Montmartre… are you ready for a lot of loving? For its very important 80 year anniversary edition, the Fete des Vendanges in Montmartre is celebrating love from October 9th to 13th. Five days of two of my favorite things in the world: wine and amour! There is no question that there will be a copious amount of the former… but what about the latter? Read on about the festival and partaking in the fun with together.
Since moving to Paris, I’ve always loved the Montmartre harvest festival and every year it gets bigger and better organized (I’m really sure if this is a good or bad thing). Ambling around La Butte you’ll find wine stands from different regions offering up reasonably priced glasses of vin accompanied by various gastronomic vendors to cushion the wine consumption.
What’s Love got to do with it? Every year the theme of the festival changes. I do have to say the past few years have been particularly odd, such as 2011 which celebrating “the Islands”… hmmm I don’t know what they have to do with either Montmartre or wine, therefore, even if this year’s theme is a tad corny at least there are some vague links. As you have helped me prove in our Romantic Montmartre story of a few weeks ago, Montmartre is indeed a love inspiring place! Besides the amorous setting of the area, there is no question that enjoying wine can lead to love or really vice versa.
What gets me is the program. This is a full five day festival. No, they aren’t promoting a little verre de vin with your breakfast croissant, there are actually activities for kids during the day… I’m all for promoting love and wine, yet this might be better directed at adults than elementary school students. The first day, they are gathering 600 students together for an afternoon on the “little factors of love,” the second day gets even grander with 700 students singing love songs! L’Amour partout!
Saturday afternoon always hosts the parade, in all honesty, I went the first year I visited the festival around 12 years ago and have never bothered to repeat standing around watching marching wine dignitaries, I’d rather sample their wares, however, I can see how that might still be fun and who knows how they are going to work the love theme into the costumes and songs? Same goes for the fireworks in that evening. There are many other interesting events including other concerts, a few art exhibits and miscellaneous events. I’m a little miffed I wasn’t invited to host a dating event, but oh well, there’s always in 2033 when they host the 100 year anniversary, the Love theme might return 😉
Instead, my challenge this year is to go out seeking all signs of love and maybe even find some personally myself… We’d love to see any photos or stories you have about this year or previous years’ at the festival! post them the comments below or to the facebook wall. The best representation of love will win a free copy of Je T’Aime , Me Neither!
All we need is amour! Enjoy!
