Fête Nationale Politicians

Back on the 23rd and 24th, the Ville de Longueuil held their annual Fête Nationale celebrations.  On the 23rd, the celebrations were held in the historic Parc St. Marc on Saint-Charles Ouest in Longueuil while on the 24th, the party took place at the immense Parc de la Cité in the borough of Saint-Hubert.  I had the good fortune to be able to photograph the concerts during both parties, and though we ended up getting a little bit sweaty on the both nights, a great time was had by all.  As is tradition, both events began with speeches for our municipal, provincial and federal governments.  This year, they centered on the song “Gens du pays”, which is marking its 50^th anniversary this year.  The MC for our first night was Laurence Lambert-Chan, who, like the rest of us, made the best of a hot situation as the temperature was in the low 40s Celcius when she hit the stage.  Night two was headlined by radio DJ Jean-Yves Lemay from FM 103.3.  The politicians on hand for the party on the 23rd were Longueuil mayor Catherine Fournier, Members of the National Assembly, Shirley Dorismond, Lionel Carmant, Ian Lafrenière and Isabelle Poulet, as well as Members of the House of Commons of Canada, Natilien Joseph and Sherry Romanado.  There were a couple of new faces on the 24th with Member of the House of Commons of Canada Bienvenu-Olivier Ntumba and City Councillor Alvaro Cueto joining Mayor Catherine Fournier for the flag raising ceremony.  As usual, they did a great job mentioning the importance of the day and a solid cheer-leading effort to get the crowd pumped up on both nights for the musical goodness that was to follow.  The first photograph was taken at f/3.2, 1/800sec, ISO 1600 at 70mm and the second photograph was taken at f/3.2, 1/8sec, ISO 1600 at 70mm.  Here are a few more photographs of our elected leaders in action at La Fête Nationale.

 

With all of the speeches out of the way, it's time to get La Fête Nationale party started.  To see the photographs of Hommage aux Colocs, Loud, Cindy Bédard and Francis Degrandpré, who all performed over the holiday weekend, you can follow the respective links.  Much thanks to Line Tremblay and Audrey Pilon-Sylvestre of the Ville de Longueuil and Longueuil est Culture for putting these shows together and for allowing me to photographer them.  Merci beaucoup.  Stick around for some fun.