Montreal Set to Party

Montreal has got some cool festivals and events in the works. Tourism officials are touting fall and winter celebrations expected to lure visitors in the height of the city’s winter.

Upcoming events include the Jan. 16 to Feb. 8 Igloofest, which will see outdoor nighttime performances of electronic music on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, with up to 10,000 gathering a night.

“It’s an exotic event,” says Igloofest’s Maripierre d’Amour of the event that will have two stages and VJs. “It’s what Montreal is all about. We want people to enjoy the city.”

Among other events will be the long-running Feb. 19 to March 1 Montreal en Lumiere, with that festival’s Vincent Lefebvre saying that it will be a celebration of “music, dance, theatre, opera, circus. You name it, we have it.” There will be indoor and outdoor venues and Lefebvre says it will “liven up the city” during a traditionally slower tourism period.

Visitors can also see a host of other events, including the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts’ Van Gogh to Kandinsky Impressionism to Expressionism exhibit, which runs through Jan. 25.

Pictured are d’Amour (l) and Tourisme Montreal’s Dominique Desrosiers.

(http://www.tourisme-montreal.org)