LEWISTON – A weekend of traditional Franco-American food, music and fun have come together at the first Festival FrancoFun.

Organized by the Franco-American Heritage Center, events are held at its facility in Lewiston and at the Colisee.

The Franco-American Heritage center created Festival FrancoFun to replace the Festival de Joie. While both festivals were formed to celebrate French heritage, the center’s board decided that the new festival needed to grow and become something different from the Festival de Joie. Organizers announced last year that the Festival de Joie would not continue due to a lack of new volunteers.

“This is a learning process for all of us, both the organizers and the public,” said Joline Richard of Lewiston.

Richard, who is the Franco-American Heritage Center secretary, feels that the music and food were chosen well and effectively represent the new goals of festival organizers – to give those interested in Franco-American culture a weekend to meet and celebrate in a familiar atmosphere.

Festivals celebrating French heritage have been around since the 1970s under different names. Held in Kennedy Park for its first 10 years, an eight-day festival used to attract as many as 100,00 people, according to Connie Cote, FAHC board member.

“I don’t think I’ve missed any,” said attendee Martine Gagne of Lewiston.

For many, the celebration is an annual gathering to look forward to all year long. Patrons who have been attending for years don’t seem to mind the replacement event.

“It’s good to see it restarting, becoming something new and different,” said Gagne.

Today’s events feature meals at both the Colisee and the FAHC, as well as a staging of the locally produced play, “Lewiston, a New Home.” The play, created in 1995 by local writers and musicians for Lewiston’s bicentennial celebration, was a crowd favorite and has been revived for a special festival performance. The show, to be performed at 3 p.m. Sunday at the FAHC, also features the musical direction of Auburn’s Colin Britt.

The Colisee offers a venue for Franco-American music and dancing. Entertainer Jean-Guy Piche was back for his third year at the festival.

“He’s been really good, very entertaining,” said Ralph Metayer of Rumford. “He will fill this place up.”

“To me, it’s the culture, the music and, most importantly, seeing people you wouldn’t normally see,” said Rita Dube, FAHC executive director. “You see a lot of the same people here, people who all live in the same community and somehow never get together.”

For many who grew up in Lewiston’s “Little Canada,” it’s nice to get a chance to travel back to a time when the city was, in effect, a bilingual community.

Irene Hudon of Connecticut and Norm Ringuette of Massachusetts were an ever-present fixture on the dance floor of the Colisee on Saturday afternoon. The duo travel all over New England to attend different culture festivals, and wherever heritage meets dance floors, they can be found.

“We come for the great French music and dancing.” Hudon said. “We’ve been coming for five or six years. You just meet lots of friends, and it makes you want to keep coming back.”

The 2006 Festival FrancoFun continues through today, with meals and performances at the FAHC and the Colisee.

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