Giant Cluedo in Clairvaux, fireworks festival… Aube supports good ideas for summer holidays

And six! The twenty winners of the 2025 edition of the ideas competition led by Aube en Champagne Attractivité (ACA) and the Slow Tourisme Lab gathered this Friday, April 25, at the Théâtre Équestre de Champagne, in Radonvilliers (Aube), for the awards ceremony. For six years, the departmental council has supported tourism professionals who innovate and stand out in an ultra-competitive world. "The competition has a budget of 50,000 euros," says Christelle Taillardat, director of ACA, "and prizes range from 500 to 5,000 euros."

Recipients do not receive any money, but are rewarded with services, such as the purchase of advertising materials or support from ACA teams. Among the criteria used to select some twenty organizations: offering immersive experiences and prioritizing local development and short supply chains are particularly valued.

Here are five of the winners of this 2025 edition.

It was a crazy gamble that was about to pay off. In Radonvilliers, a town with fewer than 350 inhabitants, the Théâtre Équestre de Champagne is the main attraction. Near Lake Amance, in the east of the department, Claire Bertin and her husband Jean-Baptiste embarked on the project of a lifetime. An amateur equestrian artist for about fifteen years, the young woman took the plunge, and the couple invested more than €100,000 to build this theater, which features a 32-meter-long and 20-meter-wide riding arena, facing a 184-seat grandstand.

Launched in November 2024 , the theater will experience its first full season in the heart of the Forêt d'Orient, offering numerous shows.

Who stole the register from the disciplinary unit of Clairvaux Prison? This is the investigation that the "Renaissance de l'Abbaye de Clairvaux" association is proposing to conduct, starting July 7 and ending August 31, every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at 4:45 p.m.

For about an hour and a half, in a cell block of the former abbey that has become a prison, you will have to be brave to find the culprit(s). Active from 1804 to 2023, the central prison of Clairvaux, in the east of the department, near Haute-Marne and Côte-d'Or, has housed famous inmates such as Claude Gueux, who inspired Victor Hugo to write one of his first books against the death penalty, but also the terrorist Carlos, Régis Schleicher, one of the members of Action Direct, and Guy Georges, the killer of eastern Paris.

It's a three-act play that attracted over 3,000 spectators last year for its third edition. The fourth edition of the Pyro'Festival will be held on Saturday, September 27, 2025, at the Domaine de Vermoise, in the Sainte-Maure region, a few kilometers from Troyes. With its three hectares of land, the estate, popular with future brides and grooms, is the ideal setting for this pyrotechnic festival that dusts off the image we sometimes have of our good old Bastille Day fireworks.

The Pyro'Festival thus offers three acts, at 9 p.m., 10 p.m., and 11 p.m., with a total of 20,000 fireworks. Each act is interspersed with an intermission that allows for a treat at the nearby food truck village. After the final act, the evening continues until 1 a.m.

It's a name that smells good of cycling. Originally from Eure-et-Loir and adopted by Aubois, Guy Gallopin has a solid background as a professional cyclist behind him, having won five Tours de France and three Tours of Spain between 1982 and 1987. His brothers Alain and Joël were also pros, like Tony, Joël's son, stage winner and yellow jersey wearer in the 2014 Grande Boucle. Passionate about Gravel, this hybrid bike between road and mountain bike for cruising on the trails, Guy Gallopin set up, with many volunteers, the Raid Bulles .

It's a 375 km loop around Troyes with an elevation gain that will appeal to experts: 4,250 m. To ensure everyone can find what they're looking for, from war machines to weekend cyclists, the Raid Bulles is divided into nine marked stages. A triangle and two red circles are the distinctive signs of this tailor-made journey, which showcases the white roads, made famous by the 2024 Tour de France, the Champagne wine region, and forest trails.

Specializing in wine tourism for ten years, the Œnosphères agency is offering an exceptional dinner in the heart of the vineyards on Sunday, July 13.

Usually closed to the public, the Clos Sainte-Sophie in Montgueux, a few kilometers from Troyes, will exceptionally open its doors for this timeless evening. The champagnes will be carefully selected by the Jacques Lassaigne estate, based in Montgueux, a region where Chardonnay reigns supreme. In the kitchen, we'll find Troyes-born chef Thomas Dijon, who runs several establishments in the city.

After a cocktail reception punctuated by musical entertainment, guests will be treated to a four-course dinner before enjoying a front-row seat to the Bastille Day fireworks display, launched from the heart of Troyes. Price: €95 per person for the cocktail reception and dinner (wine extra).