning, it was great to see the younger generation in Thunder Bay that speaks French and is perfectly bilingual and enjoying the connection, that was great. And also getting to see the little creative youngsters, that was great.”
“It's a writing workshop, rhyme writing workshop. We went through a brief resume of the hip hop culture and then we went into writing. I shared some techniques to write songs, how to structure a song, and how to write poetry. And then I had them writing over music and then also after, reciting.”
There were also interactive circus shows to teach kids how to juggle and use the diabolo, filling the park with laughter and energy.
Later in the day, audiences were treated to a performance by Matiu, known for his folk-blues rough-edged and sincere, with Innu roots.
Another standout moment came from the student performance band from École secondaire catholique de la Vérendrye, which warmed up the crowd ahead of the evening’s closing acts.
As the sun dipped lower, the festival reached its finale with Ponteix, delivering a set of poetic electro-pop, rooted in the French language.
This first edition of Festival Bonjour under its new name marked an evolution for the long-running event, expanding its focus and opening its arms wider to a diverse and growing community.
“If you look at someone, it's not necessarily who you typically think would speak French. We have different descendants, people with African culture, Asian culture that are here to celebrate in French because they also speak French,” festival president Claudette Gleeson says.
“For the community at large, I think it's important for them to understand that there is a Francophone community in Thunder Bay in Northwestern Ontario that's vibrant, and we contribute. And I think with this year's festival, what I'm impressed with is speaking French.”
Waahli, who had never visited Thunder Bay before, was moved by the experience.
“I'm from Montreal, we're talking about like a quite big, talking about like 4 million, 5 million now, and here it seems a bit smaller, so fewer people in the population, but people are nice.”
“I've never been before, so for me it's, it's very nice. And we got to see the Sleeping Giant. The water, surrounded by water, it's quite amazing, you know, like really that's amazing. Us in Montreal, it's an island, but it's very small and the water does not look the same, so the view is quite amazing.”
“I'm walking on the river and it felt like a movie set. I don't know, it's a different vibe, you know, different energy. I love it.”
