Writing from the Heart, Reading for the Road

A very special spring in Essoyes

May 24, 2017 at 4:05 pm Leave a comment

Fields of wheat and rapeseed, springtime in Champagne.

Springtime is always a busy time in agricultural communities, and this year is no different in southern Champagne, as local farmers tend to their crops–primarily wheat, rapeseed, and of course grapes for champagne. It was once again a rough start to the year for grape-growers, with exceptionally warm weather followed by a couple of weeks of early-morning frosts. Not good for the grapes! We’re holding our collective breath that the result will not be too disastrous for too many vignerons. Last year was hard enough! 😦

Meanwhile, in Essoyes, excitement is mounting as the time for a plethora of department-wide celebrations planned for this, the Year of Renoir, draws near. The excitement begins on June 3, when the Renoir family home in Essoyes will open to the public, and will continue on June 23, with the official inauguration.

La Maison Renoir, under renovation. It opens to the public June 3!

This has been a massive project for a village of only 750 citizens to take on. It is happening thanks to extensive help from various arms of the French government, plus numerous generous donations of time, money, and in-kind donations given by individuals, contractors, and other entities. It has required courage, imagination, foresight, a lot of hard work, and phenomenal amounts of determined persistence and patience from the mayor,  the members of the conseil municipal, and many others I’m sure.

But it’s happening. Yay, Essoyes! 🙂

The excitement continues when, during the weekend of July 22-23, Essoyes will turn itself into a 1900 version of itself in Essoyes a la Belle Epoque. There will be a circa 1900 carousel, a circa 1900 wedding, a circa 1900 school exam given in a circa 1900 classroom. There will be women washing clothes in the village lavoir, and a great many people dressed in period costume. It’s going to be fun! If you can come, do!

There are lots of other special events planned over the course of the summer as well, including Un Autre Renoir, an exhibition at the Musée d’Art Moderne in Troyes, showcasing more than 50 works of art on loan from museums around France;  and a weekend of cinéma en plein aire in Essoyes July 28-29, thanks to the cooperation of the Maison Pour Tous in neighboring Landreville, which has moved its regular summertime festival of outdoor film to Essoyes for that weekend, in honor of the Year of Renoir. (You can find out more about many of the Year of Renoir events that are being planned here.)

A couple of weeks ago an open community meeting was held at the mairie, at which a handful of people who have volunteered to be in charge of various aspects of planning for Essoyes a la Belle Epoque reported on their activities and progress to date, and let those attending know how they can help. I was once again impressed with “my” little village: how organized, how dedicated, how ambitious, really, people can be, and are. There are a lot of details to attend to! This is going to be a lot of work! But here everyone was, planning, pitching in, organizing, thinking ahead. Wow! What a great town!

I think it’s all going to be a lot of fun, and though I am always telling people what a great place Essoyes is to visit (because it is!) I think that is going to be even more true this year. 🙂

Meanwhile, aside from all of that, there are the usual spring events to keep people busy. For example, last weekend it was the Foire aux Vins, a local celebration of viticulture. I wasn’t able to go this year, but here’s a picture I got last year. (No. I was not drinking champagne before I took this. It is out of focus simply because I’m not a very good photographer. But you get the idea. Banners. Costumes. Herald trumpets. Champagne!)

Then there are the “flowers of spring.” Essoyes is a three-flower village (if you don’t know what that means, well, you really just have to come to France and see if you can figure it out, or ask someone about it).

And though wildflowers don’t count for the three-flower designation, they certainly are very pretty. I wrote about them here last year. This year I will simply say that the last couple of weeks have seen a lot of whites and yellows. And this week there were some pinks and purples coming onto the scene, pinks and purples of such intense hues that spotting them almost inevitably makes me smile–smile at the beautiful audacity of nature.

Janet Hulstrand is a writer, editor, writing coach, and teacher of writing and of literature who divides her time between the U.S. and France. She leads book groups at the American Library in Paris, writing workshops in Essoyes, a village in the Champagne region, and teaches “Paris: A Literary Adventure” each summer, in Paris, for Queens College, CUNY.

Entry filed under: About Essoyes, About France, Uncategorized. Tags: Aube, essoyes, France, Renoir, travel, Year of Renoir.