Multicultural festival wraps up 3 days of celebration

The Westman Multicultural Festival concluded on Saturday evening after three days of music, dance and food, drawing thousands of visitors through 11 cultural pavilions across the city and celebrating the region’s growing diversity.

Running from Thursday through Saturday, the annual festival once again transformed community spaces into vibrant cultural showcases, where visitors experienced traditions from around the world through performances, cuisine and storytelling.

The 2026 edition was an “overwhelming success,” with strong attendance and smooth operations across the pavilions, festival chair Enver Naidoo told the Sun on Sunday.

“We had an incredible turnout from the community at multiple pavilions,” Naidoo said. “From my perspective, it looked like we definitely would have an increase in participation this year.”

While final attendance figures were still being compiled following late-night programming on Saturday, Naidoo said early estimates suggest the festival drew more than 25,000 visitors over the three days. He said the addition of an 11th pavilion also reflected growing community interest and participation.

For Naidoo, serving as chair for the first time was both rewarding and meaningful.

“Being an immigrant myself and being new to Brandon, to be in this role and support this incredible multicultural event was extremely rewarding,” he said, adding that planning for next year’s festival has already begun with a focus on supporting new cultural groups and enhancing the visitor experience.

The festival’s evolution reflects the changing face of Brandon itself, longtime Westman Scottish Association president Sandy Donald told the Sun.

Donald, who estimates he has helped organize 12 or 13 festivals over the years, said the event has grown alongside the city’s increasing diversity.

“I think the festival has really developed over the years,” he said. “There were some well-established countries that started it, but as Brandon has become more and more cosmopolitan, people coming into Brandon have given us a lot more cultural flavour.”

Donald said the addition of new groups and collaborations, such as the McConnell Irish dancers joining the Scottish pavilion after the Irish pavilion closed, helped broaden entertainment offerings and draw new audiences.

Based on attendance and atmosphere, Donald described the 2026 festival as a success.

“It’s exactly what Brandon needs about the start of February,” he said. “It really invigorates the population. You walk into any one of the pavilions, and the energy and the happiness hit you.”

At the Nigerian pavilion, spokesperson Precious Maduako said visitors were eager to experience both traditional food and dance performances.

“Guests sampled dishes such as jollof rice, fried rice, pepper soup and pounded yam while enjoying dances representing different Nigerian ethnic groups,” she told the Sun.

“The turnout is actually good, great, and a lot of people come in and enjoy the show and enjoy the dishes.”

For Maduako, participating in the festival also carried personal meaning. “It’s lovely. It is very exciting. I get to do what I love doing, which is dancing. It brings about the cultural things and everything.”

The festival plays an important role beyond entertainment, particularly in terms of youth engagement within the community, Nestor Navidad, president of the Hispanic Association of Manitoba (HAMI) pavilion, told the Sun.

“For the Spanish community, it has a great impact, especially for the youth,” Navidad said. “We try to keep our youth away from bad habits and keep them connected with their roots.”

Navidad described his first festival as president as both stressful and rewarding, noting that seeing children and volunteers come together made the effort worthwhile. He said multiculturalism helps build pride and understanding across communities.

“The main goal is to showcase culture and roots and dishes,” he said. “I encourage more cultures to join next year and make it bigger.”

The Ukrainian pavilion also saw strong attendance, according to chair Korrie Hicks, who said numbers appeared higher than last year and feedback from visitors remained positive.

“Everybody waits to come to Ukraine to get the food and the music and the dancing,” Hicks said. New additions this year included a Ukrainian flag-themed drink, expanded dance performances and new menu items such as dumplings with cream dill sauce.

Hicks described the pavilion’s theme this year as one of resilience. “The spirit of Ukraine, with everything that’s going on, is very much alive,” she said.

At the El Salvador pavilion, chair William Contreras said the festival continues to be one of Brandon’s most anticipated events each year.

He said traditional foods such as pupusas and pan con pollo remained central to the experience, while new dancers and volunteers helped keep the pavilion fresh.

“We want to continue these events every year,” Contreras said. “We don’t want to lose this tradition from our country. We want to continue to show everybody our dances, foods and everything about our country.”

Looking ahead, Naidoo said planning for future festivals has already begun, with organizers focusing on growth and improving the visitor experience. He said several cultural groups have already expressed interest in joining the festival, creating the potential for additional pavilions in the coming years.

“One of the lessons learned is how to develop processes and systems that can support the growth of the festival,” Naidoo said. Organizers are also reviewing visitor surveys collected during this year’s event to identify ways to enhance programming and better support volunteer-run pavilions.

Naidoo said the goal moving forward is not only to expand participation but also to build on the momentum of this year’s festival so that future editions offer an even stronger experience for visitors.

» aodutola@brandonsun.com

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