The Quebec Carnival was finally launched, despite the cold weather in the Old Capital on Saturday.
The opening of the sites had been postponed until 2 p.m. because of the extreme cold.
“Being the first to look forward to celebrating with you, we understand your great disappointment. It is a decision of the head, and not of the heart”, indicate the organizers of the event on the Facebook page of the carnival.
The festivities were to begin on Friday, but the opening had been postponed for a day, first to Saturday 10 a.m., due to the extreme cold that settled in the province on Friday.
We felt -48 degrees Celsius in the Old Capital on Saturday morning, around 5 a.m., taking into account the wind factor, and the mercury should rise to -26, or -40 degrees Celsius with the wind factor, around 10 a.m., according to Environment Canada forecasts.
The temperature will gradually rise during the day to reach -19 degrees Celsius in the middle of the afternoon, -30 with the wind factor, still according to Environment Canada forecasts, but the day of Sunday should be much more comfortable with an announced maximum of -8 degrees.
In interview at The Canadian Press Thursday, the director general of the Carnaval de Québec, Marie-Ève Jacob, spoke of “truly exceptional circumstances”.
She explained the decision to postpone the one-day event for “the safety of carnival goers”, but also of the field teams “who would be exposed to dangerous cold temperatures”.
The organization said it was convinced of making the right decision “to avoid frostbite and injuries”.
According to Ms. Jacob, there have been three or four occasions when sites were closed due to storms, ice storms or extreme cold in the past 20 years.
“At Carnival as we like to say we are stronger than fret, but smarter than extreme cold,” Ms. Jacob said in announcing the postponement of the official opening.
The Limoilou night parade took place as planned on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. followed by the post-parade.
However, the “Franco Videotron” evening featuring Ariane Moffatt and Alfa Rococo had to be canceled due to extreme cold.
“The party will still be there! Indeed, DJ Dave Summit will be on stage from 9:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. to get all the Carnival fans dancing and DJ Kayliox will be with us from 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. to warm up the crowd! wrote the organization on its social networks.
The “Électro Frette” evening, which was to be held on Friday, has been moved to Sunday evening, at 7 p.m.
The Carnaval de Québec takes place until February 12.