Luminous trail highlights Acadian history and culture

Combining culture and history with light and sound, Akadi Lumina is bringing an immersive experience as it showcases Acadian people.

“This is a whole new way of telling our story,” said le Pays de la Sagouine co-executive director and artist director, Monique Poirier.

The new experience is a 1.5 kilometre trail that visitors can only experience after the dark.

“This was a game changing experience for le Pays de la Sagouine. We’ve been in operation for 31 years and we were at a point where we knew we needed to have something new, something different, something to attract new audiences to excite the audiences that we already have,” said Poirier.

She says it is part of a larger project that will allow le Pays de la Sagouine to continue to grow.

It was created by Montreal multimedia entertainment studio, Moment Factory and it’s the first luminous walk on the east coast and only the 18th that the company has created in total.

“We wanted something that Acadians could identify with and we wanted something that anybody whose not Acadian, whose Anglophone, who has no idea about the Acadian culture, could come and could do this experience and have a feeling that they connected with something new,” she said.

Adding, “what I’m particularly proud about, Moment Factory shared with us that this is the first enchanted night walk that had so many collaborators in the project. So there are many many Acadian artists from New Brunswick, from Nova Scotia, from PEI who worked on this.”

Poirier says the night walk is filled with nine different zones and each one brings something different, whether that be something to listen to, something to see or something to watch.

The entire experience takes at least 60 minutes to complete with each zone played in a loop so that people can experience it at their own pace.

“Moment Factory really gave us the space for us to tell the Acadian story, share about the Acadian project and what we’re all about and they gave us the technology, the tools, the platform so we could shine like we can’t shine yet,” said Poirier.

Akadi Lumina opened at the beginning of August and while it surrounds Acadian culture and history, it is designed to be relatable to everyone.

“I can’t imagine a single person walking through the 1.5 km trail and not experiencing a wave of emotions and feelings,” said Crystal Richard, the East Coast Mermaid.

She has already been through the experience three times and says that she took something new away each time.

“There’s parts that talk about the Acadian expulsion, and as an Acadian, experiencing a zone that’s meant to feel like you were going through that experience that our ancestors did, with your spouse and if someone’s there with their children, and getting that feeling of what it might have been like to be torn a part, that’s heavy,” she said.

“It’s an emotional experience for any Acadian, but I think for someone who’s not Acadian, experiencing that, it gives them an idea of what we went through.”

While careful not to give too much away, Richard says there’s also parts of the experience that are unique to New Brunswick and Atlantic Canada such as a fricot recipe scene.

“In this day in age we’re so busy, right? We spend so much time online and we’re running from work, we’re taking kids off to all of there activities and I think it’s important to slow down,” she said.

“I think it’s important to get out in nature, so this experience, you get to do all of that. You slow down, you experience the zones, you’re out in nature, you’re hearing all the different sounds of Lumina, but then you’re also hearing the sounds of nature around you.”

Officials say that guests are let into the trail in 15 minute intervals. There’s also a gathring area at the end that has a fire place, chairs and a bar so that people can make the most of their visit.

“I’ve got tons of followers that have said to me ‘we rebooked our trip to Bouctouche so that we would be able to be here when Akadi Lumina is open,’ which is really awesome,” said Richard.

“Just this morning I saw people on social media, who have already been and experienced it, trying to get tickets for sold out evenings because they want to go again.”

The trail is open until October 14th and will reopen again next year at the end of May.

More information and tickets can be found here: https://sagouine.com/en/lumina

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