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| - 5 stars under the "Awesome for what it is" policy. On a rolling patch of green stretching east down "the mountain" every Sunday a uniquely Montreal happening unfolds. Across an area the size of several football fields loosely centered around the iconic George-Étienne Cartier Monument a crowd of 200 to 5000+ assembles. Some are families with picnic blankets, some are students with frisbees, some are artisan vendors with permits to layout their hemp necklaces and other quirky goods for sale along the walkways. There are always drums, sometimes two or three different circles, sometimes they all converge. Anyone can come and join in, there are players of all ages and experiences and the rhythm throughout the day is a kind of organic, anarchic happy flow. Tripped out hippies form dance circles around the drummers and brave tourists let themselves get caught up as well.
There is marijuana in the air throughout, which Montrealers are used to, but for tourists, don't worry, be happy! It's a happy, sunny, funny scene with people of all kinds. There is nothing spectacular to see here, just a Sunday afternoon in a park. But if you like to daydream while people-watching to pulsing rhythms on a green hill, you will enjoy this. Don't miss the circus artists who usually practice a little ways a way from the crowds, or the medieval warriors who are especially witty during election season with their shields made out of campaign posters.
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