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As the hometown of La Bolduc, Chandler is much better known as an epicentre of chanson than of country music. However, that doesn't stop folks from all over the region coming to the Pabos Recreation Park (Parc récréatif de Pabos) for four nights of country line dancing and rollicking musical performances by local bards — including, in its 2014 iteration, a Shania Twain tribute show par excellence. But music is only one facet of the experience at the Pabos Country Fair: this is a full-scale country hoedown, with a horse show, target-shooting demonstrations, thrilling horse races, food and drink, and, on opening day, a grand parade through the streets of Pabos with inflatable floats.
Galerie d'art Linda-Molloy
A self-taught watercolourist whose lovely landscapes and happy scenes of life on the shore of Chaleur Bay are painted in a bright yet not garish palette, Chandler native Linda Molloy operates a cozy, yet bright and airy, gallery in an unassuming two-story house on a quiet side street in Pabos Mills.
Site Mary Travers dite: « La Bolduc »
Located on the wave-lapped shore of Chaleur Bay in Newport, a 15-minute drive from downtown Chandler, is this museum dedicated to the Cinderella story of local native Mary Travers, an ordinary working-class housewife who became, in the 1920s and 1930s, one of the most famous and innovative voices in chanson, or Québécois folk music. The museum's permanent collection includes artifacts, historic photos, recorded music, and other items that tell the story of the "Queen of Canadian Folk Singers", and temporary exhibits and special events are frequently featured as well. You can also catch spirited musical performances over tea in the cozy little onsite performance space, with modern-day chansonniers singing the songs of La Bolduc and her contemporaries.
Site archéologique de Pabos
Located in Pabos Mills at the east end of Pabos Borough Park (Parc du bourg de Pabos), this site encompasses the former grounds of the manor of Jean-François Lefebvre de Bellefeuille, the seigneur (feudal lord) of Pabos from 1729 until 1758. There's a marked trail with bilingual interpretive plaques that leads visitors around the former townsite and past the remains of the chapel, an old mill, some fishing shacks, and the town cemetery. At the interpretive centre, artifacts of both European and Indigenous provenance are displayed, and plenty of exhibits are on hand for those interested in the history of Pabos as an 18th-century fishing village.
Club de golf de Chandler
Founded in 1950, the Chandler Golf Club is an 18-hole, par-72 course that's suitable for all skill levels, sandwiched between buzzing downtown Chandler and the wide Chaleur Bay with stunning seaside views that do double duty as a formidable water trap on some of the holes. Uniquely, each hole also boasts an interpretive panel that covers some aspect of Chandler's identity: from historical factoids to local lore to ideas for places to visit around town. Club and cart rental are also available, and courses for beginners are offered by licensed golf instructor David Huard. Website in French only..