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KALAMAZOO, MI — Canadiana Fest is back this coming weekend in Kalamazoo, bringing music and the arts, food, sports, and plenty of Canadian spirit. What started in 2023 as a response to the pandemic’s isolation has now become a signature Kalamazoo event, drawing more than 1,700 people last year and aiming even higher in 2025.
The festival’s founder, Channon Mondoux, a Canadian who became a U.S. citizen in 2015, says the vision emerged from a need for connection. “I decided two things. I would never let a year go by without celebrating my first homeland. If I couldn’t get to Canada, Canada was going to come to me. And our community needed to experience what Canadians are actually like: kind, fiercely loyal to each other, and welcoming of all people.”
Mondoux’s vision hasn’t changed, but the festival’s reach has grown. Attendance doubled in its second year, much of it fueled by word-of-mouth.
“Once people find out about it, they’re blown away by what we do,” Mondoux says. “There is nothing more rewarding than wandering into a store wearing a festival T-shirt and hearing someone say, ‘I can’t wait to go!’”…