Sparkling French wine, good food, church. The perfect combo, right?
Every April since 1990, the Toques et Clochers festival raises money for the restoration of a church bell tower around Limoux, in the south of France. A clocher is a bell, and a toque is the tall white hat worn by chefs. The festival is sponsored by the Sieur d’Arques cooperative of Limoux, purveyor of blanquette de Limoux and crémant de Limoux.

Blanquette de Limoux goes back to 1531, when the monks at the nearby Abbey of Saint-Hilaire made the first sparkling wine (supported by documents dating to 1544). Supposedly, Dom Pérignon was one of them, before he was transferred to Champagne in the north; however, like a lot of legends, this one is off because Dom Pérignon was born a century later.
More about blanquette de Limoux and Saint-Hilaire another time. Today, let’s go to the party.


The festival has grown over the years, but the villages haven’t. It no longer is possible to park nearby (you can forget about parking in the villages even when there isn’t a festival because the streets are tiny). All cars are directed to Limoux, and festival-goers go through security before being channeled through a sports hall to buy their glasses (now in plastic) and tokens for tastings, as well as other merchandise. The line was surprisingly quick. Then we went through security again to get onto one of the shuttle buses to Cépie, this year’s village. Cépie was completely closed off except for one point, where we went through security again. The French weren’t messing around. Gendarmes were everywhere, and all the roads to the village were blocked with concrete barriers.

A note here: backpacks were not allowed. This has long been common practice in museums, and a good thing, too, because nobody wants to get whacked by somebody’s backpack when the person wearing it turns around. It seems that backpacks are being rejected elsewhere, so remember to pack a cross-body bag for your travels.





Not only did the organizers think to have event-specific tokens (no refunds), but they even put them on lanyards. You also could buy a cord with a holder for your glass. No wondering where you set it down or which one is yours. They also sold T-shirts, bandanas, aprons and straw hats.



It was packed. Cépie covers just over six square kilometers and has a population of 665 when everybody is home. This weekend, a record 45,000 people packed in for Toques et Clochers. The weather was heavenly and the setting was gorgeous, with the peaks of the Pyrénées peeking above the rooftops.


We arrived just in time for the parade of church replicas. Each village whose belltower has been restored had a replica, often carried atop a wine barrel or wheeled along on a wine barrel by costumed villagers. I loved the variety of epochs for the costumes and the contemporary interpretations.






There were several bands, marching and later on stages around the village (which is so small, the music all mixed together a bit–strains of jazz on the left, country on the right). Drums seem to be a big thing. There was a kids’ corps, a women’s corps, a mixed corps…. Miss Cépie led a throng of small and smaller children, who were dressed (decorated?) as flowers and sunshine. Awww!





The whole village seemed to have taken up the cause. Houses were spiffed up and decorated, mostly with recycled materials–plastic bottles and corks were turned into flowers, insects, even furniture.









We wandered up and down the little lanes, sticking to the shade. Not everybody was prudent; lots of winter white skin was broiled to a painful red by late afternoon. It was a sea of humanity–or at least a good-sized lake. In French, the term is la foule, and when candidates plunge in to shake hands (and there were many local politicos present!), ils prennent un bain de foule–they take a crowd bath. The Carnivore wasn’t careful and as he tried to scratch his head found his hand grabbed by some ballot-seeker.

Despite the ubiquity of alcohol, the relative youth of the attendees and the tight quarters, the afternoon was extremely good-natured and well-mannered. The organizers had wisely switched to all-plastic, from the glasses to the bottles of wine, and had provided lots of trash points, so there was little litter despite the intense concentration of humanity.


The “toques” part was well-represented, with purveyors of gastronomic goodies, such as bio, or organic, veal burgers, specialty macarons, seafood, cheeses, and lots and lots of duck and foie gras.








Before catching the shuttle bus back to the parking lots, the gendarmes helpfully had a table set up for people to voluntarily test whether they were sober enough to drive.

We avoided that problem by inviting friends to come with us to fill up our car, and then I was the designated driver–water only–called the capitain de la soirée in France and “Bob” in Belgium. I remember driving around Brussels and seeing the electronic signs that usually warn of traffic jams reading “Avec Bob au volant, les fêtes se passent en sécurité” or something like that. I was perplexed. I knew that voler means to fly or to steal (yup!), so volant should mean flying or stealing–the present participle. “With Bob stealing…???” Main non! I just hadn’t acquired an adequate automotive vocabulary–un volant is a steering wheel–flying/stealing/steering…of COURSE. So the slogan was “With Bob (designated driver) behind the wheel, the holidays are safe.” A good idea in any language.

That looks like fun. Next year…………
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Yes! And you’re so close.
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How fun and my kind of gathering.
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Yes, it really was fun, so good-natured.
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I guess we need to change our time to visit France from the fall to spring some year. We have been to some fun festivals though. Food and wine….what’s not to love.
Ali
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Fall is a good time for festivals, too. Lots of vendage/harvest themes. But you probably would enjoy seeing a different season at least once.
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Marvelous shots of the occasion!
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The weather and setting were so gorgeous, it was hard not to get good photos.
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What a fun read! Thank you.
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💕👍😄
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I so enjoyed this post! This is the France I love – village life, with all the traditions and delicious food. 🙂
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Do you ever visit the south of France? There are quite a few events like this throughout the year.
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Yes, we have friends that live just south of Montpellier, and we’ll very likely visit them in August – especially since we plan on living there (hopefully sooner rather than later)! 🙂
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You must visit Carcassonne!
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I went to Carcassonne many years ago, and I am definitely looking forward to another visit. Some friends of ours were hinting at us moving there – for their own benefit, I’m sure! 🙂
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It’s a great place. Not too big, so everything is pretty easy, but big enough to have what you need. And Montpellier and Toulouse are each about an hour away for special things.
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Blanquette de Limoux is Very Good Stuff.
Great photos, and it looks like a wonderfully enjoyable day.
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It was very nice, and very well-organized (which probably kept it nice).
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You write the MOST joyous blog posts! Thank you so much for making my very grey Missouri day much sunnier and more alcoholic. 🙂
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I think the best way to take part in the joy is to come for a visit. The airfare can be pricey, but the rest doesn’t have to be.
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🙂 That would indeed be joyous! Thank you. In fact, we just returned 48 hours ago from a lovely trip to Lisbon after a long, lazy transatlantic cruise, proving once again that the world is so full of gorgeous places to see and wonderful people to meet.
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That sounds wonderful. I love Lisbon.
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This is so amazing – have been wanting to go for years, but having read your article I will definitely go next year!! Thank you for the motivation!
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You will love it.
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Sounds like a fun festival! (Any festival which bans backpacks is one after my own heart!!!!!! Have been whacked far too many times in crowds by them!) I hadn’t heard of the Toques et Clochers festival before, but am glad I know about it now. Would love to take part in the day and contribute to such a good cause 🙂
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Toques et Clochers happens every April, so mark your calendar.
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Typically its the Saturday before Palm Sunday. So it could be March or April. Check your calendar. Awesome article!!! Great event. Part of the whole experience of coming to this region. Make sure you visit the wineries and of course the medieval city of Carcassone.
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Glad you enjoyed it. Next year: March 24-25 in Loupia.
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Saint Polycarpe – does pay to Google. The belltower replicas are magnificent, as is the cork furniture. Delighted to hear of yet another festival.
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Thank you!
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