Winter Fest celebrates city’s north end

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This article was published 13/02/2022 (1688 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brandon’s Community Sportsplex was filled with hundreds of visitors Saturday for the inaugural Winter Fest — an event designed to help residents get active during the coldest time of the year.

Winter Fest was a free event designed to highlight the north end of the city and the winter activities and amenities available to residents, said the City of Brandon’s North Hub programmer, Katey Rogowsky.

The day featured free sleigh rides, live music, fire pits, hot dogs and hot chocolate, an Indigenous story trail hike, snowshoe rentals, swimming and skating.

“It’s just a way to bring people together to celebrate winter and to get outside and be active … in the most dormant months of the year where we typically spend a lot of times within our homes,” Rogowsky said. “This is a way to get people outside and to get them active and to celebrate the cold winter.”

Winter Fest marked the first large-scale event planning Rogowsky has taken on in Brandon. It came together with a focus placed on highlighting as many cold-weather activities as possible, she said.

She had a list of running ideas for Winter Fest and designed the day around potential COVID-19 public health measures, the weather and budget.

Planning for Winter Fest began in the fall, and the event was initially set to take place at the end of December — it was postponed first due to extremely frigid temperatures and later the spread of the COVID-19 omicron variant.

It was fun bringing together the different activities and finding ways to help build community connections in the Wheat City, Rogowsky said.

“It was so awesome just to see the excitement in people’s eyes,” Rogowsky said. “Seeing our community come together, especially here in the north end — sometimes we don’t have a lot of events happening here and especially at the Sportsplex — so it’s awesome to highlight our facility … seeing people taking chances, making memories and gathering with that sense of community here.”

Indigenous storyteller Dannielle Morrisseau led the Story Trail hike at Hanbury Hill during Winter Fest. The hike took between 45 minutes to an hour to complete, she said, adding she takes her time with groups because the trails are steep and she wants to be careful and ensure people are not overworked.

Periodic stops are made during the walk so participants can rest in a comfortable spot and learn intriguing tales and exciting stories from Morrisseau.

“It’s an Indigenous-led story experience,” she said. “A lot of the stories I tell our sort of folklore, creation myths that surround my culture.”

It has been fun getting to introduce people to these classic tales from her culture.

Morrisseau is a Métis Cree Nation woman from Treaty 2 Territory. She explained the stories she shares with participants are focused on her nation’s folk tales. She added she also shares tales she has personally written.

The majority of stories are tales Morrisseau grew up with, and she found intriguing as a child.

“There are stories about why our leaves go away for the winter, how man came to the Earth. The one story I tell is based on a personal story that happened right before I was born,” Morrisseau said. “My grandfather told my mom I’m not allowed to go to a place called Pisew Falls, which is located up north, and the mysticism surrounding that.”

The cautionary tale led Morrisseau to create a story about a girl who goes on a hike, gets lost on her journey leading her to meet a pisew (Lynx in Cree). The pisew guides her home, but on her journey back, the girl comes across a great spirit that wants to take her back to the falls and keep her there forever.

Creating the story trail has been a fun and unique experience. Morrisseau first began designing the initiative in December — the initial walk was supposed to take place at the end of 2021, but it was cancelled due to extreme weather.

A future Story Trail hike is planned at the end of February. Morrisseau hopes to continue on Story Trail activities into the spring and summer.

For those looking to participate in a Story Trail walk, Morrisseau said three things are essential — dressing warm, coming in with an open mind and being prepared for a rigorous hike in the snow.

Brandonite Kobe Lim brought his easy-going and laid-back tunes to the Winter Fest outdoor stage.

The musician had fun playing to guests, he said, despite the frigid temperatures.

He has had limited opportunities to play for a live audience in the last two years and relished the opportunity to break out his guitar and bring his dulcet tones to audiences.

It has been more than two years since he had the opportunity to play and engage with crowds like he did at Winter Fest.

Lim enjoyed getting to play and the people he worked with because of the friendliness and kindness organizers brought to Winter Fest.

“Honestly, I think, any circumstances whether it’s in the cold or not, as long as I get the chance to do it now it’s fun. The chance to play is few and far between I’m happy to just be playing,” Lim said.

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