Thousands attend City of Laval’s annual Firemen’s Festival

Kids of all ages got an up-close look at emergency trucks and firefighters

Thousands attend City of Laval’s annual Firemen’s Festival
Nothing brings out the kid in grown men than being able to dress up like old-time firefighters, like these guys did during Laval’s annual Firemen’s Festival at the Centropolis from May 31 – June 2.
Martin C. Barry

The 13th annual Laval Firemen’s Festival, which took place from May 31 – June 2 at the Centropolis, delivered all the excitement festival-goers have grown used to since it all started back in 2007.

Many activities

The weekend opened on Friday evening with the Firemen’s Run, a jogging event with two and five-kilometre trajectories, continuing on Sunday June 2 with one, two, five, 10, 21.1 and 42.2 kilometre circuits.

The ever-popular parade of fire trucks, with sirens and warning signals blaring, took place Saturday morning, starting around 9:30 am from Laval’s industrial park, slowly making its way towards the rendez-vous point at the Centropolis an hour later.

For the whole family

Saturday and Sunday from 9:30 am to 4 pm, the festival site was filled with a range of activities, including educational kiosks on fire prevention and safety, a car accident simulation, firefighter museum artefacts, fire truck displays, and more.

There were even demonstrations of cooking by some of the more kitchen-savvy firefighters, whose sense of haute-cuisine has become well-developed from years of preparing hearty meals in the firehouse kitchen while waiting for emergency calls to come in.

Thousands attend City of Laval’s annual Firemen’s Festival
The sound of sirens, horns and warning bells was deafening as the parade of fire trucks marked the opening of the 2019 Laval Firemen’s Festival.