50 Years of TV - Tele 7 Mural

50 Years of Looking at It our Way

Near 222, Frontenac Street
Wide: 120 feet
High: 35 feet
Realisation: MURIRS, 2006

This mural focuses on the fiftieth anniversary of the CHLT-TV television channel (1956-2006). It highlights several artists of the regional cultural community. The spectator can recognize some well-known figures: TV, visual arts, dance, music personalities, and many others that stood out in an original way, on a local or international level, like Garou, an artist from Sherbrooke.
The mural shows a gala where around thirty guests of honour, from across fifty years of history, are gathered on a red carpet, at the entrance of a fictitious venue.

CHLT-TV first settled at the corner of the Frontenac and Dufferin Streets in a building from 1887 (which still exists), an old place used for cultural purposes formerly named the Sherbrooke Library and Art Association.

In the following video, one of the first artists of the Sherbrooke local television presents The old Soirée canadienne TV show and its host, Louis Bilodeau.

Tonton’s Circus

You’ll spot the late TV host Robert De Courcel painted on the right-hand side of the mural if you’re visiting in person. A pioneer of Sherbrooke television, he’s wearing a sailor’s hat—just like Tonton Bonbon, a character from the children’s show Le cirque à Tonton.

In the following video, Robert De Courcel shares memories of what left a lasting impression on him during the early days of television.