Butter tarts, poutine and Red Green. How Canadiana is taking over a Michigan city

Windsor Morning9:02"Canadiana Fest" kicks off in Kalamazoo Michigan

Channon Russette Mondoux says the ideawas conceived at the end of the pandemic when it had been nearly three years since she had been able to get back to Canada to see family and friends.

What about a festival celebrating all things Canada, she pondered? Everything from butter tart bake offs, to The Red Green Show, to live chainsaw artistry.

And out of that,Canadiana Festwas born.

"We were talking about festivals coming back and it dawned on me. Canada has amazing music, food, art, comedy, just so many things that make a festival fantastic," according to Mondoux.

"I had grown up in the Windsor tradition of festivals. It was really ingrained in me that we celebrate every weekend during the summertime, some organized cultural source or whatever."

The self-proclaimed "Chief Canuck Officer" moved to Kalamazoo, Mich., roughly 20 years ago when her husband relocated for work. That's about a two and a half hour drive from the Canadian border.

On Sept. 21, the American city of around 75,000 people will play host to the second annual event.

Last year's inaugural festival was fairly well attended, she says, with roughly 1,000 people coming out. And that's despite it being scheduled on the Canadian Thanksgiving Day weekend with cold, wet and windy weather.

"We broke even. And I was told that that was an unheard of things for a first year festival."

WATCH | The Great Canadian Butter Tart Debate:

The Great Canadian Butter Tart Debate

7 years ago

Duration 0:45

From butter tarts to ketchup chips to poutine. Canadian cuisine will be on full display during the day-long festival, too, she says.

"These are my recipes, my grandmother's recipes. We're doing a peameal bacon sandwich with traditional Canadian chili sauce."

What itmeans to be Canadian

The festival features Canadian themed music along with events like alog rolling game of doom, butter tart bake off and a Canadian cosplay parade.

"Really emphasizing the culture of kindness, that Canadians are known for being peacekeepers, being the people that come in and say, 'Hey, we'll help you out," says Mondoux.

She says it's been her experience that many Americans consider Canadian culture to give off the impression they're "kind of country bumpkin-ish," and don't realize they're actually projecting that on purpose.

WATCH |What does it mean to you to be a Canadian?":

"What does it mean to you to be a Canadian?"

8 years ago

Duration 1:07

"For the most part, we [Canadians] don't care. I think what might surprise them even more is that when we say 'sorry,' we really don't always mean we're sorry. There's that sarcastic sorry. There's the genuine sorry and then there's the, 'Sorry about that.' Like, in other words, 'Moving on,' kind of thing. I think those nuances are missed by some Americans."

However, according to Mondoux, there remains a great appreciation for the Canadian culture in the U.S.

"When I go out into the community and I talk to people because I'm a walking, talking representative of the Canadiana Fest and people see me coming in my red and white hat or my shirt or whatever, and they know who I am."

'Grateful' to be Canadian

Rick Green played the role of Bill Smith in more than 300 episodes onthe Canadian sitcomThe Red Green Show's 15-year run.

The actor and comedian is appearing at Canadiana Fest on behalf of the show which aired on PBS in the U.S. and gained a significant following for a period of time.

"When they were suggesting taking the show into the United States we weren't sure but the show took offlike crazy they embraced it. The Canadians? Not nearly as much at first. By the time it got going, yeah it was. It was such a representation and a voice of of rural Canada in one way," hesaid.

Green says he thinks the show's self-deprecating writing resonated with people on both sides of the border.

"It's like that old joke about my wife who saysI'm a lousy lover. How can she tell in 20 seconds? Constantly undercutting themselves. The blindness of men."

According to Green, he's excited about the festival centred on being Canadian because it has a casual way about with an overarching sense of humour.

Green says when he speaks at the festival he's going to through how much Canada is just like the other side of the border even if some Americans are unaware.

"You can go to Canadian places like this one called McDonald's. And Burger King. Then there's a Dairy Queen because we have a king and queen."

He says while many Americans say they're proud to be from their country he's grateful more than anything else to be Canadian.

There's "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," in the U.S., and"Peace, order and good government," in Canada. On some level, they sound pretty similar, but there's a real difference between them.