This Just In ...

Some 20,000 French Acadians will gather at the World Acadian Congress, August 7 to 23. And visitors are more than welcome to join in the festivities. A wealth of concerts, heritage tours, exhibitions of photography, quilts and hooked rugs along with storytelling evenings are planned.

This summer from Shediac, the self-proclaimed “lobster capital of the world,” to the islands of Miscou and Lamèque – all the towns and villages along the Acadian Coast will come alive with the sounds of zydeco, Cajun and Acadian music.

Concerts during the opening ceremonies in Shippagan on August 7th, on National Acadian Day in Caraquet on the 15th and at the closing ceremonies on August 23rd in Tracadie-Sheila will feature singers from New Brunswick (Jean-Francois Breau, Nathalie Paulin and Donat Lacroix), nearby Nova Scotia (Bou and Grand Dérangement) and Prince Edward Island (Angèle Arsenault and Suroît), the Cajun country of Louisiana (Zachary Richard and Lost Bayou Ramblers) and as far away as Morocco (Gnaoui musician Khalid El Idrissi) and Mali (Oumou Soumaré).

For active travelers, there’s a 250-kilometer cycling tour August 11th to 14th and St. Leolin is dedicating August 8th to all-terrain vehicle excursions. Fishing trips and bird and seal watching tours are being offered and the Acadia 2009 windsurfing and kiteboarding championships will take place in late August 2009 off the Acadian Coast.

On August 15th, National Acadian Day, the festivities end with a bang, so to speak, with the tintamarre. Crowds – many in costume – take to the streets banging drums and even pots and pans. While many of the 60 French Acadian communities host a tintamarre, the largest is in Caraquet, the heart of Acadia.

Any time from June through September, visitors can tour the Acadian Historic Village with costumed guides who provide a glimpse of what life was like in 18th century Acadia. Kids are invited to dress in costume and imagine life in the 1700s. At Le Pays de la Sagouine, a village floating on a lake in Bouctouche, visitors can sample Acadian specialties like poutine rapée, have their fortunes read and be entertained by a whole cast of characters that will have you tapping your feet, singing along, maybe even playing the spoons with the Acadian musicians.