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The landmark sculpture by Pierryves Angers seems to be shutting his ears from the noise of the "Just for Laughs Festival" going on behind the red and green portal on the corner of Saint-Denis and Sherbrooke streets.
The "Just for Laughs Festival" is a unique Montreal phenomenon. Founded in 1984 by comedian Gilbert Rozon, it now draws 800 artists from all over the world who present some 2000 shows in july every year. It has become an institution serving an estimated two million spectators live, indoors and outdoors in Montreal and still more on TV. Its TV shows are distributed in 35 countries and several airlines. It has its own museum of humour in Montreal since 1992 and has opened a Paris affiliate in 1995.
This part of Saint-Denis street is blocked to traffic to allow free public events in Montreal's latin quarter during 10 days of the three week festival.
These people are heading towards the route of the Twin's Parade that is one of the highlights of the festival.
Children love to have their faces painted on any festive occasion and the Just for Laughs Festival provides an excellent excuse to do it.
The "latin quarter" around the University of Québec in Montreal (UQAM) includes a four block section of Saint-Denis street where every door opens on a pub or restaurant.
In the spring, sidewalk cafes sprout like flowers in a garden everywhere in Montreal but they are particularly numerous and well attended here.
Those that have no street level space manage to crowd a few tables on a first floor balcony to satisfy their customer's craving for the sun.
Some of these become quite famous like this "Brûlerie Saint-Denis".
A cold beer in the shade of a small terrace with good friends; the picture of happiness.
This green devil is the symbol and mascot of the "Just for Laughs Festival". Montrealers see this fellow a lot on TV where several shows are aired in French and in English.
This year, 2500 twins, triplets and quadruplets mostly from Québec but also from the rest of Canada and from abroad congregated in Montreal for the Twin's Parade.
Proud parents showed off twins but this woman had quadruplets to brag about on her t-shirt.
Some were costumed. Here we have an Arab pair, a couple of guerrillas in camouflage gear and twin Pocahontas.
I took more than a hundred pictures of the parade. Choosing which ones to show was a problem but these two lively girls were so cute with their red and yellow whisks that it was easy in their case.
Daddy made a custom cycle car for these two twins.
This year, the theme was "twins travel on foot, on wheels by sea and in the air. These two symbolized the aviators.
I think one of these dark girls was giving me the eye as I took the picture of the pair travelling by sea behind.
Mmm... 2 for 1 sounds like a good slogan!
The two girls in orange had more sense on this hot day than the colourful pair in the witches dress. They were nicer to look at as well!
"Twins travel on wheels" was a good excuse for an interesting parade of classic and ancient cars. There was a great variety of them, from a Rolls Royce to these oldies, passing by so many "dreamboats" from the 1950's that I thought I was back in Cuba.
Again, I took many pictures but chose to show only the really old ones.
The cars attracted as much attention as the twins.
Except for these blondes who were cheered as they went by.
Vintage car, vintage twins and dignified vintage driver!
A vintage convertible with class, it has a second windshield for the rear seat passengers!
If any of you can identify some of these six cars please let me know so I can pass it on to other old car fans.
The twins took almost an hour to stream past where I stood. The crowd did not disperse right after the parade for there was still a lot to see and do in this party atmosphere.
Montreal is an easy going, laid back place, I know of many cities where this fellow would have been arrested for being improperly dressed.
Party time is for party high-jinks so why not make a pyramid?
Street events like these acrobats are sponsored as a public service by businesses who seek to enhance their image by associating their publicity with good times.
Still more cafes. People seek a terrace table but they also want to be in the shade. It was over 30 degrees Celsius on this day.
This cafe's name "Saint Ciboire" sounds like a swear-word and it is (holy ciborium). It was chosen intentionally so to give the place an "osé" colouring but the impact soon wore off...
Loto Quebec, the state lottery is one of the major sponsors of the festival along with Labatt brewery Bell Telephone and other companies. Sidewalk games amused a lot of people at very little cost to their sponsor Loto Québec.
The object of this simple game is to use the strings to navigate a rolling ball between the holes on an inclined board. Two can play at the same time, it costs nothing and amuses players and watchers alike.
French and English speaking comedians from many countries perform ticketed indoor shows that keep al the available theatres and halls busy for more than three weeks every year in July.
Several makeshift outdoor stages like this one provide free shows for the populace during the 10 days when the streets are closed. This creates a very special atmosphere.
Belgian breweries offer beer and cheese samples reminding us of the "panem et circences" of decadent Rome.
Here is a view of the crowd around the stage in the previous picture. It is now six thirty and the afternoon crowd that came for the parade like me is being replaced by the evening and night crowd attracted by the indoor and outdoor events and of course by the excellent restaurants and busy bars of the latin quarter.
