Montreal will be teeming with ghosts, ghouls and the undead in a new Halloween festival, taking place October 27 to 29, 2017.
Trouble-Fête will feature parades, live shows, movie nights and street performances for all ages throughout the weekend (with a very kid-friendly The Great Wizardry Fest on Sunday, October 29).
Photo Credit La Ronde (Member of the Six Flags Family), Carlos Richer
On Friday, October 27 at 6:30 p.m., Place des Festivals is home to The Rise of the Dead. This all ages, free event will feature music, entertainment and activities and an electrifying energy that will bring the dead back from the grave… and get the living on their feet and dancing.
Skeletons, pyrotechnical artists, giant marionettes, gothic choirs, visual artists and a live DJ will infuse Place des Festivals with a carnival-like energy.
On Saturday, October 28, also at Place des Festivals, more than 10,000 zombies will swarm the streets of Montréal as the city is host to the biggest zombie walk in Canada. Make-up artists and zombie entertainers will invade Place des Festivals and keep this horde of undead trudging onward.
Photo Credit Susan Moss
Beginning at 5 p.m., the zombies will make their way west along De Maisonneuve Street, then turn onto McGill College Avenue and return to the Place des Festivals via Sainte-Catherine Street. The walk will be interspersed with a dozen or so highly entertaining spectacles: mariachi zombies, dismembered human marionettes, a zombie military marching band and dreadfully funny floats. The event will close with a dance performance by choreographer Gardy Fury and shows by PUP, Chocolat and Duchess Says.
Finally, saving the best for last, the Great Wizardry Fest takes place on Sunday, October 29 starting at 12:30 p.m. at the Esplanade de la Place-des-Arts. The children of Montréal are needed to help fight the Trouble-Fête!
The PDA’s Esplanade will be transformed into a wizarding village, where a battalion of wizards-in-the-making can learn how to prepare for this mighty feat. Wannabe wizards can try their hand at magic wand-making, a spooky carousel, face painting, a pumpkin museum, an enchanted forest and more are all on the program. Children will receive a passport that gives them access to the apprentice wizard workshops. Once they have completed all the activities and their passports have been stamped, these newly-trained sorcerers will be ready to face the creature and, hopefully, put it back to sleep once again.
The event wraps up with a Great Wizardry Parade, with floats and wizards making their way toward the Trouble-Fête at the Place des Festivals and a show by Les Petites Tounes. All attendees, kids and parents alike, are encouraged to dress in their best Halloween costumes.
