Long weekend festivals draw big crowds

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This article was published 03/08/2022 (1199 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Last weekend might have been the busiest in Westman since COVID-19 restrictions ended.

Events were held all over the region, from the Super Run car show and IRAL Summer Fest reggae festival in Brandon, to the 90th anniversary celebrations at the International Peace Garden, Canada’s National Ukrainian Festival in Dauphin, Sights and Sounds in Killarney, Rockin’ the Fields of Minnedosa and the Austin Threshermen’s Reunion.

According to Jane Ireland of the Killarney Turtle Mountain Arts Council, Sights and Sounds was a bigger affair this year after last year’s premiere of the event was smaller in scale due to COVID-19.

“The performers ended up playing much longer than they were supposed to on almost every day just because they didn’t want to get off the stage,” Ireland said. “They were having such a good time.”

On top of the music, there were hair-braiding stations, kids’ activities, a beer garden, a vendors’ market and the Los Brothers Street Food truck out of Brandon.

Ireland said that truck is definitely coming back if she has anything to say about it, adding there will likely be more food trucks in general at next year’s edition.

Though she was still figuring out attendance numbers on Tuesday, Ireland said she believes the crowd for the weekend was more than double the size of last year’s. Friday and Saturday were the event’s busiest days, with more than 100 people there each night.

Going into next year, Ireland said Celtic, country and indie-folk artists have been very popular at the event, and they’ll likely bring in more musicians from those genres.

Next year’s festival may be scheduled after the August long weekend to avoid competition with other events, Ireland said.

At Rockin’ the Fields of Minnedosa, organizing committee secretary Vaughan Boles was also still going through records to determine the attendance, but he believes it was the biggest crowd the event has ever seen.

For the first time, all three of the event’s campgrounds were sold out.

“There weren’t very many places left to sit or stand,” Boles said.

With potential event-disrupting weather, he said Westman Storm Chasers were on hand to track weather systems and make sure guests weren’t in danger.

On Saturday, the final act on the main stage warned the audience they were unlikely to get through the last song on their setlist due to weather and ended up having to stop just then — the last minute or two of their final song.

Other than that and another performance disrupted on the upper stage, the weather didn’t wreak too much havoc on the festival.

“All in all, it’s Manitoba and it was the August long weekend, so you kinda expect some weather,” Boles said.

No major incidents occurred during the festival, with the most common injury coming from sunburns. Boles said festivalgoers are typically respectful and know that serious troublemakers will be banned for life.

The highlight of the weekend for Boles was when Boston singer Tommy DeCarlo performed in Minnedosa for the first time, followed by Sweet energizing the crowd with renditions of “Little Willy” and “Ballroom Blitz.”

In March, longtime event volunteer and board president Alan Logan unexpectedly died. Boles said he believes Logan would have been proud of what was accomplished this year.

“We had a nice picture of him in one of the offices,” Boles said. “We all had a little chat with him now and then.”

The Sun was unable to reach representatives from Canada’s National Ukrainian Festival, the International Peace Garden or the Austin Threshermen’s Reunion for comment.

In an email from Cpl. Julie Courchaine of the Manitoba RCMP, she wrote that only minor incidents were reported in relations to event from the weekend with nothing of note to mention.

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