Tracadie-Sheila, New Brunswick
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Tracadie-Sheila is a town in New Brunswick, Canada with a population in 2001 of 4,724. It is best-known today as the hometown of Wilfred Le Bouthillier, winner of the 2003 Quebec reality show Star Académie. The success of the young singer, known simply as Wilfred, resulted in a significant rise in tourism of the small Acadian town.
Tracadie and Sheila are separate communities whose municipal governments were merged in 1991. Tracadie is significantly larger than Sheila, and the area is often still referred to simply as "Tracadie".
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Tourism & Culture
The area is home to a number of sandy beaches, Val-Comeau being the most popular, which is protected as a Provincial Park. The beaches can usually be enjoyed from June until September, the water being too cold before and after that period.
Signage is in French as most inhabitants of the Acadian Peninsula, where the town is located, are predominantly french speaking.
Apart from Wilfred Le Bouthillier who won the Star Académie competition, the town is also home to pop singer Jean-François Breau. Well-known AIDS militant Dr. Réjean Thomas and opera singer Michèle Losier, who both now reside in Montréal, are from the neighbouring village of St-Isidore, part of the greater Tracadie area.
Tracadie-Sheila is also home to a number of nightclubs on the main street through town, known as "The Strip", which attracts party-goers from all over New Brunswick and other provinces.
Economy
Unfortunately the region suffers from high unemployment and depends on federal government assistance to compensate for the weak economic performance of the last decades. Most well paid jobs tend to be government-related, including teachers, nurses and doctors. Other important employers are in the service industry with a few industrial plants in the town's Parc Industriel. Tourism is an important seasonal employer, particularly in the summer months of June, July and August as thousands of vacationers, mostly from neighbouring Québec, come for the sea and hospitality.
Education
Tracadie-Sheila is home to three French schools: the École La Rûche, a K to 5 primary school, the École Le Tremplin for students from grades 6 to 8, and the École Polyvalente W.-A. Losier, a high school for students from grades 9 to 12. There is also a French-language campus of the New Brunswick Community College. The public library is located in the Hotel de ville, located where the old hospital used to stand.
Transportation
The closest airport is Bathurst's (IATA code: ZBF), located approximately 75 kilometres west of the town. The airport is served by Air Canada Jazz with twice daily flights to Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport. Via Rail Canada is also located in Bathurst with daily service to Montréal.
Road transportation is possible through highway 11 which links the town to Caraquet and Shippagan to the north and Miramichi to the south. Route 160 connects Tracadie-Sheila to Bathurst through St-Isidore and Allardville. Highway 11 was recently diverted outside of the town centre because of the high traffic on The Strip.