PEIThe 54th annual Acadian festival in Évangéline brought together both English and French speakers together this weekend to celebrate culture and Island agriculture as Acadian heritage month wraps up.Event highlights Acadian culture and Island agricultureRyan McKellop · CBC News · Posted: Aug 31, 2025 9:46 AM EDT | Last Updated: 4 hours agoEric Richard, president of the Acadian Festival in Évangéline, says the event brought English and French speakers together over the weekend. (Delaney Kelly/CBC)The 54th annual Acadian festival in Évangéline brought English and French speakers together this weekend in Abram-Village, P.E.I., to celebrate culture and Island agriculture as Acadian heritage month wraps up.Festival president Eric Richard said the festival provides an important focus on agriculture.”Without the farmers, there’s a lot of stuff that’s going to be missing,” he said.He said there may be a language barrier for English speakers who visit, but they still enjoy the Acadian culture.”A lot of the music and the songs that came down from generation to generation, that’s all French and we’re trying to keep promoting that Acadian French culture,” he said.”We see a lot of English people that come to the show, and they just tap their feet and clap their hands and they like the music. They don’t understand a word that they’re saying on the stage, but they just love the music.”Lilly Mallett says eight calves were selected to go to a Royal Youth Fair taking place in Ontario. (Delaney Kelly/CBC)Lilly Mallett was in attendance for the provincial fair, which was selecting calves to go to the Royal Youth Fair in Ontario.Mallett isn’t a French speaker, but she said events like these are ways she can learn more about the culture.”It’s super fun to kind of learn about it and see all the fun traditions here,” she said.She said it’s important for Islanders to know how much agriculture means to the Island.”I mean we’re Canada’s food Island, agriculture is a huge part of that,” she said.She said it’s nice to see how events can bring people together, overcoming language barriers.”It’s super cool how it brings together two parts, like two languages of the Island,” she said.ABOUT THE AUTHORRyan McKellop is a graduate of the Holland College Journalism program and a web writer at CBC P.E.I.With files from Delaney Kelly
Évangéline’s Acadian Festival brings together English, French speakers for celebrations
