Week-ends du Monde festival cancelled
The July Week-ends du Monde festival at Parc Jean-Drapeau was cancelled for two years because of Covid, and now the city has cancelled it again citing lack of staff and a desire to cut costs. There’s vague talk of finding sponsors so it can be held next summer.
qatzelok 12:56 on 2022-05-12 Permalink
I find that the islands have too many festivals that stop it from functionning as a park for a huge part of the warm months. They often have fenced off “private” areas, and this seems like a way of privatizing public space for activities that people often drive to.
DeWolf 13:46 on 2022-05-12 Permalink
The giant tarmac that Coderre gifted to Evenko is a disaster – an awful space that is as bad for the environment as it is unpleasant to be in.
But I don’t think it’s a bad thing to have a space for big festivals right in the middle of the city. Much better than having them in some facility way out in the suburbs. There are a few thousand parking spaces on the islands but an event like Osheaga draws 65,000 people, so there’s no way anything but a small fraction of them are driving.
Plus the city is eliminating 80% of the surface parking and restricting vehicular access to the islands, so there will be even less incentive to drive:
https://journalmetro.com/actualites/montreal/2631741/le-parc-jean-drapeau-sera-reamenage-au-cout-de-970-m/
Spi 16:32 on 2022-05-12 Permalink
The gravel pit that was there before was hardly any better.
Mr.Chinaski 17:15 on 2022-05-12 Permalink
The amphitheater was much worse before the remodel, now they use a special sort of gravel which absorbs the dust so that events don’t turn into a crazy haze (well they do, for other reasons!).
Plaine des Jeux is also a complete failure, environmentaly it’s worse since they need to redo it each year and throw straw over the grass so it doesn’t turn into dry mud / dust bowl, but after they need to redo the grass! It’s the opposite of environmentallty-friendly.
In the end, people whine a lot about concrete, but only 10% of the surface inside the 65000 arena is concrete (mostly near the stage so that scenes can be built). And the smooth grass slope makes it much easier for people to see what’s on stage.