From Early Stories to Today · Drawing 45
Québec City celebrates 400 years
2008
In 2008, Québec City celebrated its 400th anniversary. Shows and activities brought families, visitors and neighbours together.
Look together
What is the musician doing on stage?
An idea to try
Draw a small anniversary celebration for a place important to your family. Your child chooses a memory to tell and an activity to share.
For the adult reading along
A little more to discover
In 2008, Québec City celebrated 400 years since its French foundation in 1608. The City's report presents the activities and shows organized for that anniversary. The date concerns the French city's history, not the start of human or Indigenous presence at a place used before Champlain arrived.
This scene invents a small neighbourhood celebration with a musician and a family, without reproducing an official show. Help your child distinguish an old event from a celebration held much later to remember it. An anniversary looks back from the present and lets us ask which stories we choose to tell together.
Sources and context
These links lead to other websites. Explore them with an adult. Source titles appear in their original language; some linked pages are in French.
- Ville de Québec - Les fêtes du 400e anniversaire
- Ville de Québec - Bilan officiel des célébrations du 400e, chapitre 6
- Répertoire du patrimoine culturel du Québec — Site de l'Habitation de Champlain
Source review: 2026-09-12. Illustrations simplify places and scenes; they are not historical documents.