Quebec City Celebrates 400 Years
Why 2008 is a Great Anniversary Year To Visit Quebec’s Capital City
In 2008 Quebec City celebrates its 400th anniversary. What better time to visit than when the entire city is aglow with festivities.
Quebec City knows how to throw a party; it’s been doing so every winter since 1894. But this year the Quebec Winter Carnival isn’t the biggest party in town. To celebrate Quebec City’s 400th Anniversary, organizers have been pulling out all the stops to make this one of the biggest parties in the country, maybe the entire continent.
For a city that already has the distinction of being a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most visited and cherished in Canada and all of North America, one question remains - what do you give a 400-year-old city for its ‘fete’? Nothing less than Celine Dion and Cirque du Soleil of course.
Celine Dion Plays Free Concert
Celine Dion, hot on the heals of her latest album release, Taking Chances, her world tour announcement and Oprah appearance, plans to perform at the Quebec City’s free outdoor concert scheduled to take place on the Plains of Abraham on August 22, 2008.
And if having one of the biggest selling music divas in the world at the party wasn’t enough, writer-director Robert Lapage will tailor-make a Cirque du Soleil performance for the event.
Many of the festivities including the Image Mill, a megaprojection that covers the City’s 400 years of history using a 600-metre wide screen and multiple images, will take place at the specially built ‘Espace 400e’ on the harbour front.
Quebec City Celebrates All Year
The 400th year anniversary celebrations began at the stroke of midnight New Year’s Day when more than 50,000 people gathered at Place D’Youville to take part in a brilliant fireworks display.
If you want to dance like there’s no tomorrow lace up your shoes and head to Quebec City on August 15. Dance organizers plan to merge the majestic St Lawrence River with acrobatics, dancing, a giant screen projection and performances using fire and water. Organizers plan to build a giant dance floor next to the shore and flood the river with the sounds of electronic music and world beat.
More festivities are planned throughout the summer until the unique Cirque du Soleil projection closes the 400th anniversary show on October 19, 2008 at the Colisée Pepsi.
Official Anniversary July 3, 2008
July 3 marks the actual date of Quebec City’s 400th anniversary. Join in the celebrations at the Basilique de Québec. Following High Mass, official ceremonies such as the Freedom of the City Ceremony will be marked by a striking military parade.
Specially made shows featuring songs and dances and other festivities carry on all afternoon. Organizers expect visitors and dignitaries from the four corners of the world to descend on Quebec City to help celebrate this milestone so rarely seen this side of Europe.
"Few North American cities can celebrate such a past”, says The Honourable Josée Verner, Minister of Canadian Heritage, Status of Women and Official Languages in her official news release at the launch. “It is from that date that we truly started to become what we are today, because the founding of Québec City also marks the founding of Canada as a country."
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