Rouses Point, Champlain poutine challenge underway

ROUSES POINT — Those competing in this year’s third annual poutine challenge in Clinton County’s Northern Tier will have more time than ever to complete it.

The challenge, which tasks competitors with visiting and eating poutine — a popular French-Canadian dish that consists of French fries with gravy and cheese curds — from four of the six participating restaurants throughout the Champlain and Rouses Point region, started July 1 and will now conclude on Aug. 31.

This year’s restaurants involved in the challenge are: Gino’s Pizza, Best Friends Diner, Sandy’s Deli and Frencheez in Rouses Point; and Borderview Grocery and North Country Golf Club in Champlain.

Those who participate will again need a poutine passport so it can be stamped and verified at each restaurant. These can be obtained from any of the restaurants and each completed passport requires a name, phone number, address and shirt size to be filled out.

The first 20 participants who complete their passport and drop it off or mail it to the Town of Champlain office will get a free T-shirt.

INCREASE PARTICIPATION

The past two years, the challenge was only held in August.

After sampling poutine from Best Friends Diner Thursday morning, Town of Champlain Supervisor Tom Trombley said the timeframe change was made in order to increase participation from the public.

“To try to give people more time,” he said.

“A lot of people are busy so we thought if we gave them two months, we might get a better turnout.”

Trombley said so far, one person completed the challenge on July 2, which was “impressive” in just a day’s time.

Last year, overall, there were just around 6 to 8 people who completed the challenge.

However, Village of Rouses Point Administrator Chris Latremore, who attended Thursday’s visit to the Rouses Point restaurant on behalf of Mayor John LaBonte, said the number of people who participated in the challenge, but didn’t actually complete it, is likely much higher.

Village of Champlain Mayor Janet McFetridge said the extra month makes the challenge easier to digest for participants.

“When it was only over one month, you had to have poutine every week,” she said.

“Or a couple times a week to get it done,” Trombley added.

ATTRACTING VISITORS

The challenge, which is similar to the Town of Plattsburgh’s Michigan Month that also kicked off earlier this month, has the same goal in mind of attracting new visitors to the region and introducing them to a new delicacy.

“It’s mostly to just attract people to come try our restaurants … come visit,” Trombley said.

“A lot of people really don’t know what the Champlain Village, Town and Village of Rouses Point have to offer,” Latremore added.

McFetridge said the challenge also helps to highlight the importance of the region’s connection to Canada.

Best Friends Diner, in particular, is just a few minutes down the road from the U.S. Canadian border.

“A lot of our identity here is tied to Quebec, it’s tied to Canada,” McFetridge said.

“(It’s) the idea of that shared food that we enjoy and want to share way beyond our borders. I think that’s important to share that history with Canada and culture with Canada, and Quebec, in particular … the ties are deep here.”

Trombley, whose ancestors came from Quebec City, agreed that it’s important to promote and display the close connection between the two countries in a border community like theirs.

“I lived here all my life and growing up, the border, it wasn’t a border to me,” Trombley said.

“It was just the same as going to Vermont. It’s just another little step across and you’re still at home.”