Igloofest, the outdoor electronic dance party in Montreal’s Old Port, is up and running for the next four weekends. This is the 11th annual edition, and this year the unseasonably mild temperatures are making conditions a little more interesting.
“You need to freeze a bit!”
Nicolas Cournoyer is the co-founder and executive producer of Igloofest. He says the mild weather is no blessing. There’s a lot of ice sculptures and pieces of ice they use to set up bars on the site. Much of this is threatened when the temperature edges up over zero day after day.
“You need to freeze a bit! he says. “The best temperature is in between minus 5 C and minus 10 that’s perfect.” Even better is a little bit of snow, that adds to the magic of the atmosphere as it falls through the pulsing light shows.
ListenCournoyer and his team had already had great success with the original summer version of the festival known as Piknic Électronik. Started in 2003, it was established out of a love for electronic music and a desire to take it outside, out of the dark clubs, and celebrate during the summer.
Montrealers and summer visitors flocked to the event with crowds of over 100,000 people over the last few summers. Now they’ve exported the idea and there are versions of Piknic Électronik in Barclona, Lisbon, Dubai, and Melbourne, Australia, to name a few.
As for the winter experience, in 2006 Cournoyer, acknowledging the craziness of the idea, suggested a winter version. “It was a guess.” he says when asked how he knew people would come out.
“You want to feel the winter spirit, you want to go out and play with the snow”
“We’re professional at complaining about the weather… especially the winter!” he says. “What we wanted at first, was to give them a good reason to go outside and enjoy the winter”
That first year it was just two nights over a single weekend, but they had 2,000 people each night. Unlike the summer, however, winter weather can play havoc.
He remembers an occasion when the mercury plummeted to minus 40 C. “The colder it is the tougher it is for our employees.” But the festival goes on. “You want to feel the winter spirit, you want to go out and play with the snow” Cournoyer says. “Any night you come you will dance for sure.”
The team would like to expand to other nordic countries, but special events have kept them busy. Last year was the celebration of their 10th anniversary, this year is the 375th anniversary of the city of Montreal.
In the meantime, people continue to enjoy the fun of being outside in their winter-wear, wrapped up in hats, mittens and scarves, when needed, and finding themselves dancing in warm boots, and having a great time.
For reasons beyond our control, and for an undetermined period of time, our comment section is now closed. However, our social networks remain open to your contributions.