Press | Press Release
The International Garden Festival partners with Toqué! Restaurant to launch the Festival’s 2009 Fundraising Campaign (April 26, 2009)
PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release
April 23, 2009 - Grand-Métis (Québec). For the 10th anniversary edition of the International Garden Festival, the Festival is partnering with Montreal’s famed Toqué! Restaurant to launch its 2009 fundraising campaign. For more than three years, Chef Normand Laprise, Christine Lamarche and their team from Toqué! have partnered with the Festival every summer, offering up a menu of delicacies and culinary delights for the supporters of the Festival in an event held in August in the historic surroundings of Estevan Lodge.
For the 10th anniversary edition of the Festival and the 5th Métis-sur-Montréal event, the Festival has chosen the beautiful surroundings of Toqué! for its event on Friday, May 29th at 7:30 pm at Toqué!. For the evening there will also be a silent auction featuring a number of works by artists Dominique Blain, Angela Grauerholz, Anne Ramsden, David K. Ross, Linda Rutenberg, Louise Tanguay and Barbara Todd, many of whom created or exhibited works at the gardens. Tickets are $350 per person. A donation receipt will be issued for $150.
The Jardins de Métis / Reford Gardens are at the gateway to the Gaspé Peninsula on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River. A national historic site, the gardens are recognized as one of great gardens of North America. Created by Elsie Reford more than 75 years ago, they bear witness to her passion for plants and her love of gardening. Today, her great grandson, Alexander Reford, leads a team committed to preserving this unique horticultural heritage and creating the unique gardens of the International Garden Festival.
The International Garden Festival is the leading contemporary garden event in North America. Founded in 2000, the Festival has exhibited more than 80 gardens by over 200 designers from 10 countries. The Festival has won numerous awards for its contribution to architecture, landscape architecture and design and for its designers and been featured in over 200 publications. The Festival is administered by the Fondation des Jardins de Métis, a registered charity. The Fondation is seeking to raise $200,000 to assure the Festival’s continuation and development.
The 2009 edition of the Festival will feature a record 20 gardens by designers from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, including the now iconic Blue Stick Garden by Claude Cormier, first presented at the inaugural edition in 2000.
Toqué! is widely recognized as one of Canada’s leading restaurants. Toqué! is a member of the Relais & Châteaux family with the label Grand Chef. Toqué! was recognized as the best restaurant in 2005 by the Guide Debeur and has received the guide’s highest rating of four stars for the past several years. The first edition of the Zagat Guide to Montréal restaurants puts Toqué! at the top of its list of best restaurants. The Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) and the American Automobile Association (AAA) awarded Toqué! their highest rating of 5 Diamonds, which highlights the quality of their food, service, décor and facilities. Visit their new website at www.restaurant-toque.com/. Toqué! is located at 900, Place Jean-Paul-Riopelle in Montréal.
Tickets are limited to 100, so call now to obtain a ticket 418 775-2221 or write us at rsvp@jardinsdemetis.com to obtain further information. You can also purchase your tickets on-line.
Les Jardins de Métis/Reford Gardens are open from June 6th to October 4th, 2009. The International Garden Festival is open from June 27th to October 4th. To plan your visit to the Festival or to obtain information on nearby accommodation and activities, consult the garden’s web site: www.refordgardens.com/.
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Source
Alexander Reford
Director
Jardins de Métis / Reford Gardens
Festival international de jardins / International Garden Festival
418 775-2222, ext. 222
alexander.reford@jardinsdemetis.com
