Don Levesque new president of regional committee for Le Congrès Mondial Acadien

GRAND ISLE - On Tuesday evening, a group of unanimous men and women chose Don Levesque to be president of the Maine Regional Coordinating Committee of the 2014 World Acadian Congress/ Le Congrès Mondial Acadien (CMA).

DON LEVESQUE

Levesque is this year's Maine Press Association Hall of Fame honoree and former St. John Valley Times Publisher.  He is a long-time advocate of  the Acadian culture.  Levesque was a member of the original provisional planning committee that gained approval last year to host the congress in this region.

Levesque accepted the position and began guiding the committee to address many issues.

Speaking at the Grand Isle Community Center, Levesque noted he is the third president of the committee, and he said the group is experiencing growing pains.

He said one of the first things the group must do is hire an experienced event planner to begin full-time preparation for the multifaceted celebration, which will occur in August, four years from now.

In an interview after the Tuesday meeting, Levesque said the planning committee faces a variety of challenges but the greatest challenge, said Levesque, "I think is going to be raising the money."

He said that U.S. Senator Susan Collins was instrumental in arranging for a million dollars in monies for the project, but that the money was as yet unavailable and not quite half of what planners estimate it will eventually cost.

Until money is available, the committee must postpone some of its plans, such as hiring personnel.

During the meeting, Levesque said the decision makers in the Acadia of the Lands and Forests were looking at different options to raise an additional million dollars, including asking each town in the region to pay $1 per person, seeking state funds, and searching for sponsors.

He said, "Our partners in Canada have a huge advantage.  The (Canadian) government supports cultural projects."

This is not the case in the United States.

Levesque said the CMA is a world class event which will attract 20,000-50,000 people to this region.

He said that the 2009 CMA attracted over 30,000 people to the region around the village of Caraquet, NB.  "Caraquet is smaller than Madawaska."

The long-term impact will echo for years afterward.  He said that this month, 20,000 people returned to Caraquet for huge concerts and festivals that originated out of the 2009 CMA.

Levesque said, "Right now we need awareness, we need to tell people what this is."

The World Acadian Congress is a festival of Acadian culture and history, held every four years.  First started in 1994 by André Boudreau (1945 - 2005), the congress consists of a two-week celebration.  During the celebration Acadian descendents will gather for reunions, attend musical concerts and theatrical productions, and participate in academic conferences and debates.

Along with a wide array of entertaining events, the attendees will address issues of economics, culture, issues of Acadian women, genealogy, genetics and language.

Levesque, a composer and fan of many musical genres, compared the two-week celebration to the Phish concerts that once occurred at the Loring Air Force Base, "...but we want a little less nudity and drugs."

Levesque sees the CMA as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the entire region.  "I don't want to see it fail.  I would love to see this as a catalyst for development for The Valley."

Levesque speaks of people going to the White Mountains, not a particular town in that region.  He describes vacationers heading off to Cabot's Trail, rather than a single village along the trail.  All of the towns in those regions benefit from that type of geographic awareness.  He said he wants people to think of the Acadia of the Land and Forest in the same way and for all the towns and villages to gain advantages from that awareness.

"I would love for that to be the legacy of Le Congrès Mondial Acadien."