Francophones will be celebrating their culture on both sides of False Creek during the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Plans for Place de la Francophonie 2010 were unveiled Wednesday on Granville Island. Performance Works, Waterfront Theatre and the False Creek community centre will become the Games' official French Quarter with French food, folks and fun, including concerts by Quebec sensations the Porn Flakes and Cowboys Fringants. Olympic fans need not miss the Games, which will be shown on big-screen TVs. Organizers expect 25,000 people daily from Feb. 10-28.
"We'll be looking at Granville Island in a different way," said general manager Jean Cote.
"Don't sit alone in your living room, come with us, we'll have a ball, that's for sure."
Canadian Heritage minister James Moore announced $2.1 million for the French Quarter and associated projects. He said the government is not planning similar investments to boost other languages spoken by Canadians or Games visitors.
"Our responsibility is to respect taxpayers who have helped fund the Games," Moore said. "Taxpayers in this country speak both of Canada's official languages."
The Quebec government, meanwhile, is spending $5 million on its House of Quebec pavilion in a projection dome at Concord Place at northeast False Creek.
