Canadiana Fest Kalamazoo

Polli Poutine joins us to represent this iconic Canadian comfort food! Lansing, MI artist Tony Steele, who also created Kalam A. Moose, drew this up for us, and we all con-curd that he was poutine on a great character here. The fact that you’ll be able to buy a t-shirt with her on it is just gravy!

When you come to the Fest, we’ll give you a Poutine Passport. When you sample each of the poutines on offer, you’ll get a button that says WORLD CHAMPINE POUTINE COMPETITION CANADIANA FEST 2024 AND I Eh’T ‘EM ALL!

Isn’t this a beauty? If you know of places we can leave a poster, let us know here or email us at canadianafest@gmail.com.

We have a winner in our Name That Moose contest! We had a lot of funny, creative, and sometimes ribald entries, but Janet Nykaza dropped Kalam A. Moose on us, and we loved it! She’ll be attending the Fest in grand style with two VIP tickets. Honourable mention goes to Erin Dougherty Kash who gave us Callum and Kallum, so we’re setting her up with a pair of adult tickets. Our thanks to all who participated!

The festival is the brainchild of local chef, food writer, and event creator Channon Russette-Mondoux and will be held at the Arcadia Creek Festival Place in downtown Kalamazoo on Saturday, October 7. She tells how the event got started here:

“When the pandemic hit, my sister and I were flying back from a vacation together. We parted at the airport, she went back to Windsor and I went on to Kalamazoo where I’ve been living for nearly 20 years. That was the last time I saw her or anyone I knew in Canada for nearly 3  years. My heart was broken. I missed my home, my friends, my family, my country. During that time many people expressed how much they loved Canada too. And so, as the pandemic began to wane I realized, I never wanted to not celebrate my native home again and thought that the world really does need more Canada!”

Fondly known as The Canadiana FestEH!val, the event was born of that missing home feeling of IF YOU CAN’T BRING THE GIRL TO CANADA, BRING CANADA TO THE GIRL! The festival will bring the Canadian values of music, food, culture, love and kindness to benefit two local charities that fight hunger and food insecurity and provide educational scholarships to students in the hospitality and culinary field.  

The Southern Michigan Food Bank has grown from a small group of people believing in this mission to an organization that reaches thousands of people each year. They partner with 300+ agencies over eight Michigan counties to make sure that everyone has access to the nutrition they need to succeed.

The Chef and Cooks Association of Kalamazoo/Battle Creek (CCA KZ/BC) provides financial scholarships for culinary students, industry training for cooks and chefs, educational opportunities, and supports other organizations in our community