Multicolored jumpsuits on their backs, hats on their heads and mulled wine in hand, festival-goers came in large numbers for the resumption of this event after a two-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

So, for them, negative temperatures don't matter.

"The atmosphere is really cool, you feel like you're in a nightclub, you have to do it at least once in your life. At first you're a little cold, but you dance, so you forget" , confides Laurent Maurenas, a 34-year-old Frenchman living in Quebec.

"For me, Igloofest is Montreal, and Montreal is my great love," says Zoë Charbonneau, 29, who is attending the festival for the thirteenth time.

"The Igloofest is the highlight of my city and I'm proud of it," she slips again without stopping dancing.

For this 15th edition, which takes place at the end of the week for a month, some 85,000 tickets were sold, a record.

For Nicolas Cournoyer, the co-founder of the festival, it's a sign that people need to go out, "it's therapeutic to be together".

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“When we started Igloofest, it was to get people outside, stop complaining about winter and have fun,” explains the 50-year-old electronic music fan.

“When we started hearing that people were looking forward to winter because Igloofest was coming, we thought we had accomplished our mission,” he says proudly.

"Surviving the Cold"

"At any festival, people arrive with a festive spirit, but at Igloofest, it's even more than that," said Heidy P., Canadian DJ on stage Thursday, for a sold-out evening.

"As soon as they arrive, they start dancing to keep warm. And to come here despite the weather is that they really want to. The participation of people is really great. It's great to see ."

In Montreal, a boosted atmosphere for the return of the coldest electro festival in the world © Alexis Aubin / AFP

An observation that often comes up in the comments of DJs, says Nicolas Cournoyer.

"Montreal is an excellent audience. The interaction between the artists and the audience is strong."

Triple layers of clothing, spare socks, strong alcohol shot or raclette, all methods are good for not getting cold.

The best according to Xavier Gagnon, 22: wearing his mother's old neon pink ski jacket.

Montreal is known for its many festivals that enliven the streets and parks of the French-speaking metropolis throughout the summer period.

By December 2021, 60,000 tickets had been sold for Igloofest.

But in the end, the province had been reconfigured for several weeks in the face of the advance of the Omicron variant, freezing the resumption of cultural life.

A few steps from the stage, large fires were lit to warm the dancers but also to roast marshmallows.

A little further, young people slide down slides, lit by strobes.

In Montreal, a boosted atmosphere for the return of the coldest electro festival in the world © Alexis Aubin / AFP

This warm atmosphere convinced Armelle Milin-Yvinec who smiles to think of herself as "the oldest at the festival".

"I think it's great. I accompany my daughter and we have a blast," she exclaims with a smile.

© 2023 AFP