UMFK celebrates Acadian culture with “Sucrerie” event

FORT KENT, Maine (WAGM) - The community came together in Fort Kent today as The University of Maine at Fort Kent held their annual “Sucrerie” event today. News Source 8 Isaac’s Potter was there and has the story.

”These people are lined up for the “Sucrerie” event at Nowland Hall at the University of Maine at Fort Kent to enjoy food, music, and celebrate Acadian culture and tradition. The Sucrerie has returned after a few years off due to COVID. The event has been going for about 20 years.

Patrick Lacroix, Director of Acadian Archives, says “We will have ployes, traditional bread, pork spread, a little bit of everything. All to honor Acadian culture, we know it has a lot of dimensions in the County with stretching to music which we will have as well. But definitely it reaches into our plates, and some of our local agricultural produce are going to show up in what we eat today. So it’s a reflection of the ecology, but also the culture and the culinary traditions in the County.”

This month is Francophonie month which is a month where people all around the world celebrate their French heritage in the French language.

Patrick Lacroix: “So this is really important for us in terms of town and gown relations. UMFK is a bastion of Canadian culture in many respects partly because of the Canadian archives that I represent. So it’s good to have that touch point with people from the community. It’s important for them to see us, what we do, and enjoy as I said music from their heritage.”

He adds what makes this event special is the community bonding.

Patrick Lacroix: “Although we have a lot of amazing restaurants in the St. John Valley, stretching from to Allagash all the way to Van Buren, and so forth. This is our way of contributing to that, so that people have something different and they can enjoy the whole spread, the whole Canadian spread in one location and do it with other people in their community. So it’s a big event for the food, the music, it’s all about bonding and socializing.”

The University plans to continue this tradition for many more years to come to celebrate Acadian culture. Isaac Potter News Source 8.”

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