ABBY PAIGE

This weekend Burlington welcomed its first-ever Poutinefest. This celebration of gravy, curds, and fries and Franco-American culture has been going strong in Merrimack, New Hampshire for years. Portland, Maine joined the roster a few years ago, and now it’s finally Vermont’s turn!

Our inaugural festival featured nine poutine vendors, maple creemees, hundreds of attendees, and a great variety of cultural organizations, under a beautiful blue sky at The Pinery, a biergarten within view of Lake Champlain. I was delighted to see old and new Franco friends from the Vermont Genealogy Library, the Vermont Truth & Reconciliation Commission, our local Alliance Française, the Quebec Consulate in Boston, and from across New England and Quebec. I even had the honor of serving as an official poutine judge (I’m qualified, believe me), from which I will be recovering for the foreseeable future.

I hope that this becomes an annual event and that, as it grows, it becomes an annual opportunity for Vermonters and others with French-Canadian heritage to learn about ourselves and to reconnect with one another. In the meantime, New Hampshire Poutinefest is just a few weeks away! If you’re in the area, don’t miss it.