Guided Tour: Montréal en Lumière Outdoor Family Zone

The Montréal en Lumière festival, which started last week, hosts a free outdoor zone with several family activities and shows through Sunday, Feb. 26. It’s worth a visit if you’re in the area, looking for a fun way to tie in lunch and a little free entertainment for the kids.

Set up at Place des Festivals, outside Place des Arts, there’s a festive atmosphere: it’s closed off to cars, there’s live music and street food. Several cabanes are set up selling things like soup, sausages on a stick, marshmallows to toast at onsite firepits, freshly made waffles (the chocolate ones are incredible), fries in a paper cone, plus beer and other grownup refreshments.

The big attractions for families are the giant, interactive slide and the ferris wheel. But, we didn’t end up going on either because of the lineups. The site opens at noon on weekends, and when we arrived at about 12:45, there was already a one-hour lineup for the slide. It’s great that organizers have markers along the queue showing how long it’s going to take to get to the fun part. For our kids, it was going to be too long. Still, riding down the curved track on a sled (they are provided) looked fun for about age six and up.

Close to the slide, you’ll find an area geared to toddler-age kids: there are a few games, including a giant snakes and ladders board and tic tac toe.

There’s also a setup for older ones to try their skills at hitting a hockey puck into a net. By the time we tried these activities, had some snacks and watched part of a tam-tam performance, the kids weren’t into waiting for the ferris wheel. But it would offer a great view of the city!

On Feb 25 and 26 at 2 p.m., Les Petites Tounes will perform a musical children’s show called Au Grand Galop, so it’s not a bad idea to time your visit around that.

Montréal en Lumière outdoor family zone
Where: Place des Festivals, outside Place des Arts
When:  Site opens at noon on Feb. 25 and 26; open till 3 a.m. Saturday, 5 p.m. Sunday.
Bathrooms: Best bet for bathrooms is at Complex Desjardins basement/food court level, across the street from Place des Festivals
Parking: Keep in mind that the festival area is closed to car traffic, so try your luck on surrounding streets, spring for a nearby lot, or use public transit.