While the aisles are already jammed with Halloween bric à brac, I'm here to remind you that summer's still on and the festivals are still coming! Forget pumpkin spice, I suggest we change the name of this in-between space to Ladyfest Season!

Montreal loves festivals. Montreal loves comedy. In fact, it feels like we should have some sort of comedy festival, like a week long, featuring different comedians doing their unique thing. It feels like that would be super successful, the kind of thing you’d have to try really hard to fuck up.

On September 4th, 2015, three intrepid women in Montreal’s comedy scene launched the first edition of Ladyfest. Organized by Erin Hall, Katie Leggitt, and Lar Vi, the comedy festival ran for three days at Theatre Sainte-Catherine.

I was going to start this off by saying that this wasn’t my first Porchfest, and cast myself as some sort of veteran of the annual NDG DIY music festival trying to see it through fresh eyes. But after attending both days of Porchfest NDG this past weekend, I realized that this was my first full Porchfest experience.

As I arrived at Girouard Park in NDG, I already felt a bit overdressed. It was a beautiful sunny Saturday afternoon in early May, something that doesn’t happen every year. It felt appropriate that I was meeting Aurora Robinson and Sarah Ring, the two founders and current organizers of Porchfest NDG, an event that benefitted from unseasonable warmth like this for its very first edition in 2015. This bit of good fortune was not lost on the pair, though they decided to play it safer with future iterations.

The Mile End has bagels, thrift stores and hipsters, Vieux Montreal has outstanding architecture, history and every tourist over the age of 42. Not many people who visit Montreal would think to head to NDG, which is exactly one of the reasons that Walter Lyng calls it his home.

My love for live stand up comedy bloomed at the Just for Laughs Festival (JFL) many summers ago. I was swept up by the magic comedians can create with only a few ingredients, primarily a microphone and a room full of lovely people. When I got on stage for the first time my love only deepened.

This spring, stand-up comedy fans will have a NEW festival to express their love and appreciation for the craft. Better yet, if it's your first time, you may just fall in love as I did. Enter: GIGGLEFEST.