Cultural Heritage Tourism Handbook - LinkBC

New Brunswick ShowcaseOriginally developed as an article by Alec Bruce and published in Atlantic Business Magazine, adapted with permission from the authorA Celebration Invites Visitors to Join InVision, however, prevailed over scepticism, and today thesummer-long celebration of Acadian culture and humouris a vital economic anchor for this part of the province. Thelive performances are based entirely on novelist AntonineMaillet’s celebrated 1971 book La Sagouine, which consistsof 16 monologues delivered by a female protagonist sharingher insights on raising a brood during the Dirty Thirties.Through performances, dinner theatre and other experiencesall inspired by Maillet’s writing, visitors are now encouragedto “discover an Acadian cultural destination presenting ourartists and artisans, our music, our culture and history, ourtraditional cuisine and fresh sea foods—and our joie devivre!” The community also adds appeal to prospective LePays visitors by promoting the natural attractions of thesurrounding area. Its website boasts “with its wide-openspaces, silken shores, wind-swept sand and waterways toonumerous to count, Bouctouche is an ecological paradisewhere the air is clean and nature unspoiled.”“We get anywhere from 55,000 to 85,000 visitors a year, fromall over the region, Quebec and even the United States,” saysthe event’s director, Marie-France Doucet. “Certainly a lotof bed and breakfasts, motels and inns have been built toaccommodate the people who come. And other tourismattractions, such as the Irving Eco-centre, were actuallycreated since Le Pays.”Le Pays de la Sagouine – fromZero to Community HeroAcadian Theatre Performance Starts with a ControversyA once-controversial cultural endeavour is now a revered celebrationof Acadian heritage and an economic mainstay of the small town ofBouctouche, on New Brunswick’s Northumberland shore. It’s hard toimagine now, but one of New Brunswick’s most popular and successfulcultural and tourist attractions, Le Pays de la Sagouine, almost endedbefore it began. That was in 1992, when some local community leaderstook umbrage to the way the event portrayed the Acadian heroineas poor and uneducated. Others thought the proposed new culturaltourism amenity would steal business away from other hospitalityenterprises in town.Resistance Turns to SupportIndeed, according to a 2007 online article by Erin Schultzand Paul LeBlanc, the site’s former director, “the developmentof Le Pays de la Sagouine has had a profound impacton the community of Bouctouche and the province ofNew Brunswick. A recent economic impact study foundthat, as one of the most prominent tourist attractions inthe province, the waterfront site and its attractions havecontributed significantly to the economic growth of theentire region. Everything in the town has come to revolvearound La Sagouine. Before Le Pays de la Sagouine was built,there were perhaps a handful of bed and breakfasts in theentire town, but now there are dozens. Other significanttourist attractions have also opened in the region. Businessowners, who were initially concerned over the constructionof a competing business area, now credit the site for theirincreased success.”Since its founding in 1992, Bouctouche, N.B.’s seasonal theatrical production, Le Pays de la Sagouine, hasbecome an economic mainstay for the entire region, drawing 55,000 to 85,000 visitors a year.Making University ConnectionsMoreover, Schultz and LeBlanc reported, “Le Pays de la Sagouinealso provides summer employment to approximately 150 peopleevery year. The facility has developed a close relationship with thenearby University of Moncton, which provides an excellent sourceof seasonal employees. A number of art and theatre students spendtheir summers working at Le Pays de la Sagouine, practicing theirtrade and gaining valuable experience, and many of the actorscontinue to work there after graduation. Thirty or 40 additional staff,many also students, are hired in the food and beverage facilities oras interpreters and guides.”Facilities and Offerings ExpandLe Pays’ offerings include theatres, a canteen, a gift shop, a dinnervenue, and most crucially actress Viola Léger as La Sagouine, and atroupe of eight comedians in a tale of resilience and adaptability. Theattraction has proven equally resilient. In 2008, its restaurant burneddown and was rebuilt. Yet, says Doucet, “Last year, we doubled thenumber of bus tours. We also started a show in English which playsevery Sunday evening. We now have a lot of Anglophones, and weoffer English-language tours.”Le Pays is now a community-based cultural/heritage tourism institutionwith an annual operating budget of some $3 million (65% isgenerated by the facilities; the rest comes from private sponsorshipand government grants). It remains an indefatigable part of thebroader provincial community—something its early detractors,now fans, would never have imagined.Find out more:www.sagouine.com82 83