The sound of sleigh bells, a crackling fire and the aroma of hot maple syrup.
It was École Père Mercure's Carnaval d'Hiver this past Friday night. Students, staff and family braved the chill winds to celebrate winter with a taste of some traditional French cultural winter activities.
A potluck supper, horse and wagon rides, warming up to a fire and eating homemade maple syrup candy were highlights of the event.
Taking part in French cultural activities is part of the program at École Père Mercure. Students and their families agree to embrace the culture when they enrol.
The school is conducted in the French language, with other language classes, including English, as part of the program. It has become the centre of a community of not only French speaking families, but new residents of the community whose first language is not English.
It has had lean years, in terms of students. But in the last several terms, has grown to become a K-12 school boasting more than 50 students.
École Pere Mercure began operation in 1991. It was set up in the Don Ross Centre and operated there for about eight years, until the Catholic school board shut down St. Joseph's school at 1881-99th St. and it became available for purchase by Saskatchewan's Francophone school division, Conseil des école fransaskoises.
Like Francophone schools throughout the province, École Père Mercure focuses not only on the academic, but French culture as well. In addition, the school is following the process of becoming an International Baccalaureate (IB) school.
