Frog Follies celebrated 54 years of jumping frogs this weekend, and it was one for the books!
They had lots going on including kid's activities, wrestling, food, a market, and of course, frog jumping.
Roxanne Gagne, committee president shares the beginning of Frog Follies.
“The festival started in 1970, the Frog Follies. This was with Queen Elizabeth, who’d come in for the Queen’s Jubilee Tour. They were doing a tour of Manitoba, and the Queen was coming for a visit, and she came to St Pierre-Joly. This was one of her stops because it was very Francophone and the center of Canada, that’s where it all began.”
Each year, they host a frog jumping championship which is incredibly fun to watch and a highlight at Frog Follies.
“Frog jumping is a thing that we do in a fun, competitive way, where we have a frog catcher who goes out, catches frogs. He spends time and energy in all those ditches, and he finds the best, juicy frogs and brings them to the festival. He looks after them, he feeds them, gives them nutrients, and keeps them very well taken care of. Then we get the kids to jump them, and we have a little competition which is fun. Three jumps to see how far they can go.”
Many of the kids had different techniques that were passed down from generations of frog jumping champions.
Gagne says it was a busy weekend with lots of fun activities and the live entertainment in the evenings was a great way to end each day.
“The weekend was really terrific. We had a superb show yesterday. We had Don Amero on stage last night, that was amazing. It was just next level having him here, really solidified our festival. We had the Barn Boys playing as well, so, it’s really been a lot of people all weekend, steady. It’s been wonderful.”
She says they have a committee of seven and around 15 volunteers who help put on the event, and it wouldn’t be possible without them.
“What would we do without the people that help us? There are so many little things that you don’t think about when you’re organizing a festival, and it’s just those little things. You’ve got people that when they’re on the ball, everything works and it’s like a well-oiled machine. I’m very grateful for all the help that we’ve had this year.”
Frog Follies will be back next year to celebrate 55 years, and Gagne says they are already looking forward to the fun!
“Please don’t forget us next year! Second weekend in August, every year from now on. We’d love to see you out!”
@steinbach_online Frog Jumping Championships at #frogfollies in St. Pierre! #frogs#fun#festival#wendys#suys ♬ original sound - SteinbachOnline