Montreal is a small island (some compare the city to a mini-New York), so all the excitement of spicy city life is concentrated here.
Sometimes, like now in spring, we find ourselves hanging around the edges of community garden gates and spending (almost) too much time in Montreal’s public markets, inhaling the scent of aromatic herbs, regional cheese and admiring the perfectly distressed denim of farmers as we buy a kilo of pesticide-free radishes.
A 45-minute drive from the city, in Montérégie, you can spend time in a municipality that lovingly preserves village life in a small community, and breathe in the countryside.
Calixa-Lavallée
Calixa-Lavallée is a small parish municipality located on the Montérégie agricultural plain. It’s set back from the river on Montreal’s South Shore.
The municipality is so close to the city that some sources refer to it as a Montreal suburb .
It is named in honor of the French-Canadian composer of the same name, Calixa Lavallée (1842-1891 ), who was born in the area and is known, among other things, for composing the Canadian national anthem Ô Canada!…
Calixa-Lavallée’s motto is“Living small in a big world” and, like the rest of the region, the municipality has preserved its small-town feel with a delightful gentleness .
It’s the kind of place where, every time you go there, you spend a lot of time in front of the real estate windows. We could move here, open a café-gallery-concert hall and adopt fifteen goats, couldn’t we?
Walks in the village and on the plain
The municipality boasts some 30 houses, including well-preserved ancestral stone homes, and is surrounded by fields of corn, soybeans, alfalfa and forage plants as far as the eye can see.
With farms to visit in and around the municipality, it’s a perfect cocktail for bike touring.
For example, we recommend the Circuit de l’Aubergiste , which passes through 6 villages in the area, including the very popular Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu. See the circuit here!
If you prefer to do your own touring, we recommend a few stops;
- Verger Lavallée for apples
- at La Bleuetière for pick-your-own blueberries (between late July and late August)
- at Pâtisserie de la Maison de Pierre
Calixa-Lavallée agricultural show, every July
July 4, 5 and 6 marks the 145th edition of this agricultural show.
On the program: méchoui, animal judging (goats, horses, cows), spaghetti supper, demolition derby…
It’s the hottest agricultural event of the season, and since Montrealers always know the hotspot of the day, they also know when to head to the regions to experience the best – and make guilis-guilis under the chin to the region’s sweetest goats.
Tickets:
1-day admission, $25
weekend admission. 65$
free for children 12 and under
For the full program and advance tickets, click here!
Staying the weekend?
If Calixa-Lavallée is a road-trip we recommend for those who want to spend a day in the countryside, it’s because it’s so close to Montreal.
The more sporty will even go straight to biking (those who have the complete kit with the water bottle clipped under the handlebars and the very, very tight shorts, obligatorily neon or printed with an 80s design).
But we still want to make a plan to stay overnight, in case we want to take our time and spend a few days in the area.
There’s no hotel in Calixa-Lavallée, but the nearest is the riverside gîte La Belle aux Berges , in Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu – and it’s also a country-style eatery. For reservations and more info, click here!
Enjoy your visit!