Lachute Market

Sign near the bison farm

"You're too late. They've just gone to the abattoir." Not what you want to hear when you were hoping to catch a glimpse of bison in the fields. We were outside Lachute at the Grand Duc Farm. My friend had just bought bison steaks from them at a Farmers' Market and so we hoped to see them in their pre-steak form. Not this time. Quebec has seven large bison farms but 65 places have some bison on their land.

$18 a tray.

So on to the Lachute Flea Market - a great day out in the Laurentians, where lots of people push their dogs in baby buggies and French Canadians enjoy live Country and Western music over a burger or poutine. 

Walking the dog - Lachute-style

It's always sunny when we go here and there are really three markets in one. Among the treasures you can buy an outfit for your dog or a sexy police costume for the bedroom at the modern market, there are duck decoys, a giant rooster, antlers galore at the flea market and trays of raspberries and strawberries, homemade caramel sauce or early corn at the farmers' market.

Us in a dome thingy.

There are hundreds of stalls and if you like this kind of thing you can easily spend a day here. I had a cheeseburger for lunch which in French is un cheeseburger. (useful tip there) and listened to country songs while watching a man shopping at the stalls carrying a kitten.

Golf club section

Our routine when visiting the market is always to get so hot that we cannot bear it anymore then take our purchases to the car and head for the local ice cream parlour.

Naked barbie section

This year we resisted the naked barbies but did come away with egg coddlers, cushions, an old umbrella and some wooden Thai carvings.

Country songs and cheeseburgers

It is one of the best flea markets I've ever visited but you have to be prepared to do a lot of walking. Take your own water and lunch to avoid the queues for the food would be my only tip. There is plenty of room to have your own picnic.

I bought four of these for $10

The ice cream store is called Lowes and has been there forever. We spotted several shoppers from the market who had the same idea and we rested our feet and felt good that most of the other customers were larger than us.

Lachute market then Lowes. It's the law.

Coming up this summer: the Quebec Opera Festival, the 1001 Pots event in Val David,  and the Glimmerglass Festival.