From February 21 until March 2, 2008 Montreal's 9th annual High Lights Festival takes place at select venues across the city including Old Montreal, the Old Port, the Plateau, downtown and the Jean Talon Market. The three main segments of the festival include culture, cuisine and the closing All Nighter party.
Although many events are free, tickets are required for others.
Telephone: 514 288-9955 or 1 888 477-9955
Downtown, at the Desjardins Complex, visitors can sample and buy 50 Quebec cheeses and meet local producers at the free “Festival of Our Cheeses” from February 21 to 23 and February 28 to March 1.
Local cheeses are paired with wines from this year’s spotlight country, Chile, on Friday, February 22 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Montréal Science Centre. Tickets are only $20.00.
On February 23 and 24, the Jean Talon Market (Jean Talon metro) hosts Quebec City food producers with free demonstrations and tastings of local meats, wines, preserves and other goodies.
For only $11.95 festival goers can lunch around the world sampling food from Vietnam, the Middle East, Morocco, Iran, India, Mexico and Italy. The participating downtown restaurants include: Byblos, Le Petit Café, La Khaïma, Prato Pizzeria & Café, Rumi, Douro, Kashmir, Casa de Matéo and Ong Câ Cân.
The big draw from the cultural events section of the Highlights Festival is Montreal's contemporary dance diva, Margie Gillis. She has just added a second show of her world premiere, "M.Body.7" on March 1 in addition to the February 29th performance at the Theater Maisonneuve.
At the same venue catch Eva Yerbabuenca, the European flamenco star who presents her ballet flamenco, “Santo y Senia" on Wednesday, February 20.
Other cultural highlights include,”Houdini, the Musical“ running every evening except Friday until March 2 at the Segal Center for the Performing Arts .
The festival wraps with the All Nighter party which features over 120 activities - most of them free, including dance performances, film screenings, art exhibitions and comedy. The Jacques-Cartier Place in Old Montreal and the Quays of the Old Port are the key meeting points. Attractions here include the milk slide, skating rink, Winter Bar, Djs, Vjs and fireworks.
The McCord Museum and the Redpath Museum host a masked ball and torchlight visit. City Hall is sponsoring a Disco All Nighter, while Studio Tango Montréal offers lessons. Free shuttle buses will run every 10 minutes all night long.