After a successful first event in Prince Rupert in 2011, L’Association des Francophones et Francophiles du Nord-Ouest (AFFNO) is getting ready to host the second annual Sugar Shack Festival d’Hiver in late January.
As with last year the major event of the festival, which runs from January 25-28, will be the Sugar Shack brunch at the Dick St. Louis Auditorium. The brunch includes traditional food, maple syrup on snow, a children’s station, music and more.
“Last year most of the tickets were sold in the last week, but we ended up with only 28 out of 300 tickets not sold...Everyone who attended still tells of the food that was available at the Sugar Shack brunch. The food is obviously the selling point, but there is lots of stuff for the kids to do and we’ll have Bonhomme de Carnivale there again,” said AFFNO executive director Patrick Witwicki.
“Now it’s one year later, AFFNO is on the map and people are familiar with the Sugar Shack Festival. We have every intention of making this annual event as fun as it can be.”
The festival will kick off on Wednesday night with Le Carnaval at Roosevelt Elementary in the morning that features a private concert by bilingual recording artists Searson and a kick-off social at Cowpuccino’s that night. On Thursday Searson will perform at the Lester Centre of the Arts beginning at 7:30 p.m. and on Friday there will be a night of theatre, co-hosted by Harbour Theatre, beginning at eight p.m. at the Tom Rooney Playhouse.
According to Witwicki there is already interest from people in Kitimat and Terrace for the event, which last year drew people from around the northwest to Prince Rupert.
For more information or to volunteer for the event, contact AFFNO at 250-627-1313.