Crocus festival cancelled due to pandemic
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/05/2020 (2173 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
While Manitoba’s famous crocuses are on full display right now, the people of Arden didn’t get a chance to celebrate their usual spring coming-out party due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Normally held on the first Saturday of May, the Arden Crocus Festival has been a mainstay of the Westman village since 2001, during which locals get to indulge in a variety of family-friendly activities such as wagon rides, magic shows and pancake breakfasts after a long winter.
However, event organizer Terry Buechler knew this year’s festival was doomed when coronavirus-related concerns forced them to cancel their March 28 fundraiser, which normally foots the bill for a lot of the festival’s activities.
“It was basically a no-brainer once we had to cancel the fundraiser,” she said on May 12.
“That’s when we knew that we had to cancel the crocus festival altogether, because we didn’t have the funds to put it on.”
For someone who’s been organizing this event for the last 15 years, Buechler said she was really looking forward to a few returning activities, such as the quilt raffle that already sold close to 100 tickets in March.
Even more heartbreaking was the cancellation of the Arden Crocus Festival photo contest, which is one of the event’s biggest attractions and was set to make a return after a year-long hiatus.
“For the photo contest, we’ve had entrants from all over Manitoba,” Buechler said. “In the past, they had upwards of 150 crocus pictures submitted.”
However, Buechler’s favourite crocus festival event remains their annual Poohstick race — a game inspired by A.A. Milne’s “Winnie the Pooh” stories where a group of children race blocks of wood down a river.
While the Crocus Capital of Manitoba remains on lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak, Buechler said Westman resident are still welcome to seek out the flowers themselves, as long as they maintain social distance while doing so.
Otherwise, all the money that was already invested in this year’s festivities, such as the quilt raffle tickets, will be carried over into 2021.
“I look forward to seeing everybody next year,” Buechler said.
Arden is located approximately 100 kilometres northeast of Brandon and has a population of 150 people.
» kdarbyson@brandonsun.com
» Twitter: @KyleDarbyson