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From wrestling to frog jumping, there was no shortage of activities in St. Pierre on Sunday.
The three-day St. Pierre Frog Follies and Agricultural Fair happened at Carillon Park this weekend.
President Roxanne Gagne explains that the origins of their 53-year-old festival were frogs and royalty.
In 1970, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles went on a tour of rural Manitoba and stopped by St. Pierre due to its large French population, which was 80 per cent.
“Now back then, they used to call French people frogs because of the fact that they eat frog legs,” Gagne explains. “I don't know why. It's a negative connotation, but we took it, and we ran with it and turned it into something fun. So, we created the frog jumping competition for the Queen 53 years ago, and it's become our annual festival.”
This year’s frog jumping championships featured contestants, including St. Pierre Mayor Raymond Maynard and local athlete Brooke Peloquin, who came with new hardware from the 2023 North American Indigenous Games, where she competed in swimming. Competitors chose between frogs found at the Maplewood Golf Course or ones from on the Main St. of Otterburne.
The youngest contestant was Colton, and his frog Rufus jumped 11 ft, which crowned him this year’s frog jumping champion. When the results were revealed, the crowd roared and gathered around him to share their congratulations.
“I am excited,” Colton says about winning the contest.
This year, the Frog Follies and Ag Fair decided to join forces. Gagne says it was “the best thing” they could have done and adds the Stand Market and Events have also helped with the fair.
“We had such great feedback and positive feedback. The site's been packed all weekend long, which is so different than previous years, especially following the pandemic. It's nice to see people are waking up from that now and just kind of, ‘Let's get back out there and enjoy our communities.’” she says.
Finally, she thanks the community for their presence.
“We're so grateful for everybody who's come out,” she says. “The hundreds and thousands of people that showed up here this weekend, we're just super grateful.”
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Check out the photos and video from Sunday's St. Pierre Frog Follies and Agricultural Fair:
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@steinbach_online Frog action at this year’s St. Pierre Frog Follies and Ag Fair 🐸 #frogs #manitoba #stpierre #fair #summer #fyp ♬ original sound - SteinbachOnline