Courtesy / Museum L-A
The map of the Franco Trail L-A.
May 23, 2019
Franco Tour L-A creators tell twin cities to be 'prepared for tourism'
Courtesy / Museum L-A
Catherine Picard, of Museum L-A, talks about the Franco Trail L-A at its official launch Wednesday.
By Staff
Museum L-A Executive Director Rachel Desgrosseilliers said the Lewiston-Auburn area, and the state, should prepare for tourism that will be generated by the newly created Franco Trail L-A.
The tour, which has both a paper map and a free mobile app, guide visitors to French-Canadian and other historic sites in the twin cities, as well as businesses, parking and restaurants. Museum L-A will advertise the tour in a motor coach industry magazine next year. "That means we have that long to prepare," Desgrosseiliers told those gathered at Lewiston's Gendron Franco Center for the trail's official launch.
Museum intern Catherine Picard created the 4.5-mile trail through both cities as an itinerary that will go with a planned regular bus tour of New England's Franco heritage from Quebec that also includes Woonsocket, R.I., Manchester, N.H., and Biddeford.
“Creating the itinerary was an eye opener," Desgrosseilliers said. "We learned which businesses already have the capacity to open their doors to bus tours. Visitors find our cities beautiful and fun. A visitor from London said that Maine is the most American and down to earth. We are real people with a ‘joie de vivre’ to visitors from away.”
The finished trail project includes a paper map, a website and a free smartphone app that can be used for taking a self-guided walking tour that includes 18 attractions featuring French heritage and local history. The walk is expected to take about two hours.
Franco-American sites highlighted on the tour will include the Little Canada neighborhood of Lewiston, the Bates Mill, Great Falls, and the former railroad bridge that's now a footbridge over the Androscoggin River connecting Simard-Payne Park in Lewiston with Bonney Park in Auburn. It ends at the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul on Ash Street. Desgrosseilliers said more sites may be added.
Elaine Roop, president of the center’s board of directors, said the project was a “wonderful opportunity for anyone, whether they are Franco or not, to be educated on Lewiston-Auburn’s heritage. The project makes all the heritage information that we talk about, something tangible.”
Picard, from Quebec, took on the Franco Trail L-A project with the support of Lojiq, an organization that promotes partnerships between Quebec and other countries, Desgrolleilliers said.
The project was sparked when museum officials attended the Reseau Francophone/Francophile in Quebec a couple of years ago. "Before we left Quebec, they kept pushing us to sign up to create a project since we had a large Francophone population in Lewiston-Auburn," she said.
Desgrosseilliers said Guillaume Sayinzoga, a volunteer at the museum, was instrumental in helping set up the technology.
Picard described the trail as a tourist tool that will help users plan their schedule, movement through the cities and program for the day. “All attractions and businesses are grouped in one convenient tool: Franco Trail L-A," she said. "There are multiple ways of using this tool.”
Attending the Wednesday event was Marie-Claude Francoeur, who represented the government of the Provide of Quebec. “Our communities share a common history, culture and values," she said. "We share a language, lost for some, but always still in our hearts. The trail gives us opportunities to go back to where we came from.”
Also partnering on the project are Sts. Peter and Paul Basilica, Gendron Franco Center, Franco American Collection at USM and the Lewiston-Auburn Metro Chamber of Commerce. The groups will continue to add to the trail’s app and website, and are open to suggestions to improve the experience of people using the trail, Desgrosseilliers said.
“These are the people who have been working diligently to incorporate the many aspects of Lewiston-Auburn’s Francophone heritage into a tourism package of fun, food and history,” she said.
Franco Trail L-A’s website is www.francotrailla.com. The free app can be downloaded on smartphones.
Franco Trail L-A map
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