FETE St. LAURENT
The 133rd Fete St. Laurent was held in Blain from the 8th to 12th August 2008.
The first item was a concert held on Friday evening 8th August when three folklore groups danced.
The groups were GFA Maglaj from Bosnia, Kalakar de Bombay from India and Seebach from Alsace, France on the German border.
All were very good but much the same music and dancing especially as it lasted over 3 hours.
Saturday 9th August was a day for the children, painting and games in the centre of town.
The visiting dance groups danced at various locations throughout the town.
In the evening was a Disco for those interested.
Sunday 10th was very wet in the morning, fortunately the activity was a mass in the church where all the dance groups went in national dress. By 2pm the sun was shining and the streets of Blain were full of people watching the Cavalcade (parade). There were 27 floats all very good and a great carnival atmosphere. Of course the map showing the route of the parade also indicated where the five free-standing bars and toilets were situated.
In the evening approximately 1000 people attended Diner Champetre, we call it a meal in a field as it is held in a field, long tables under cover, a stage, lots of music and the dance groups performed their finale. Later about 5000 people were gathered to see a great fireworks display which ended the very busy and enjoyable day, however, there was another disco for the younger ones.
Monday11th the afternoon again was allocated to children’s games. The evening was a Nocturne Cycliste Race that started at 8.30pm. This was for top level cyclists only, the winners being eligible for a cash prize.
Tuesday 12th was a huge market in the streets of Blain, we went but found a lot of repetition with the stalls. However the festive spirit was still alive and well.
This ended what had been a busy 5 days of almost free entertainment. Luck was on our side since all major activities took place in glorious sunshine when the forecast had indicated a wet period.
