Indian pavilion coming to Westman Multicultural Festival; Mexican, Métis pavilions returning

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Nine pavilions will showcase Brandon’s diversity at the 15th annual Westman Multicultural Festival.

Preparations are underway for the three-day event, formerly known as the Lieutenant Governor’s Winter Festival. It will take place Feb. 1-3, 2018.

“We held a couple of information sessions in the fall, so that encouraged some new groups to come out,” said Wanda Kurchaba, secretary with the Westman Multicultural Festival Society.

For the first time, there will be an Indian pavilion, organized by the Punjabi Cultural Association of Brandon.

“We’re going to do our best to try to feature as much of India as we can,” said pavilion co-ordinator Gautam Srivastava. “Obviously there will be some growing pains because it’s our first year, but as the years go on we hope to build the pavilion.”

The Indian pavilion will feature a variety of both vegetarian and non-vegetarian cuisine, such as samosas, butter chicken, chickpea curry and naan.

“For the first year, we’re trying to keep things simple,” Srivastava said. “A lot of things people have heard of and they’ll be able to associate with Indian food.”

As far as entertainment goes, there will be a wide variety of song and dance, featuring local artists as well as dance troupes from Winnipeg.

Srivastava moved to Brandon four years ago, and is a professor at Brandon University. He is excited to share the Indian culture with the wider community.

“For me being a Canadian, but of Indian descent, I think (the festival) is very important for people in Brandon where the Indian community may be a little bit newer, or growing,” he said. “To just feature some of the things so that people can become familiar with our culture.”

After a long hiatus, the Mexican pavilion will be back in the festival.

“We’re very excited to share our culture again with our community,” said pavilion co-ordinator Carlos Munoz. “We will have all the great things that people love about Mexico and so that we’re as authentic as possible, our entertainers will be coming to Canada from Mexico specifically to perform at the festival.”

The Métis pavilion will also be back in the mix, after a year off. The returning pavilions are: England, Honduras, Ireland, Philippines, Scotland and Ukraine.

“Things are coming together really nicely,” Kurchaba said. “We’re excited to be up two pavilions (from last year), which just means that there’s interest in the community and certainly still a lot of interest for people to come out.”

Organizers describe the event as “a welcome winter respite as festival-goers enjoy warm friendship, food, beverages, entertainment, art and customs from around the world.”

Event details are still being finalized. Up-to-date information will be added to the festival website, gotothepavilions.com, as it becomes available.

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