The city of Edmundston hosted the 28th annual Salon de la Forêt, drawing an all-ages crowd of nearly 8,000 to the St-Jacques Palladium May 20-22.
The event provided fun activities for the whole family, including a live chainsaw carving, an indoor zipline, trout fishing and a lumberjack competition. Maple taffy samples were served on snow that had been refrigerated for two months prior to the event.
Anne Lebrun, a major sponsor for Salon de la Forêt, said the event offers great opportunities for networking.
“The best thing is when the schools come because they bring their parents,” she said. “You have the typical people that will come like contractors, but when the kids bug their parents to come back you can have good conversations with them and they’re legitimately interested.”
Lebrun says the event is a chance to raise awareness of issues facing the forestry sector and to discuss these issues with accurate, relevant facts. With many misconceptions surrounding forest management and harvesting practices in the province, it is important the public has access to proper facts regarding these topics.
Executive Director of Forest NB, Mike Legere, said the event is important because it allows the public to relate to members of the forest industry on a personal level.
“The public puts a face to the forestry sector, and it personifies the industry. It shows that the industry is made up of men and women like them who work hard, are dedicated and share similar interests as they do,” he said. “It’s a fun couple days of activities.”
Forest NB partnered up with the local outdoors shop Pronature Edmundston to run a tree-planting competition for a chance to win a $400 gift card to the store.
To be eligible for the prize, contestants must submit a photo of their tree being planted and ‘like’ the Forest NB Facebook page by August 31st. A random draw will decide the winner.
