A St. Jean-Baptiste Day Celebration
The Franco-American Collection at the University of Southern Maine and the Franco Center invite you to a celebration of St. Jean-Baptiste Day!
Join us at the Franco Center, 46 Cedar St. in Lewiston, on June 24, 2025 at 6 p.m. for the event. Ticket prices include dinner. This program is made possible by the generous sponsorship of Champoux Insurance, the Québec Delegation in Boston, and TV5MONDE.
This collaboration between the USM Franco-American Collection and Franco Center promises to be an exciting tribute to St. Jean-Baptiste celebrations of days gone by. St. Jean-Baptiste, the patron saint of Québec, inspired large-scale parades, parties, and special religious masses in Lewiston between the late 19th century and the mid 20th century. According to the Sun Journal in 1940, the St. Jean-Baptiste celebration was so large, they needed two separate parades to include all the floats and participants. Traditionally, a local boy with curly, blond hair would be selected to portray St. Jean-Baptiste in the parade–and don’t worry, we’ll have pictures to prove it! If you are one of these St. Jean-Baptistes, we hope you are able to join us this June 24th to be recognized at the event.
The doors will open at 5 p.m., along with the cash bar and conversation in French and English. At 6 pm, dinner will begin. Music, featuring Robert Sylvain and Steve Muise, will begin at 6:30 p.m. and Don and Cindy Roy will take the stage at 8 p.m. accompanied by Cindy Larock who will lead contra dancing until 9 p.m. The dinner menu will include Franco-American foods, featuring Pâté chinois, pea soup, and sugar pie for dessert. There will also be a vegetarian version of Pâté chinois, and a green salad and rolls. Water, lemonade and coffee drinks are free with your ticket, and sodas and bar drinks available for purchase.
Ticket prices:
- Adults: $22
- Seniors: $18
- Children 12 and under: $12
About the musicians:
Two friends, fiddler Steve Muise and singer Robert Sylvain play music rooted in the traditions of their shared Acadian heritage. Both from musical families, they inherited a treasure trove of catchy maritime fiddle tunes and old French-language folksongs which they bring together with modern sensibilities and original material that speaks to the continuing influence of Franco-American culture in New England. The result is a rhythmically unstoppable, lyrically fantastic blend of musical history and innovation that invites audiences from all backgrounds to revel in authentic Acadian joie de vivre.
Deux amis, le violoneur Steve Muise et le chanteur Robert Sylvain, continuent la musique de leurs ancêtres. Ils représentent une génération d’Acadiens du Maine qui veut honorer nos traditions, le même espoir trouver l’esprit nouveau d’Acadie aux Nouvelle Angleterre. Ils jouent les airs tordus, les complaintes anciennes, et les chansons folklorique et originelles, en Français, Anglais et Franglais. Ils ont joué sur la scène principale du CMA 2014 à Madawaska avec la groupe Boréal Tordu, qui a représenté les Franco-Américains dans le compilation “Des voix s’élèvants” organisé par Zachary Richard pour Le Centre de la francophonie des Amériques.
Don Roy‘s music is deeply rooted in the Franco-American tradition. From an early age, he absorbed the music that was played and enjoyed by his family. Don’s grandparents immigrated to southern Maine during the first half of the twentieth century, as did many other Quebecois families, in order to find work in local industries. Here, they formed a close-knit community that was bound by shared language, experience, faith, and music. Don evinced an interest in music at an early age; his uncle Norman Mathieu began teaching him the guitar at age six, and soon Don was playing along with other musicians at his family’s house parties.
Don met his future wife and musical partner Cindy LaBrecque in 1980; they were married in 1981. Cindy is also a musician who grew up immersed in the melodies and rhythms of Franco-American music; her grandparents came to Maine from Prince Edward Island. She has been a highly skilled stepdancer in the Franco-American tradition since her early years. Although she–like Don–began to play music on the guitar, she quickly turned to piano. Her accompaniment is fluid and rhythmic and provides a perfect foil to Don’s virtuosic fiddling.
In 1988, Don gathered Cindy and other family members and friends to form the Maine French Fiddlers. This band took the distinctive Franco-American sound to a national audience. It was featured in a number of notable venues, including the Maine Festival, the National Folk Festival, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and Wolf Trap. The band appeared on “Prairie Home Companion” radio shows that were broadcast from Portland, Maine, and Mansfield, Massachusetts. Don led the Maine French Fiddlers on two successful “French Connections” tours through New England and Louisiana.
Dancing will be called and led by Cindy Larock. Cindy is a Dance instructor/caller, specializing in contras-for-beginners (both New England and French Canadian), Quebecois step dancing, ballroom (waltz, polka, tango), swing (classic East Coast) and Cajun (jitterbug, two-step and waltz). Also serves as an enthusiastic matchmaker for any number of folk music/dance artists and venues.
For more information or to reserve your seat, contact the Franco Center at 207-689-2000 or www.francocenter.org/shows. If you have questions about disability access or need to request disability accommodations, please contact the Franco Center. Requests should be made as soon as possible to allow sufficient time for the accommodation process.