The Gaelic harp has a long and rich history. It has its origins in Ireland and the Scottish Highlands over 1,000 years ago, and even as late as the 19th century, harps with brass strings were still used in an attempt to keep the tradition alive.

Photo: Festibière Festival Organizers

They had only a few months to prepare and some potential participants were skeptical. Still, the first edition of Le Festibière de Québec was, by all accounts, a rousing success.

"We expected 25,000 people," said festival programmer Sébastien Huot. "We got 65,000."

More than 10,000 people have attended concerts at the Agora Port de Quebc since July 18. The new program seems to please lovers of classical music as well as lyrical concerts. This week, the Festival d'été de Québec presents a Latin Evening with the Big Band of Roland Martel on Wednesday, Aug.

The festival scene moves south across the river next weekend with the fourth edition of the Festival du Jazz Etcetera Lévis. The event will take place on several stages in Lévis starting August 12 at a substantially lower cost than Quebec City's recently concluded Festival d'Ete.

Photo: Shirley Nadeau

This past Sunday afternoon, for the second year in a row, a local radio station put out the call to stage a Water Pistol Battle on the playing field in front of the Musée de Québec. And what a wild, wet battle it was! Some 1000 participants from far and near, old and young, loaded up their water pistols, rifles and cannons!