What would Festival du Bois be without an appearance by Frenchie the Clown?
The annual celebration of all things French-Canadian but especially music and those Maillardville frog hats once again plays host to Joey Esperance and the character he’s been bringing to the festival for “at least 25 years,” by the local actor’s estimation.
For this year’s Festival du Bois, Esperance filmed himself as Frenchie reading, in both French and English, the 2020 children’s book Be You! by Peter H. Reynolds.
“I created a little area in my apartment, and I pretend I’m in Paris ‘cos that’s where I’m supposed to live,” Esperance says. “It’s a way for Frenchie to be there. And for the kids who enjoy Frenchie to have a little bit of time with him.”
Festival du Bois celebrates French-Canadian music and culture à la cabane It s free, the videos are available on demand, and the executive and artistic producer, Johanne Dumas, is promising a whole lot of fun by Charlie Smith on April 14th, 2021 at 7:00 AM 1 of 7 2 of 7
There’s a very funny scene in one of the videos that will be presented as part of this year’s Festival du Bois.
It shows the host of this celebration of French-Canadian culture, Monique Polloni, speaking from her home with Yann Falquet, the acoustic guitarist in the traditional Québécois band Genticorum.
Falquet is sitting in front of the fireplace and he reveals that he’s in quarantine. That’s because he has recently returned from the United States.