This weekend marks the first of several for Le Village illuminé Desjardins in Drummondville, a Christmas village decked out in 25,000 lights less than an hour and a half outside Montreal.
Beginning on the weekend of December 4 and 5 from 6pm to 10pm—followed by the weekend of December 11 to 12 and the period of December 18 to January 2, 2021 (excluding Christmas Day and New Year's Day—the village is filling its streets with a lot to do, see, eat and drink.
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While each house is decking out their exteriors in decorations, the site will be equipped with open fireplaces for relaxing by with hot cocoa for the kids and mulled wine for adults, free sleigh rides, a general store selling snacks and gift ideas, a shop selling old-fashioned donuts (fun fact: they're made from potatoes), and a Christmas market full of all kinds of stuff that ranges from soaps, chocolates and crafts to artwork made from recycled goods.
All activities are going to be held outside in order to follow health regulations.
Tickets for entry are free for kids two years old and under, $15 for kids aged 3 to 12, $16.09 for teenagers aged 13 to 17, $20 for adults 18 years or older, plus $50 for family tickets of two adults plus their kids. All those prices don't include taxes, though.
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To top it all off, the village is selling traditional holiday meals in the form of boxed lunches that can be reserved and picked up at the ticket office during opening hours. All you need to do is bring it home and prepare the meal that's been made according to historical recipes.
If none of this is ringing a bell for you, Le Village illuminé Desjardins is a holiday event that's part of the Village Québécois d’Antan, a village built in 1977 by the historian Claude Verrier to recreate Québecois heritage, habits, customs, folklore, period clothing, means of transportation, and more.
Even if heritage villages like this one aren't your usual cup of tea, the sheer Christmas-y vibe of it all should be enough to get you in the holiday mood.
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