November 25, 2024 – 09:53
A Christmas trail and 200,000 lights later at the Ferme du Barbu…
“When you do something, you don’t do it half-heartedly!” » – François Lecours
By: Jean-Philippe Morin
Everything that François Lecours and Élène Pépin touch turns into gold. This time, their idea for a Christmas light trail turned into lights – more than 200,000 in fact.
La Ferme du Barbu was looking for an activity to fill a quieter period after the popular pumpkin picking which takes place until Halloween. It was then that this idea of an illuminated course germinated in the heads of the owners. But it didn’t have to be small.
“When you do something, you don’t do it half-heartedly!” If we did something basic the first year, the world would have said it was okay and might not have come back the second year. What we wanted was for them to say it was extraordinary! So far, it’s working,” chuckles the friendly bearded man in an interview.
From 1is on November 12, the small team in place therefore undertook a race against time so that everything was ready for the opening on November 15. “We had hidden everything stock because we didn’t want the world to know. It was a crazy ride, but everything went well over the weekend. We had 480 people in three evenings, which is good, but we expect there to be 400 people per evening when the first snow falls,” rejoices Mr. Lecours.
As soon as visitors enter, you can see decorations everywhere, in the distance. There are several themes, such as Frozen, Star Wars and a Christmas nativity scene, but also the Grinch and Santa Claus to entertain the little ones.
“We’ve been mulling over the idea for two years. We had visited Illumi in Laval and we had also seen people in Saint-Liboire doing something similar. We met them, then they told us that they were giving up for health reasons. So we bought a little of their equipment, then we added a lot, I would say 60% to have what we currently have,” explains François Lecours.
A fun journey
Visitors can, if they wish, fill out a sheet to find the names of 10 elves hidden throughout the route as well as letters to form a word, which allows them to appreciate the decorations even more. Mr. Lecours assures that other activities will be added in the following years. “We set the bar high for the following years! We are one of the only ones in Quebec with such a background and we want it to become bigger and bigger,” concludes Mr. Lecours.
The course is open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., until December 30. On site, children will be able to have their faces painted and visit Santa Claus (Fridays and Saturdays only), in addition to visiting the mini-farm. There is also the sale of snacks and hot and alcoholic drinks. Admission is $9.50 per child, $12.50 for ages 12 and up (free for ages 2 and under) and the family package (2 adults 2 children) is $40 , including a dozen eggs.
