In early August 2024, the Festival of the Acadian Community of Torbé, in the Tor Bay region of the eastern tip of mainland Nova Scotia, was another great success. Created in 2005 as an annual cultural celebration, this Acadian festival is the first project shared by the four villages of Port Felix, Larry’s River, Charlos Cove and Lundy that make up the Acadian community. Proof of the historical importance of the Tor Bay, it has borne the name of Savalette, a Basque cod captain who distinguished himself at this place, long before the arrival of the first settlers in 1797 in the region. And while the Savalette Festival now brings together all Acadian families in Larry’s River, celebrating their shared history and culture, the 2024 edition has brought, with its motto “Past, Present, Future”, a new glimmer of hope for the future…
Past, present, future
Since 2017, the festival’s opening ceremony has been held at Place Savalette, in Port Felix, a square that was transformed into a National Historic Site two years later. Interpretive panels recall that in the summer of 1607, Samuel de Champlain and Marc Lescarbot, sailing from Port-Royal to Canso, met Captain Savalette who was drying and preserving cod in Tor Bay. The latter had received them at its home port located on or near the Port Felix site. They had been delighted by the Basque captain’s hospitality, and Champlain, impressed by his familiarity with the dangerous waters of the bay and his good relations with the Micmacs, had named the place Port Savalette on his charts. With such human qualities, how can we not approve of an Acadian festival bearing the name of Savalette.
After creating the Savalette Festival in 2005, the very young Société Acadienne de Torbé then carried out two other projects that were close to its heart, still in Larry’s River. This is how the Parc de Nos Ancêtres was built in 2007 and an “Acadian Hall” (resource centre) in 2011. But above all, another of his projects was carried out in September 2023, undoubtedly even more promising. Ecole acadienne Belle-Baie opened its doors in Larry’s River and welcomed its first 16 students. It is now to be hoped that the very touristic historic pedestrian bridge that children use to cross the river, currently damaged, will soon be saved. In any case, the Acadians of Torbé are counting heavily on their new school to raise the use of French, which has been penalized by assimilation and has become a very small minority in their municipality [1].
Header image: Place Savalette, Port Felix (Photo Steve Stoessel, HMdb.org).
For more details, see Jean-Pierre Bernier’s original article TORBÉ va de l’avant en Acadie (in French).
Author: Jean-Marc Agator
Paris Region, France.
[1] Only 3.2% on average of the 4585 inhabitants of the District Municipality of Guysborough are able to conduct a conversation in both official languages (Statistics Canada 2021).