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Yahoo
6 days ago
- Yahoo
The Canadians no longer visit down the shore — but why'd they come here in the first place?
Avalon Campground in Cape May Court House was a top destination for Canadians who were regular summer visitors to the Jersey Shore starting in the 1970s. (Beach photo courtesy of the Greater Wildwoods Tourism Improvement and Development Authority) Last week while in Avalon, I stopped at the Cape May County Habitat for Humanity to look for deck furniture. I didn't find any, but while looking through used books and sofa sectionals, I found a mug featuring a maple leaf. 'Eh?' it also read in an equally bold red. A Canadian mug in a South Jersey Shore second-hand store might seem like an oddity, but it's becoming an artifact of another time and a signifier of the once-strong-but-now-fraying relationship between this part of New Jersey and Canada. According to Statistics Canada, Canadian car trips into the United States this March are down almost 32% compared to March of last year. Things don't look better for the summer either. According to a New York Times analysis, summer plane ticket sales from Canada to the U.S. are down 21%. If this winter's dip in Canadian snowbirds flying to Florida (and selling their Florida properties) is any indication, the Jersey Shore, particularly Cape May County, could see a similar drop. But in all the 'will they or won't they' coverage I've seen about the issue this year, I noticed one thing left out: why Canadians — in particular French Canadians — came here in the first place. Like the drive from Quebec to Wildwood, it's a long and sometimes winding journey. In the 1950s and 1960s, South Jersey Shore towns were in trouble. Where they were once the only place people could go to escape stifling summer heat, the advent of air conditioning and swimming pools meant that relief could be found close to home instead — no long train or car ride required. Atlantic City turned to gambling. Cape May County? French Canadians. In 1970, Quebec legislated a two-week holiday for all construction workers for the end of July, a move that rippled out beyond the industry, with many residents of the province also taking that block of time off for summer vacation. Les Quebecois were also, theoretically, one day's drive away, so starting in 1968, the county pitched them on better beaches, warmer water, and cheap accommodations in motels and rooming houses in Wildwood and in campgrounds that lined Route 9 just inland of beach towns like Sea Isle, Avalon, Stone Harbor, and the Wildwoods. In 1970, Cape May County opened a tourism office in downtown Montreal to further bind the regions. In 1973, a tourism official told The New York Times that they spent 75% of its promotional budget to attract Canadians. By the mid-1970s, the Canadians had taken over. Motels in the Wildwoods gave themselves names like Canadian and Quebec Motel, and venues booked Canadian stars like singer, radio, and television host Michel Louvain and Lousie-Marie Houde, a.k.a. Mademoiselle Quebec. In 1977, Atlantic City hosted Quebec Day to thank their Canadian visitors, with a flag raising, cocktail party, concert, and fashion show featuring Quebec-based artists. 'Two weeks after the Fourth of July, cars were backed out all the way to Route 9 to see if we had campsites,' said Lenny Catanoso, 74, who until last year owned Avalon Campground in Cape May Court House with his sister Marlene. Their parents opened the business in 1967, and they were teenagers working there when the influx of Canadians started coming in. For part of July, 'every car in town was Canadian. I haven't seen anything like it,' said Larry Lillo, 77, Wildwood Historical Society secretary and owner of the Holly Beach Train Depot. Lillo has also held a gamut of jobs during his lifetime in Wildwood, including ice cream salesman, lifeguard, and firefighter. 'It wasn't just the mother and father and the kids. It was the grandmother, aunts, and uncles. The whole gang would come down and stay in apartment houses here,' he said. I saw it too, as a kid who spent all of her summers in the 1980s and 1990s in Avalon Campground. While my family's summer place is now in Avalon proper, we were there then for the same reasons as the Canadians: It was more affordable than on-island accommodations and offered more things to do for large family groups that might include parents and kids but also grandparents, cousins, and that guy who isn't really your uncle but that's what you call him. For the last two weeks of July and the first two weeks of August, 75% of the campground's bookings were French Canadians, according to Lenny Cataonoso. You could see it — and hear it. The U.S., New Jersey, and Canadian flags all flew at the campground pools (where, yes, you could usually tell who was Canadian by their penchant for Speedo bathing suits). When it came time for me to pick a language to study in middle and then high school, I picked French, not because I had young girl dreams of Paris, but because I thought it would help me get a summer job down the shore when I was old enough to do so. I never got the chance. By the time I was old enough to work, the Canadian dollar plummeted in value, and the parade of Quebec license plates coming down the shore just about stopped. Marlene Catanoso, 72, remembers her father working the phones, offering regular Canadian visitors half-price tent spots. The Cape May County Montreal office closed in 1995. The relationship hasn't entirely died out, though. Gen X and Millenial Canadians come back so their kids can have the same kind of magical Jersey Shore experience they had when they were younger. Cape May County still has a French language website and Facebook and Instagram accounts, and the county tourism department has a public relations consultant focusing on Quebec and the Toronto region of Ottawa. Before the pandemic, about 8% of Cape May County visitors were from Quebec. Marlene Catanoso said that older Canadian visitors stopped coming to their campground during the first Trump term, but COVID had a much bigger impact. 'For two years, we had a campground that was half empty,' she said. It wasn't just that the Canadian border was closed, but accommodations in the area shifted to attract locals who didn't want to travel either. To cope, Avalon Campground converted sites that once had bare-bones amenities with tent campers in mind and upgraded them with sewer, water, and better power, in order to accommodate RVs, campers, and mobile homes — and charging for it. Diane Weiland of Cape May County's tourism department insisted that other factors, like the value of the Canadian dollar and a stagnant Canadian economy, are playing a bigger role in keeping the Canadians up north this summer than political discontent (though she did note that the Canadian Automobile Association has declined to run their ads; and Canadian news outlets won't be covering U.S. destinations this year). But she believes the region will be OK, as local business owners have said that American travelers have been picking up Canadian cancellations. So, as the unofficial opening of the summer begins, and more restaurants, bakeries, bike shops, and arcades open for the season, we don't know what will happen. But it's hard to see how this more than half-century relationship can repaired, at least during this administration, when the president insists that Canada is going to be the 51st state, pushes punitive tariffs on Canadian goods at who knows what whim, and eggs on the imprisonment of foreign travelers for things like a visa mix up, translation mistake or having tattoo equipment. If I were Canadian, I wouldn't come here. Heck, I'm an American with a beach house and don't know if I want to be here this summer. I guess we'll see, eh? SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
San Francisco Chronicle
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
S.F. fountain's 95-year-old creator returns: ‘I'm here to save that piece of art'
The creator of the giant Vaillancourt Fountain at San Francisco's Embarcadero Plaza is aware that he may never see it restored to its former glory with water gushing through its white concrete pipes and channels. But dry and dingy as it is, the monumental artwork has been there for nearly 55 controversial years, and Armand Vaillancourt says it can last another 55 at least. That is why Vaillancourt, 95, made the six-hour flight from Montreal to San Francisco this week. 'I'm here to save that piece of art,' he said in a thick Quebecois accent while sitting in the sun Tuesday admiring his work. The 40-foot-tall, 710-ton fountain, installed in 1971 next to the Embarcadero Freeway, has survived a legion of critics over the decades who decried its blocky Brutalist aesthetic. It also survived the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, which damaged the freeway beyond repair. But its supporters, including Vaillancourt, fear it may not survive the pending transformation of the park that surrounds it. An ambitious $30 million project is underway to dramatically redesign Embarcadero Plaza, formerly known as Justin Herman Plaza, and link it to the adjacent Sue Bierman Park. The effort was announced last November by then-Mayor London Breed, and endorsed by the Board of Supervisors in March. A preliminary rendering published with the announcement did not show the fountain. That got the attention of Vaillancourt's daughter Oceania, who informed her father. The project is still in the planning phase. No design decisions have been made, no public hearings have been held, and Vaillancourt said no representative of the city has reached out to him. But he did not like what he did not see on the renderings. So he booked his own flight and booked his own preemptive hearing this week with the staff of the San Francisco Arts Commission, which owns the sculpture as part of the Civic Art Collection. 'They made the new plan and my monumental sculpture is not there,' said Vaillancourt. He described his message to city staff as, 'Be reasonable. Let that artwork live forever.' 'This survived a 7.1 earthquake with no damage, not a scratch, but they never took care of it,' he said. 'There's nothing wrong with it except the dirt.' San Francisco Recreation and Park Department officials told the Chronicle that they had met with Vaillancourt on Wednesday. 'It was an initial conversation focused on listening and exploring ways we might work together going forward,' said spokesperson Tamara Aparton. She said the park department spent an average of $100,000 per year on maintenance of the fountain, which includes repairing persistent leaks and clogged drains, servicing the pumps, removing debris and cleaning graffiti. But the only recent sign of attention Vaillancourt said he could see was a high fence on the Embarcadero side, an apparent attempt by the city to keep people from sleeping on the sculpture. While he was there Tuesday, a security guard came and rousted people who seemed to be setting up camp. He had not visited the fountain in eight years, and his first reaction upon seeing it was to utter: 'Wow.' 'The joy,' he said. 'It is so powerful.' The fountain's sheer size is part of its artistic power — and a major issue in deciding its fate. Part of the civic discussion is whether it can be moved to another location in the city, or put into storage. Vallaincourt laughed at that idea. The fountain, which took him four years to build, is anchored to a foundation 40 feet deep and has steel cables running throughout. It was intended to shift and sway but never break, and did not even burst a pipe during the Loma Prieta quake. However, it eventually blew a pump, and last summer the water was turned off. It would cost millions to repair, but Vaillancourt said it would cost millions more to demolish the fountain and backfill the huge crater that would leave behind. He endorses whatever plan the city has for the plaza, which is likely to remove the brick and replace it with grass and trees or other natural elements. He said the fountain will go perfectly amid all of this, provided it is sandblasted to return it to its original white luster, and the water is turned back on. (When it was installed, the flow at 30,000 gallons a minute was intended in part to drown out the traffic noise from the adjacent freeway.) 'If you keep the sculpture like it is, people cannot enjoy it,' he said. 'When the water is on, the kids run through it. It's a big toy in a sense.' The redesign and renovation is a partnership between the Recreation and Park Department, the Downtown SF Partnership and BXP (formerly Boston Properties), the commercial real estate firm that owns the four Embarcadero Center office buildings east of the plaza. One community outreach meeting has been held by the park department, and a second one is to be scheduled sometime this spring or summer. Vaillancourt said he has done his own community outreach and claimed that 'all of the people we talk to, engineers and architects and all that, they say do anything in the park but don't touch Vaillancourt Fountain.' Skateboarders, who like to thrash up the concrete benches, don't want it touched. Neither do the members of the Northern California chapter of Docomomo US, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving the architecture of the modern movement. They will host an informal picnic at 4 p.m. Friday at the fountain, with Vaillancourt promising to attend and engage in any form of conversation or debate. With his distinctive flowing white hair and beard, he describes himself as a 'small tiger,' and though he will be 96 in September, 'all my life I've never said I'm tired,' he said. Then he leaned back to admire his creation and started singing a song that was popular when he was building it, with his wife, Joanne, and son Alexis looking on. 'All we are saying, is give peace a chance.'
Hamilton Spectator
23-05-2025
- Sport
- Hamilton Spectator
Two new running clubs launch in Pemberton
The Pemberton Valley, renowned for its well-maintained network of trails, has just seen the launch of two new trail groups—a Pemberton branch of the Quebecois 6AM Run Club and an inclusive 5 kilometre spin-off of the trail-running institution We Run Pemberton (WRP) The 6AM running club, organized by Sabrina Daoust, is 'a weekly meet-up designed to kick-start your day with energy, motivation and community spirit.' The group meets at 5:50 a.m. for a 6 o'clock start on Wednesday mornings at the Visitors Centre parking lot. The group will run 6 km through the One Mile Lake area and finish in the Village near the Community Centre. 'This group is open to all running levels—whether you're just starting out, running recreationally, or more experienced,' wrote Daoust on Facebook. 'Our goal is to move together, share the morning boost and enjoy the run in a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere. The pace is casual and friendly.' The Wednesdays group is part of a national running community born in Quebec now operating in over a hundred towns there . It's since made its way over to B.C. Not a morning person? Pemberton's still got you covered. Historically, Thursday evenings have been the domain of WRP. The organization will still be hosting its 6 p.m. runs, but has also inspired a new Chill 5k running group. 'The goal is to create a welcoming, no-pressure space for people who may feel intimidated by the strong athletic culture in Pemberton and Whistler,' organizer Lizzie Stone wrote to Pique. 'It's for anyone looking to move, connect and feel good, regardless of pace or fitness level.' The group's first run a few weeks back was 'a huge success,' she said. 'The usual group comprises about five runners who take on a 10k-plus hilly route,' said Stone. 'However, this week we had over 25 people of all ages show up for the relaxed 5k, many of whom said they finally felt like they'd found a running group that was right for them. A few even told us how proud they were to complete the 5k, saying they hadn't believed it was possible for them.' The Chill 5K group meets alongside WRP at 6 p.m. on Thursdays at the downtown community barn. No registration is required for either group.
Toronto Star
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Toronto Star
Take a nostalgic tour of Montreal's iconic foods, from a famous plate of lobster spaghetti to the battle of the bagels
Canadian Travel Only in Canada is a new travel series that acts as a love letter to the bucket-list destinations and experiences in our beautiful country. Look for the Only in Canada series every week. There's nothing precious about the presentation at Au Pied de Cochon, Montreal's legendary temple of Quebecois decadence, but there's a flair for the dramatic. The signature canard en conserve (duck in a can) arrives as described, a server cutting off the lid tableside and spilling out the goods: a half duck breast, hunk of foie gras, butter-braised cabbage and roasted garlic, in a puddle of balsamic demi-glace. Chances are you've heard about this place and this entrée, one of the city's signature dishes (as long-time Montreal restaurant critic Lesley Chesterman has proclaimed). Culinary tourists everywhere were tipped off by a 2006 episode of 'No Reservations,' wherein Anthony Bourdain declared chef Martin Picard 'a personal idol,' and Au Pied de Cochon one of his 'very favourites in the world.' This city has no shortage of dining destinations, and last week Michelin finally bestowed stars in Quebec for the first time. Montreal earned three one-star ratings (awarded to Europea, Mastard and Sabayon) — a frankly underwhelming tally that had the local press questioning if Michelin really gets Montreal at all. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Au Pied de Cochon's decadent canard en conserve. The ingredients are sealed in a can, then cooked in submerged water for 27 minutes. Au Pied de Cochon The better judges? Montrealers. You don't need a Michelin guide to know about Joe Beef, for example, which competes with Au Pied for irreverence and indulgence. (To be clear, both did make Michelin's list of 'recommended' places, akin to honourable mentions.) Joe Beef is widely recognized as one of the city's most influential restaurants, where diners clamour for the steaks and the cream-drenched lobster spaghetti, probably the most popular dish. If you want a taste of the places that reflect the city or helped define the food culture, look to the venerable institutions that are still going strong, decades on. And if you can, tour around with a passionate local. 'We have such a unique culture here that doesn't feel like the rest of Quebec and also doesn't feel like the rest of Canada. It has shared connections with Canada and Quebec, but there's a 'Montrealism' that's purely Montreal,' says Thom Seivewright, the guide also known as @montrealexpert on Instagram and founder of Tours Montréal. He shows travellers around town on themed or custom, private walking tours, highlighting places like Chez Tousignant (a decade-old 'tribute to Quebecois junk food,' specifically casse - croûte staples such as poutine and hot dogs) or the Jean-Talon Market, an impressive open-air cornucopia that dates back to 1933. 'It's a producers' market — you can't sell here unless you produce something,' says Seivewright. Like so many places in Canada, Montreal was transformed by waves of immigration. This was once home to the country's largest Jewish community, and you can credit this history for the Eastern European foods now synonymous with the city: smoked meat and the bagel. Schwartz's Deli is a Montreal institution that opened in 1928. Smoked-meat fans still line up for the brisket on rye. Eva Blue/Tourisme Montréal Particularly in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Jewish immigrants from countries like Romania arrived, importing their knowledge of preserving meat in this era before trusty fridges. Reuben Schwartz was one such newcomer, establishing Schwartz's Deli in 1928. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Reputedly it's now the oldest deli in Canada. The decor remains a blast from the past, the secret recipe has stayed true to the original, and the crowds keep coming for the piled-high brisket on rye. Céline Dion is a fan (and part owner). In nearby Mile-End, St-Viateur and Fairmount continue to vie for the title of Montreal's best bagel. There are duelling lineups, historical claims, celebrity endorsements. Fairmount boasts that it's Montreal's first bagel bakery, dating back to 1919. St-Viateur, opened in 1957 and once frequented by Leonard Cohen, brags it's 'the longest running bagel shop.' St-Viateur is one of the city's most famous bagel shops. It has a long-running rivalry with nearby Fairmount, another icon. Eva Blue/Tourisme Montréal Bagels at both are rolled by hand, boiled in honey water (unlike New York's girthy, more savoury style), and baked in wood-fired ovens the old-fashioned way. Fairmount's version tends to taste sweeter, at least sometimes, especially when eaten hot and fresh, depending on who's judging. 'It's so close, and I'm not just trying to be diplomatic,' says Seivewright, who runs a two-hour tour dedicated wholly to the Montreal bagel, complete with a blind taste test to decide the winner. Whichever way you lean, this may be the most essential Montreal food tradition of all: debating (and disputing) what's most delicious here. Wing Sze Tang travelled with some trip support from Tourisme Montréal, which did not review or approve this article.
Calgary Herald
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Calgary Herald
'It's a lovely payoff': Glass Tiger, Sum 41 among the six artists inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in Calgary on Thursday night
Article content It seemed a very Canadian moment: Quiet, modest, a little self-deprecating. Article content At the National Music Centre on Thursday evening prior to the Canadian Music Hall of Fame Induction ceremony, the first of six inductees to hit the red carpet was singer-songwriter Dan Hill. Article content While these events tend to be fuelled by the mutual admiration, attendees seemed to be particularly enthused about Hill finally being inducted nearly 50 years after scoring the global hit Sometimes When We Touch. Article content Article content These days, the soft-spoken songwriter may be better known for his work behind-the-scenes writing and producing hits for stars such as Celine Dion, Britney Spears, The Backstreet Boys and Rod Stewart. But the respect from his peers was apparent. Country singer Beverley Mahood, who inducted Hill into the Hall of Fame later that night, snuck up behind him for a hug when he was being interviewed. Fellow 2025 inductee and Quebecois singer Ginette Reno said she wanted to hug him. 'I'm looking forward to taking him in my arms and holding him,' she said. Article content Article content 'Dan I know probably better than anybody,' he said. 'If anybody deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, it's Dan Hill.' Article content Hill, on the other hand, showed some genuine Canadian modesty when asked how it felt to be inducted after a half-century in the business. Article content 'I thought I was being pranked,' he told Postmedia on the red carpet. 'I couldn't really believe it. I'm very humbled.' Article content Article content On Thursday, the National Music Centre held its third induction ceremony since 2019. Since opening in 2016, the centre has been the physical home of the Canadian Music All of Fame. Hill, Reno, Glass Tiger, pop-punk band Sum 41 and Celtic-classical singer-songwriter Loreena McKennitt were in the class of 2025. Maestro Fresh Wes, who was inducted in into the Hall of Fame at the Junos in 2024 in Halifax, was also honoured. He is the first Canadian hip-hop artist to be inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. Article content The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences began inducting multiple artists in 2019 after realizing there were dozens of worthy contenders who had yet to honoured, far too many to be limited to one a year. The six artists were all on hand Thursday night. Article content There was a show-stopping performance by Reno, who turned 79 a few weeks ago, and a Glass Tiger medley to end the evening. Superstar Celine Dion made a surprise appearance, albeit via pre-recorded video, to honour Reno. The members of Sum 41 gathered for what will presumably be the last time after calling it quits this year after a 30-year career. Their final performance was in March during the Juno Awards in Vancouver.
