Events calendar Pays De La Loire

Every year since 1979, in November in Nantes, the Festival des 3 Continents offers fiction films and documentaries from Africa, Latin America and Asia. This international film festival, in addition to its geographical particularity, is also distinguished by its passion and curiosity, its taste for discovery and encounters, and overall its love of films from the South and its desire to share them. Founded by the Jalladeau brothers, this event brings together film professionals from all over the world and the informed or amateur public around competitions, previews, short and feature films, retrospectives... It is an opportunity for screenings, conferences, meetings with directors and actors. The selection also includes films for young audiences. Discover the program of the futureedition on the festival website!

An initiative of the Atelier des Houlaies association and the municipality, these artistic encounters are organized over a weekend in September or October, through the village and its countryside. These "Chemins et Couleurs" are dedicated to art. Around a hundred artists take over fifty locations open to the public for the occasion. The streets, the château's farmyard, the Rive Sarthe park and the Domaine des Houlaies will host a wide range of works and displays. We advise you to accept the invitation and enjoy this pleasant stroll. The paths are signposted. You can follow them on foot, by bike, by car or even by boat!

What a pleasure it is to walk along the towpath of a river! The setting is so bucolic that you almost forget you're exercising... Available on foot or by bike, the Mayenne trail takes the form of a Voie Verte (Green Way) covering some 100 kilometers, mostly in Mayenne and to a lesser extent in Maine-et-Loire. Departing from the commune of Mayenne, it stretches as far as Lion-d'Angers, serving a dozen towns along the way. Castles, locks and picturesque villages punctuate your strides or pedal strokes. If you're a local cyclist, you've just found a fantastic playground!

Price: free of charge.

Distance: 100 km divided into several sections.

Difficulty: easy.

The musical encounters proposed during this festival will bring together for a series of concerts young artists from the Juilliard School of New York, singers from the Jardin des Voix and instrumentalists from Les Arts Florissants in an idyllic setting conducive to creation. Harpsichordist, conductor of international renown, musicologist and teacher, William Christie, and his associate director Paul Agnew offer an original and original journey through a remarkable garden.

Nature is Bike is the only festival of its kind dedicated to gravel in Europe. For this^4th edition, from June 14 to 16, 2024, the village will take place in the enchanting natural setting of Lac de Maine. It will host the gravel and adventure bike show, a forum and numerous events. Participants will be offered 7 routes: the Gravel Loire Legend, starting in Angers, with its 500 km of trails, as well as festive "rides" open to the general public, such as the "Angers guinguette". New: Bikepacking, 280 km of cycling and bivouac!

A large-scale show... Not to be confused with the "Pesage", a more technical event. The "Grande Parade" has a very heroic feel to it, presenting the first protagonists of the legendary 24-hourendurance race. At previous editions, we were able to get up close to champions with impressive track records. Tom Christensen, for example, is still the stuff of dreams, with seven victories to his name. Specialists such as Henri Pescarolo, Graham Hill and Mario Andretti have also previously taken part. More recently, Jacques Villeneuve, Sébastien Bourdais and Sébastien Loeb took part in the exhibition. There's something exciting about being able to get up close and personal with all these people. A standing ovation is given at every turn. The parade also celebrates three drivers in particular, who are presented with a trophy: the one who takes pole position in qualifying, the one who achieves the best lap time and the inevitable "Rookie", i.e. the competitor discovering the Le Mans scene for the very first time. This event is truly unique. Jubilant effects in store!

The Foire des Minées (^69th edition) is a commercial and industrial exhibition attracting tens of thousands of visitors each year. It has been in existence for several centuries when, originally, fairgoers settled on a vacant lot called "Fief des Minées", hence its name. The "mine" or "minée" was an agrarian measure, resulting from a tax levied on the quantity of grain sold at the market: the "minage". Each year, more than 250 exhibitors set up shop in the Palais de la Foire for five days of entertainment.

Founded in 1979, the Commune Libre du Vieux-Mans Plantagenêt association has for many years brought together members committed to preserving, safeguarding and promoting the architectural and cultural heritage of the old town and its districts. Among the events on offer is "Le Vieux-Mans au bout du pinceau" (Old Mans at the end of a paintbrush), a summer event that reflects this desire to put heritage into perspective. The aim is to create a graphic or pictorial work within the perimeter of the old town. For the first time in 2017, a garage sale was held at the same time as this event. In winter, "Noël aux genêts" takes place in December. Lighting up the Plantagenet town, street entertainment, painting exhibitions... It's all there for you to enjoy the enchantment of Christmas!