Country Canada RCM Les Laurentides Time zone EST (UTC−5) Elevation 322 m | Province Quebec Constituted May 10, 1921 Postal code(s) J0T 2N0 Population 4,450 (2011) | |
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Weather 3°C, Wind SE at 6 km/h, 43% Humidity Points of interest Regional Park Val‑David‑Val‑Morin, Ski Mont Vallée Bleue, Mont Alta | ||
Val-David is a unique village of almost 5,000 inhabitants located in the Laurentian Mountains about 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of Montreal, Quebec, Canada that attracts about 100,000 tourists a year. Val-David is predominantly Quebecer (i.e. French-speaking) and has a sizable minority anglophone population.
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Map of Val-David, QC, Canada
The village is famous for its artistic character. Many renowned and amateur artists, writers and dancers live and have lived in Val-David, notably Québécois poet Gaston Miron, jazz bassist Charlie Biddle, ceramist Kinya Ishikawa (who hosts the 1,001 Pots – the largest annual ceramics festival in North America), the painter, engraver and sculptor René Derouin (who hosts an international site-specific art festival annually), and Alan Gerber the singer-songwriter, the painter Jean-Philippe "JP" Audra founder of the Creativismo art movement, and the painters Guy Montpetit, Normand Ménard, Martine Cyr, and Mark Lummis.
Val-David is also a centre for much outdoor recreational activity as its 2,000-acre (8.1 km2) Parc Dufresne is the most popular rock-climbing destination in eastern Canada. Additionally, the Parc Linéaire Le P'tit Train du Nord, a 200 kilometres (120 mi) bike trail, and groomed cross-country ski and snowshoe trails in Winter, run throughout the town's splendid nature.
History
The place was first known as Belisle's Mills, named after the owner of one of the area's first sawmills. In 1873, its post office opened under the name of Mont-Morin, renamed to Belisle's Mills in 1901. In 1917, the parish of Saint-Jean-Baptiste-de-Belisle or Bélisle was formed, detached from Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts. In 1921, the village municipality was officially established and named after the parish.
In 1923, the post office was renamed to Val-David, which also became the official designation of the municipality in 1944. It pays tribute to Louis Athanase David (1882-1953), member of parliament for Terrebonne from 1916 to 1919 and secretary of Quebec from 1919 to 1936, and his father Laurent-Olivier David (1840-1926), member of the House of Commons and author of several books.
It boasts the very first local community monthly newspaper ski-se-dit.
Demographics
Population trend:
Private dwellings occupied by usual residents: 2084 (total dwellings: 2785)
Mother tongue: