The spirit of Carnaval was alive at Ecole Percy Pegler School in Okotoks on Friday.

The school held it's own Carnaval which included the mascot Bonhomme, outdoor and indoor activities, and traditional French Canadian treats.

Carnaval de Québec, or Quebec Winter Carnival, is a festival held in Quebec City which first began in 1894 and has been held in the city consistently since 1955, which is the year Bonhomme the mascot was brought to life.

Dinah Van Donzel, principal, says celebrating Carnaval helps to give purpose to second language learning for their French Immersion program.

"It creates that open mindedness for students around being in land locked Alberta that they have a perspective of all sorts of other cultures and of course the Francophone culture is something we're a part of and emulate in our building with our French immersion."

In 2006 up to one million people attended Carnaval in Quebec which made it one of the largest winter festivals in the world.

Van Donzel says the event is well received by students.

"We always end up looking at our stations going 'yeah, this is really typically traditional' and we love it all and the kids love it all," she says. "They're super excited about participating in sort of a sports day organization but then having the theme of Carnaval."

According to Van Donzel the school's been running the program for about 15 years.

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