Virage Festival in Petit-Saguenay: an event for fun, action and reflection

Several tents were set up on the Petit-Saguenay baseball field Friday afternoon in preparation for the sixth edition of the Virage festival. Hundreds of people will come until Sunday to attend musical performances, do yoga and discuss ways to initiate a major turning point for the preservation of the environment and equality.

450 people are expected during the weekend. These are people from Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, Rimouski, Gaspésie, Sherbrooke, Montreal in short, from all over Quebecrejoices Ian Segers, one of the organizers.

The Virage festival is a political festival, where current issues are discussed. Like energy, like issues affecting biodiversity, climate change and social issues too. We try to meet them through workshops, through conferences and also through the artshe explains.

Ian Segers uses an image to describe the event. I like to say that the Virage festival is a festival of head, hand, heart, he illustrates. That is to say, we think with our heads about new ideas, new projects, new ways of conceiving the world.

We must also connect with others and with nature through discussions, this is the ethical portion of the festival, the heart. But there is also the hand portion, because you have to do things. We are in action. We have all kinds of artisan or bicycle repair workshopspour suit Ian Segers.

Around fifty activities

Throughout the weekend, around fifty varied activities take place throughout the village, such as at the Auberge du jardin. Festival-goers are invited to reflect on Quebec’s energy future with researchers and activists, but also to make lip balms and do sun salutations.

We came here to have fun!, laughed Thalie, who we met on the site. No, honestly, we live nearby, in Saint-Siméon. We were looking for something to do. We have a friend who lives in Petit-Saguenay, so we thought, why not kill two birds with one stone!

cool. I thought I’d come pick mushrooms at the same time, Julien, who had just arrived from Montreal, said. I like that, getting a tour of where we are politically with people who are interested.”,”text”:”My girlfriend was coming and I thought it looked cool. I thought I’d come pick mushrooms at the same time, Julien, who had just arrived from Montreal, said. I like that, getting a tour of where we are politically with people who are interested.”}}”>My girlfriend was coming over and I thought it looked cool. I told myself that I would come and pick mushrooms at the same time, said Julien, who arrived from Montreal. I like that, taking an overview of where we are politically with people who are interested.

I came to have discussions, to fuel my thinking on the socio-energy transitionsaid a lady a little further away, in front of her camp.

In music

Several shows are also expected on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, such as those of Keith Kouna as well as Petunia & The Vipers.

h, on a des after-party. It’s at the arena that it happens. There are dj sets until three in the morning, says Corinne Asselin, also behind the organization, with a smile. Despite everything, we know that people, as we saw last year, are up at nine o’clock. They listen to the conferences, they ask questions, they are super invested.”,”text”:”From 11 p.m., we have after-parties. It’s at the arena that it happens. There are DJ sets until three in the morning, says Corinne Asselin, also behind the organization, with a smile. Despite everything, we know that people, as we saw last year, are up at nine o’clock. They listen to the conferences, they ask questions, they are super invested.”}}”>From 11 p.m., we have after-party. It’s at the arena that it happens. There are dj sets until three in the morning, says Corinne Asselin, who is also behind the organization, with a smile. Despite everything, we know that people, as we saw last year, are up at nine o’clock. They listen to the conferences, they ask questions, they are super invested.

Shine

The Municipality of Petit-Saguenay is involved in the Virage festival. Two employees and the mayor, Philôme La France, who takes care of finances, sit on the organizing committee. Blue-collar workers are also mobilized for site management.

According to Philôme La France, the event is positive for the village. It allows us to shine first. I think we can be an inspiration for many places in Quebec in the ways we do politics, in the projects we put forward.

I have a vision of socio-ecological transition for the municipality of Petit-Saguenay. It is a vision that I share with the council and I think that the council generally adheres to it. Sometimes we have disagreements on certain issues, we work on that.

He claims to be banking on the creation of eco-districts, the development of cool islands, and the reduction of his administration’s carbon footprint. We try to do projects that promote active mobility. We do projects for bike sharing, car sharinghe said as an example.

If Virage has interesting repercussions for its village, without attracting crowds like La Noce! or Le Festif!, it also allows Philôme La France to stock up on ideas.

We also get inspired. We meet lots of people who have ideas, who are fighting. Who have projects and ideas. It challenges us.

Possible return to Sainte-Rose-du-Nord

Next year, the festival, which is in its 6th^e edition, but in its second presence in Petit-Saguenay, could return to Sainte-Rose-du-Nord, where it was created.

For next year we will see, we will have discussions with the Sainte-Rose gang to see if they want to take up the torch. We’ll see. We might do it every other year, alternating.