Festivals & the year round
Alma's festival year: a summer spine and honest negatives
Three real festivals, a wider ring of races and bonspiels -- and what does not exist, in print.
Festivals in Alma, all year: three real festivals, a winter that belongs to curling, and the negatives in print
Alma's festival year is a summer spine with an honest shape: three organizers' festivals, all dated from their own surfaces, all PAST for 2026 at this build -- carried as canon, the way a year-round guide should carry them, so a traveller planning 2027 knows the season's true shape. Around them sits the wider annual ring of races, bonspiels and expos -- and three negatives this page prints in full, because a guide that hides them manufactures plans that fail.
Festirame, the town's summer flagship, run by Festivalma on Place Festivalma and the Grande Décharge shore: the 53rd edition ran July 3-11, 2026, closing with La Grande Nuit d'Alma -- PAST at this build, carried as canon, never as a plan. One flag rides the record unmerged: the festival's own programme span reads 'du 3 au 10 juillet' while the Grande Nuit closing night fell on Saturday July 11; both readings print here, neither is silently preferred. The festival's heart is the water -- the rowing-marathon tradition of the Club d'aviron d'Alma -- and Parc Falaise, on the downtown shore, hosts its closing-fireworks tradition.
The year's ring, season by season
Summer: the spine
the Festival des bières d'Alma, which ran Thursday July 23 to Saturday July 25, 2026 -- PAST -- on the stationnement de l'église Saint-Joseph, downtown. This guide prints NO edition number for it, on purpose: the organizer's own pages disagree on which edition 2026 was, while the dates and venue agree on every surface -- and a number nobody can settle does not get invented here. Then the autumn hinge: the Festival d'humour d'Alma, whose 9th edition ran Friday September 4 to Sunday September 6, 2026 -- PAST -- at Place Saint-Joseph, downtown: three 20 h evenings, a named headliner each night, on the organizer's own programme. Its prices print with their flag: admission was 47 $; the passeport reads 85 $ on the programme page and 75 $ on a ticketing transaction surface -- flagged, never merged, never averaged. The same July Saturday as Festirame's Grande Nuit carried the town's triathlon at Dam-en-Terre -- the season stacks, and the town is built for it.
The wider ring
the Collège d'Alma, 675 boul. Auger Ouest -- an autonomous public cégep (in town since its own right; about 1,000 regular students), whose Jeannois field eight RSEQ sports and whose public layer includes La Tourelle and La Galerie. Its own road race, La Collégiale, ran its 5th edition on Sunday September 20, 2026 -- PAST: 1/3/5/10 km courses and a 5 km marche, inscription 45 $ with the 1/3 km free for children, profits to the Jeannois, and more than 800 participants on the Collège's own count. The UQAC centre d'études hosted at the same address is attributed to UQAC and Saguenay -- a hosted centre, never an Alma university. Add the Relais pour la Vie du Saguenay--Lac-Saint-Jean, which ran Sat Jun 6, 2026, 18 h-0 h at Les Plaines Vertes d'Alma on the Canadian Cancer Society's own surface -- a regional name on an Alma seat, printed as Alma's record. And the Exposition de vieilles voitures au Saint-Crème, in the Isle-Maligne sector, ran Sat Aug 15, 2026, 10 h-16 h (sector-calendar grade) -- PAST.
Winter and the holidays
the Club de curling Riverbend d'Alma, 1030 rue de la Gare Ouest, in the Riverbend sector across the Grande Décharge -- 'depuis 1928' in the club's own wording, four sheets as the club's own description states them. Its 2026-27 season is live on the club's own site: the Tournoi Molson runs Wed Nov 4 to Sun Nov 8, 2026, with a live inscription form, and the club then hosts the Curling Québec provincial circuit final, Thu Nov 12 to Sun Nov 15, 2026, with the U15 regionals to follow on Feb 6-7, 2027. Its leagues run evenings for adults, days for retirees, Friday mornings and a Sunday friendly, plus a junior league for ages 8-21. The school-break shape is the Ville's semaine de relâche (the 2026 programme ran Feb 28-Mar 8, PAST, camp techno Mar 2-6 included) -- a programme, not a festival, and printed as one. The Christmas layer is a form, not a dated promise: the Marché de Noël du Grandiose, 510B rue Sacré-Cœur Ouest, appears in the regional tourism guide at Nov 7-9 with the YEAR not asserted -- this guide prints the form and the caveat together.
The negatives, printed in full
Three honest negatives govern Alma's year, printed plainly so no guide here promises what does not exist. There is NO agricultural fair in Alma: the MAPAQ Programme d'appui aux expositions agricoles 2024-2027 names exactly one exposition for the whole Saguenay--Lac-Saint-Jean -- Chicoutimi's, which is Saguenay's, firewalled. There was NO Fête nationale production in Alma in 2026: the SNQ Saguenay--Lac-Saint-Jean's own mandate placed the regional production in Saguenay. And no Canada Day production by the Ville was verified for July 1, 2026 -- a calendar fact, never a manufactured celebration.
Two more, at their exact grades. Tam Tam Macadam, the town's intercultural festival (founded 1997), follows a biennial, odd-year rhythm in regional references; no dated 2026 edition exists on any organizer surface reached, and none is manufactured here. And the town's winter has NO verified winter festival: Alma's winter production is the curling season, the Ville's loisirs programming and the diffuseur's slate -- the winter page of this guide rests on exactly those anchors and no invented carnival.
Common questions
What are Alma's festivals?
Three, all from their organizers' own surfaces: Festirame (53rd edition, Jul 3-11, 2026, PAST), the Festival des bières d'Alma (Jul 23-25, 2026, PAST -- no edition number printed, the organizer's own pages conflict) and the Festival d'humour d'Alma (9th edition, Sep 4-6, 2026, PAST).
Does Alma have a Fête nationale celebration or an agricultural fair?
Neither, and both negatives are verified: the 2026 regional Fête nationale production was mandated to Saguenay by the SNQ SLSJ, and the MAPAQ 2024-2027 list names only Chicoutimi's exposition (Saguenay) for the whole region. No Alma record is manufactured for either.
Is there a winter festival in Alma?
No distinct winter festival was verified. Alma's winter is the curling season at Riverbend (Tournoi Molson Nov 4-8, 2026; circuit final Nov 12-15), the Ville's loisirs programming and the Salle Michel-Côté season.
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