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Montréal is a wonderful city to explore on foot, and one of my favorite places to start is the Quartier des Spectacles. Home to more than 80 cultural venues, including spaces for theater, film, live bands, and more, the Quarter is a great place to get a big-picture view of what’s happening in the city. Inside the landmark Le 2-22 building, I check out the animated art installation by Moment Factory at La Vitrine Culturelle. Ribbons of text and light stream in from different directions, mimicking the swirl of the city’s cultural offerings, while an interactive touch screen and kiosk serves as a ticket center and plugged-in information exchange for culture hounds like me…

Though the height of the festival season is in the spring and summer, the city calendar is packed with events all year long. Montréal en Lumière, one of the largest winter festivals in the world, puts art, food, and dazzling evening light shows center stage. The main event  is Nuit Blanche, when the city (and the metro) runs at full speed all night. Nearly 200 activities, most of them free, showcase every branch of creative endeavor. Art Souterrain, a public art exhibition, is one of the highlights; it’s held in the underground pedestrian mall linking more than a dozen downtown landmarks, from the Place des Arts to the Palais des Congrès. Live performance pieces bring an urban immediacy and excitement to the art installations, with the city hurrying about its business all around us. What an amazing night!

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(food & fun) Find a kind of satisfaction in the slow advent of spring with fabulous, thoughtfully created food, beginning with a seasonal menu at the FoodLab at the SAT until April 12, and followed up on April 15 with a “Schnitzel & Riesling” food party, full of Germanic flavour and complemented afterwards by an electronic music soiree. And, of course, the famous maple syrup of Quebec is in abundant supply during sugaring-off season, with inspired menus at restaurants around the city, and a full-on sugar shack down at the Old Port at La Cabane. Or simply sink your teeth into one of the best steaks in Montreal.

(sports & laughs) Basketball, comedy and entertainment fuel the Harlem Globetrotters, putting on a show for the whole family at the Bell Centre on April 12 – and of course, the Bell Centre sees hockey season head into spring as the Canadiens play the Flyers on April 15 and face off against the Lightning on April 18. More comedy, of the non-sports-related variety, comes to Club Soda on April 17 at An Evening of Comedy for the Benefit of On Our Own, an organization that provides services and housing to vulnerable families, with Montreal funny people Joey Elias, Eman, Dan Bingham, Sebastien Bourgault and Jess Salomon.

(theatre & dance) Contemporary ballet meets the music of Elton John and plenty of sequins and bright lights and colours in Love Lies Bleeding, at Place des Arts, to April 14. Sinha Danse Company presents Sunya, a new work for four dancers and three musicians, inspired by Persian music, contemporary dance, and bringing different cultures together, part of the Danse Danse spring season, April 17-27 at Cinquième Salle. Danish dance-theatre troupe Granhøj Dans crafts dramatic theatre, comedic moments and sings plenty of Leonard Cohen’s songs in Dance Me to the End On/Off Love, to April 14 at Centaur Theatre, or entertain the kids with The Trial of Goldilocks, an updated fairy tale at Centaur Theatre on Saturday, April 13. And check out the experimental theatre of love u lovecraft [lab], inspired by the world of H.P. Lovecraft, April 16-20 at Bain St-Michel.

(fashion finds) Find out what many Montreal fashionistas already know at this year’s Braderie de Mode Quebecoise, a huge 50-80% off sale of samples and inventory surplus from local designers, April 11-14 at Marché Bonsecours in the Old Port – find unique clothing and accessories, talk to designers, and perhaps even meet some of the designers and people behind Montreal Fashion Week.

(art worlds) As part of the MMFA exhibition Peru: Kingdoms of the Sun and the Moon, see Peru on the big screen in documentary films from the TV5 series Amérikologie, playing on April 13 – free at the Maxwell Cummings Auditorium, and on April 17, attend an Afro-Peruvian percussion workshop with Kullak Viger Ross. Enter the labyrinthine fact-meets-fiction world of Laurent Grasso’s multi-room Uraniborg exhibition at the MACM, showing along with work by photographer Lynne Cohen and live performance conjured up by artist Tino Sehgal. Over at the Society for Art and Technology, see P3rception, surround-sound-and-image films shown in the Satosphere dome, to April 29. Hear more about the Thomas Demand exhibition at DHC/ART in a round-table discussion on April 17. And the Montreal Symphony Orchestra performs Beethoven’s Third Concerto, with pianist Till Fellner and Kent Nagano conduction on April 16-17.

(live music) Start the weekend with the psych-rock of The Black Angels at Le National on Friday night. Saturday, April 13 is a big night: choose from a massive show with Canadian rock-punk Billy Talent, Sum 41, Hollerado and Indian Handcrafts at the Bell Centre, the East-Coast folk-rock of Great Big Sea at Metropolis, Welsh alt-rock band The Joy Formidable plays Theatre Corona, the myriad musical styles of Montreal hip-hop collective Nomadic Massive at Club Soda, or great MTL indie-rock of The Besnard Lakes at Cabaret Du Mile End. On Sunday, listen to the live electro-pop of Rhye at Cabaret Mile End. Funnily enough, Monday night is also a big one, with Australian “metalcore” band Parkway Drive at Metropolis, and for those of us who like it loud, it’s a tough choice between Japan’s Acid Mothers Temple at Sala Rossa  vs. Pissed Jeans at Il Motore. On April 16, tune in to Stereo Total at Il Motore. And on April 18, get your folkoric-pagan-metal on at Paganfest America 2013 with Finland’s Ensiferum, The Faroe Islands’ Tyr and more beer-soaked mayhem at Metropolis on April 18. Meanwhile, Montreal’s Bran Van 3000 and Paul Cargnello headline a fundraiser for community organization Le Sac à Dos at Club Soda.

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(easter time) Celebrate spring in Montreal by spending some time in nature, indoors and out. Take the kids on a different kind of easter egg hunt at the Ecomuseum zoo or hunt for butterflies (with your eyes only) at the Montreal Botanical Gardens’s Butterflies Go Free special exhibition. Learn more about the environment and biodiversity at the Botanical Garden’s Base Camp and at the Montreal Biodome, where kids can discover live animals and plants from around the world, there’s even a (non-chocolate) egg exhibition in the lobby. And see even more butterflies at the Montreal Science Centre’s IMAX screening of Flight of the Butterflies in 3D.

(easter eats) Quebec’s famed sugar shack season happens to be in full form this Easter weekend too – try out La Cabane in the Old Port, restaurants with maple-syrup themed menus, or take a short drive out of town to experience the complete sugar shack experience. Visit the Montreal Botanical Gardens to learn more about where maple syrup comes from and try out the candy-like concoction of maple syrup on snow, until April 26. For even more sweet treats – and several savoury ones too – peruse Montreal’s excellent Italian delis, the Jean Talon Market or simply go for the classic Easter brunch at one of many Montreal brunch spots, from Old Montreal to Mile End, and pick up some chocolate along the way.

(dance & theatre) Danse Danse presents The Light Between, a new work of hope and vulnerability by Governor General’s Award winning choreographer Margi Gillis, to March 30 at Place des Arts, and, beginning April 4, the astounding Spanish flamenco of María Pagés as the star dances a show called Autorretrato, “a self-portrait created at Mikhaïl Baryshnikov’s instigation.” More dance takes the stage at the Centaur Theatre, where Danish dance-theatre troupe Granhøj Dans celebrates the music of Leonard Cohen – in intriguing, funny and surprising ways – in Dance Me to the End On/Off Love, to April 14.

(immersive art) Artistic visions of spring are beginning to show themselves this week too. New exhibitions at the MACM captivate with colour and intrigue with interactivity and every Sunday afternoon, kids and adults alike can participate in hands-on art-making workshops. Experimental, immersive, digital video art amazes at the SAT’s 360º Satosphere dome: audio-visual show Chaos and Order continues until March 29, followed up starting April 2 with P3rception, a program of three exploratory works that might just cause sensory overload: Diana Reichenbach’s animated film ||0.1.||, Eric Hanson and Charles Lindsay’s Carbon-X, and Ulf Langheinrich’s Hemisphere. And outdoors, projected on the face of UQAM’s Président-Kennedy building in the heart of the Quartier des Spectales, see animated film Le cycle de l’eau.

(live music) One of hip-hop’s best starts the weekend right on Friday night: Brooklyn-based rapper Talib Kweli gets lyrical with Koriass, Ceas Rock and Dj Manifest at Club Soda – the show is one of many at the Montreal Hip Hop Festival, happening all weekend. Also on Friday, Los Angeles indie-rock band Local Natives comes to town with Superhumanoids at Le National, and Saturday night is nothing but old-school LA punk with Bad Religion at Metropolis. On April 1, The Dear Hunter tour their new album Migrant, at Sala Rossa. Turn Tuesday night into a sweaty electronic music dance party with Chicago DJ duo Flosstradamus at the SAT or British electro-rock band Modestep at the Corona Theatre. On April 3, Alicia Keys and Miguel (!) put a spell on the Bell Centre and K-OS and Rich Aucoin shake up the Corona. And on Thursday, April 4, much-loved Francophone singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Damien Robitaille plays Metropolis and Montreal’s Suuns brighten up Sala.

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(winter’s end) It’s officially spring, but there’s still some snow on the ground in Montreal, which makes this weekend perfect – and your last chance this year! – for visiting the Montreal Snow Village at Parc Jean-Drapeau, where eating, drinking and being merry are never in short supply. The same can be said of sugar shack season – yes, the maple syrup is flowing and related feasts are bountiful, whether at La Cabane in the Old Port or elsewhere in the city or a short drive off the island of Montreal. And even get a bit of an education about where maple syrup comes from and how delicious it is when boiled and poured onto snow – like candy! – at the Montreal Botanical Gardens until April 26.

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(hockey greats) Hockey season continues, with doses of happiness and of woe, but all hockey fans can get behind this Sunday’s Classique des Étoiles L’Équipeur game at the Bell Centre. See NHL stars of the 80s and 90s (Lindros, Fleury, Bourque, more!) take to the ice again and face off against Montreal Canadiens Alumni, some of them Hall of Famers, all still happy to show off the skills and flare that made them great in the first place.

(stage time) Love, dancing and music are the stuff of theatre and dance this week in Montreal. Danish company Granhøj Dans blends theatre, dance and the song of Leonard Cohen together in Dance Me to the End On/Off Love, at Centaur Theatre, to April 14. Danse Danse presents The Light Between, a new work of hope and vulnerability by Governor General’s Award winning choreographer Margi Gillis, March 26-30 at Place des Arts. Contemporary ballet gets the Les Grands Ballets Canadiens spotlight in Danz + Toot, works by Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin’s Danz and Dutch choreographer Didy Veldman, to March 23. The Mahalia Jackson Musical ends its acclaimed run this Sunday, telling the true story of the Queen of Gospel and starring Montreal’s Ranee Lee, at the Segal Centre. And dance takes on a different form in  Le Grand Burlesque Show, as burlesque performers from  Montreal and across North America get sexy, silly and scandalous, March 21-23 at Club Soda. Meanwhile, the super fun musical-comedy Jesus Christ Super Band plays it up at Théâtre Ste. Catherine, March 21-23.

(art on screen) See documentaries, shorts and experimental films about art, from painting to architecture, writing to dancing, music and more at The International Festival of Films on Art, to March 24, when the fest closes with Road Movie, A Portrait of John Adams. This year, special attention goes to Gerald Fox’s multimedia work, Ed Pien’s video installations, and the work of Jan Peacock. Check out films at the Montreal Fine Arts Museum, the MACM, the PHI Centre and Cinémathèque Québécoise, as well as free events like the Zon’Arts exhibition at Place des Arts to see Diane Obomsawin’s animated films Fleur and Machine. For the full FIFA schedule and to buy tickets online, see the FIFA site. There’s more art to see on screen at the Society for Art and Technology, where experimental, immersive audio-visual show Chaos and Order continues to wow until March 29.

(week of music) The weekend starts with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, with Sharon Van Etten opening, on Friday night at Metropolis, and with Trust, Eraas and more getting our electro-dance on at the SAT – followed on Saturday night by Birdy Nam Nam. Saturday night also brings the fabulous and lovely Leif Vollebekk and Jennifer Castle to Cabaret Mile End and Brit Floyd’s three-hour show P-U-L-S-E 2013 to Place des Arts. And Sunday afternoon is just right for the Orchestre Métropolitan’s rendition of Verdi’s Requiem, at the Maison Symphonique de Montréal. On Monday, March 25, none other than Heart appear in all their glory at the Bell Centre, while American hard-pop singer-songwriter Sky Ferreira and How To Dress Well keep the cool-factor high at Sala Rossa (4848 St-Laurent), and British indie-rockers Alt-J are at Theatre Corona. On March 27, inventive Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós fills the Bell Centre with big-time sound and light, while Garbage comes back from the 90s with new material and plenty of energy, at Metropolis, and Little Green Cars drive into Il Motore. And popular French singer Michel Sardou sings about love, life and politics on March 28 at the Bell Centre.

The post THINGS TO DO IN MONTREAL: MARCH 22-28 appeared first on Tourisme Montréal Blog.

Bal en Blanc bills itself as the largest event of its kind in North America under a covered space. 15,000 people will converge at the Palais des congrès de Montreal to celebrate electronic music, fashion and dancing. The DJ line-up is looking to be an impressive one with David Guetta and Calvin Harris headlining the Main Room, and Armin Van Buuren in the Trance Room. Check out the full DJ line-up here.

If you’re heading into Montréal for Bal en Blanc, the official partner hotels include the W Montreal, and the Westin. Both have special White Party rates that are accessible here.

There is a whole slew of connected events leading up to the big ball that have the official Bal en Blanc stamp of approval. A full list of connected events is available here, and highlights include Yinon Yafel at Unity on Thursday, March 28 in the Gay Village, and Eliad Cohen with the PAPA World Tour at Stereo on Saturday, March 30.

Dress Code? White. It’s part of the ambiance. Don’t be that person who thinks they’re being cheeky by wearing mustard yellow. You are not cheeky and people will glare. Most of all: Party smart, play safe, and have a wonderful time! (You might even meet the dancing bunny.)

THE DETAILS

Bal en Blanc 2013, March 30 to April 1, 2013

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The Festival of our cheeses at Complexe Desjardins: The Festival of Quebec Cheeses is held every year during Montréal en lumière. This year was the 7th edition of the festival and it brought together several Quebec producers with a selection of over 60 cheeses! Being a big cheese lover, I couldn’t miss the opportunity to meet some of the best cheese artisans in the province and taste some of their award-winning products. It was also a great opportunity to make new discoveries and to stock up on quite a big heap of cheeses.

Dinner at La Fabrique: La Fabrique didn’t have a guest chef this year. Instead, resident chef Jean-Baptiste Marchand created a 4-course “gaucho” menu inspired by the Argentinian theme of Montréal en lumière and highlighting the local flavours of this year’s guest city of Buenos Aires. I enjoyed every dish that night but the traditional Andean potato and corn locro soup with chorizo and porc was one of the happiest discoveries I made and one I look forward to tasting again in the future.

Lunch at La Khaïma: “Khaïma” means tent in Arabic and entering this small North African restaurant feels like entering a Bedouin tent. This Fairmount street spot was one of the 6 restaurants taking part in the “Lunching around the world” portion of Montréal en lumière.  It was fun to let the spicy Mauritanian lentil soup and preserved lemon and chicken tajine transport me to the warmth of the Western Sahara desert on a slushy and cold Thursday in Montreal.

Convivial dinner at Marché Bonsecours: There’s no better way to discover a country’s culinary culture than through its popular cuisine. This event was the perfect opportunity to do just that with chef Dario Gualtieri and his 3-course menu of traditional dishes. The dinner was accompanied by a few dancing couples sashaying up and down the aisles of the huge room to the rhythm of tango music.

Hot chocolate at Montreal Museum of Fine Arts: How could I miss out on the opportunity to close the festival on such a deliciously artful note? Wandering the halls of a world-class museum in the middle of the night is absolutely wonderful. Even more wonderful is stopping by the Cacao Barry lounge to enjoy a rich cup of hot chocolate cooked up by Marius & Fanny and made with Single Plantation Chocolate Alto el Sol from Peru, in keeping with the Peruvian theme of the night. One of the most fun events for me this year was definitely taking part of this Nuit Blanche event at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and meeting some great culinary, pastry, visual arts and musical artists.

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Avenue 65 is basically OpenTable but done in Montréal style, ergo prettier and slicker. It’s pretty straightforward: pick your date, time and party size and scroll through Montreal’s best restaurants with space. Some times even have special deals like “15% off” or special menus.

Streetfood MTL - All hail the mighty food truck, because food trucks are so in right now. Food trucks combine my two favorite things: standing in line outside and gourmet food. Now with this handy app you’ll have no problem hunting down the best food trucks in Montréal.

RestoMontreal – Not the most beautiful app on the block, but definitely the most complete listing of Montréal restaurants. It includes info, ratings, menus, maps, and more. Last app update was 2010 so fingers crossed we’ll get a more user-friendly version soon!

Korean Food Montreal - Just when you thought all your culinary app dreams have come true, here is one that is dedicated solely to Korean food in Montréal. All eleven of them. Includes list and map views.

Deville Dinner Bar - The app itself doesn’t do much except show a map and some photos. Oh, and allow you to control the Jukebox when you’re connected to their wifi, no quarters needed. (1425 Stanley, (514) 281-6556)

Time Supperclub - Definitely one of the most feature complete apps for a club in Montreal. Make reservations, upload photos, see events and check-in to unlock special deals among other things. Definitely a must-download if you plan on hitting Time during your night out. (997 St Jacques West, (514) 392-9292)

St-Hubert - Just downloading this app will make your glands salivate. I personally start sweating their super secret sauce. Find the closest St-Hubert restaurant, or order something delicious. One flaw is when you order via the app, you can only pay with cash at the door, no credit cards accepted.

Wenite - Check out what’s going on in the Montréal nightlife scene live from this app. Users can vote a place up or down depending what the ambiance is like. In other words, decide what parties are worthy of your presence before you even do your hair!

Wildcard - Consider Wildcard your passport to Montréal’s nightlife. You can claim benefits at clubs, bars and lounges around the city. The roster of partner venues is a bit weak at the moment, but I expect more will be added soon.

Have any other apps that we missed? Add them in the comments section below to help travelers and locals get even more connected with Montreal. And check out our list of Best Culture Apps to see the range of museums, attractions and events that have also hopped on the digital bandwagon!

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{Urban winter festival} Montréal en Lumière and plenty of free activities and entertainment throughout the Quartier des Spectacles downtown, including a ferris wheel, ice slide, games and food. Argentina and tango takes the spotlight at this year’s festival with La Pista Tango cabaret this weekend at Metropolis and the jazz-tango music of Daniel Piazzolla and sextet  Escalandrum in a tribute to Astor Piazzolla. And Saturday night is the busy, fun-filled night everyone is waiting for: Nuit Blanche is a night of free activities throughout downtown, the plateau neighbourhood and at the Olympic Stadium grounds: entertainment venues, malls, galleries and  museums are open until the wee hours, featuring live bands, art, workshops and more for all ages. Add more comfort – and savings up to 50% off – to the night by staying in on the fest’s swanky partner hotels.

{Family break} Spring break is upon us this week (and next week too for out-of-province visitors) and thankfully there’s plenty to keep kids busy and having fun in the city. Outdoors, along with Montréal en Lumière activities, check out sledding, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing and skating on the Mountain, ice fishing at the Old Port and more. Indoors, Montreal’s museums and educational centres – including the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Science Centre, Pointe-à-Callière and Montreal’s Space for Life, home to the Botanical Gardens, Biodome and Insectarium – all offer free activities during March break. And for pure entertainment, catch amazing circus shows Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain until March 3 and Mi Otro Yo March 5-10, or watch Mickey, Minnie, princesses and sidekicks play that rock n’ roll music and skate around the whole time in Disney on Ice’s Rockin’ Ever After at the Bell Centre, March 6-10.

{Symphonic happenings} Hear a symphony like no other at Pointe-à-Callière’s Port Symphonies, a free outdoor listening experience that challenges a composer to use a variety of ship horns, train whistles and percussion found in the harbour of the Old Port – March 3 and March 10 at 1:30 p.m.  More traditionally, the Orchestre Métropolitain helps us start waving goodbye to winter with a performance of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons and more, conducted by Mathieu Lussier, on March 3 at 3 p.m. at the Maison symphonique de Montréal. And the Montreal Symphony Orchestra takes a narrative and visual approach to Dvorák’s Symphony No. 9 (From the New World), showing its connections to history and folklore before playing the work, on March 6.

{Stage & screen} Dynamic contemporary dance comes to town from Norway as Danse Danse presents Corps de Walk by choreographers Gai Behar and Sharon Eyal and 12 dancers of The Norwegian National Company of Contemporary Dance, March 1-2 at Place des Arts, as well as theatrical Netherlands dance troupe T.r.a.s.h. at Cinquième Salle, March 5-9. Smalltown meets the Sunset Strip in Broadway musical Rock of Ages, a theatrical coming-of-age tale set to 28 now-classic rock songs, from Bon Jovi to Journey, on March 1-3 at Theatre Ste-Denis. And recent Quebec-made feature films, shorts, documentaries and even some experimental cinema are all ready to view at the Rendez-vous cinema Quebecois film festival, to March 3 – while many of the films are in French, some have English subtitles and a handful are in English.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG7tdSB0JVU {Live music} Much-loved Canadian indie-rock ban The Arkells start the weekend off on Friday night at the Corona Theatre while local art-rock Yamantaka//Sonic Titan play the Musee d’art contemporain’s music series Nocturnes and Mouse on Mars returns with new electronic-rock sounds at Il at Il Motore (179 Jean Talon W.). Saturday night is filled with FREE Nuit Blanche festivities, including a full night of dance music at Metropolis, with Avec pas d’casque, Canailles, SoCalled, Koriass, Plaster, Organ Mood in the main room and more music in the Savoy space, and full-on bass fun at Club Soda for Karnival 2013, with DJs Poirier, The Salivation Army and Riddim Wise. Follow that up on March 3 with alt-metal band Deftones at Metropolis. On March 6, London, England exports Citizens! play for our indie-pop! listening pleasure at Sala Rossa (4848 St-Laurent). And Thursday, March 7 brings Canadian singer-songwriter Serena Ryder to the Corona Theatre, while Knoxville, Tennessee metal band Whitechapel annihilate Club Soda, Ra Ra Riot knocks the socks off Il Motore (179 Jean Talon W.), and the local folk-rock scene is in the spotlight at Festival Under the Snow, starting March 7 with Echoes from Jupiter and Dam Ships at Casa del Popolo and The Loodies, Fire/Works and Elliot Maginot at Sala Rossa.

The post Things to Do in Montreal: March 1-7 appeared first on Tourisme Montréal Blog.

Uniting 39 large-scale colour photos taken on various trips to Haiti starting mere days after the shattering earthquake of 2010, Benoit Aquin’s exhibition, Haiti: Chaos and Daily Life, at the McCord Museum gives a poetic perspective you didn’t see in news photography. “That was very important to me,” says Aquin. “I didn’t want our collective memory to stick on images of the catastrophe. This project is an homage to Haiti, an extraordinary place – a hard but fascinating culture I’ve known since I was 4 years old.”

“I’ve never experienced such a frightening atmosphere as on that first trip, days after the earthquake. It felt like the world had ended, but as if it could end all over again any minute. Everything was destroyed, everywhere was chaos. There were thousands of people without food, water, shelter. Downtown was a desert at night, except for the looters in certain areas – it was as if you could feel the 100,000 dead share the night with you. I was there with the relief organization CECI, and we were staying in an abandoned restaurant. We slept on the floor.”

“This photo was taken that same trip, at the bus terminal – I was hanging out of a bus when I took it. It’s a shot I never could have planned. I imagine the man had a mask on because of the smell of death; some people would stick cigarettes up their noses while other smeared toothpaste under their noses. While I was there, I thought I was maintaining an emotional distance from the situation, but after I came back to Montreal after that first trip I felt like crying every day for two weeks.”

“This was taken a few months after the earthquake, and already life had regained its regular course to a certain extent. This was a small carnival, it was very voodoo – they did a ceremony in the middle of the street, and the man painted in black was in a complete trance. I just stood with everyone and watched. It transported me into another world. In all of my work there’s the relationship between man and the universe. I think existential questions always find their way into my creative process.”

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THE DETAILS
Haiti: Chaos and Daily Life by Benoit Aquin, Until May 12, 2013
McCord Museum, 690 Sherbrooke West, (514) 398-7100

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From February 14 until April 28, the Montreal Botanical Garden will welcome thousands of beautiful butterflies and their equally attractive cousins, moths. The 16^th edition of Butterflies Go Free promises that 2000 butterflies will be fluttering about the green house at all times. You and your family can look forward to discovering over 75 different species of moths and butterflies hailing from Canada, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Kenya, Malaysia and the Philippines…

This year the Butterflies Go Free‘ spotlight is on the majestic Monarch butterflies. These butterflies are featured not only for their exquisite good looks, but because they have the longest migration in North America. They travel from Mexico in the winter to Quebec where they are spotted around June (probably heading to the Jazz Fest) and until the end of the summer. It takes 4 generations of Monarch’s to complete the trip, which usually spans about one year. And you thought you didn’t like winter.

While you’re at the Botanical Gardens, visitors can recline in the swank Monarch Lounge. The Monarch Lounge’s seats are designed like eggs, caterpillars and chrysalises. The decor was dreamed up by Quebec designer Liz Vandal, an internationally renowned fashion/costume designer famous for creating the costumes for Cirque du Soleil’s insect inspired show, OVO. From the butterflies and moths to the decor, Butterflies Go Free is a lovely way to welcome Spring in an almost fairy tale like setting.

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THE DETAILS

Butterflies Go Free, February 14 to April 28, 2013
Montreal Botanical Gardens, 4101 Sherbrooke Street East, (514) 872-1400

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