Winnipeg Folk Festival hopes little changes will make a lot of difference

Services increased to help attendees feel more comfortable at 37th annual event

Winnipeg Folk Festival organizers are doing their best to ensure that festival-goers have a good time. Brian Goldschmied
Emmylou Harris headlines the opening night of this year’s Winnipeg Folk Festival. Rocky Schenck
I can’t drive 55: Andrew Bird.

Less than two weeks before the Winnipeg Folk Festival, executive director Tamara Kater describes the mood in the office as one of excitement.

“It’s that delicious combination of kind of frantically having to get a lot of work done, but geez, isn’t this all exciting?” she said at the end of June. “It’s a unique feeling where the event is just around the corner and it becomes ever more real.”

It will be even more real when the 37th annual event begins on Wednesday, July 7 at Birds Hill Provincial Park, running until Sunday, July 11. More than 75 musical acts will perform over the course of the event, which also includes a folk school, programs for young performers and young visual artists, over 100 artisans, children’s programming, a visual art exhibition and a food village.

Many people are looking forward to main stage performances by the likes of American singer-songwriter legend Emmylou Harris, Tragically Hip frontman Gord Downie and his band The Country of Miracles, as well as acclaimed indie-folk artist Andrew Bird.

But when talking about the acts she’s most looking forward to, Kater is sure to mention the Manitoba talent that will be on display.

“Seeing local, hometown favourites like Romi Mayes play the main stage is going to be fantastic,” she said. “And Del Barber, who was in our young performers program two years ago, will be at the festival as well. It’s a really nice thing for us to see him moving along in his career when he spent his earlier days learning the ropes with the Winnipeg Folk Festival.”

When it comes to the changes that the staff has made to the festival for this year, Kater said it’s quite a few little things that add up to a lot.

In addition to capping its daily attendance at 14,000, the festival has improved parking lot management to make it easier for people to arrive at and leave the site. There are more portable toilets, wider pathways, more shaded areas and two additional daytime stages.

Seeing local, hometown favourites like Romi Mayes play the main stage is going to be fantastic.

Tamara Kater, executive director, Winnipeg Folk Festival

“None of (the changes) are major in and of themselves, but they all add up to us making sure that the 14,000 people that are there have a good time,” Kater said.

The festival will also feature wireless Internet, a cell phone charging station at the audience services tent and an iPhone application festival-goers will be able to download to help them plan their schedule at the festival and learn more about the performers.

“We’ll still have the good old fashioned program – we’ll never get rid of that – but the iPhone app will give people an alternative way to plan their festival and discover new artists.”

Kater also stresses the initiatives the festival is taking to reduce its environmental impact – initiatives she hopes will stimulate festival-goers’ thoughts about their own carbon footprint when it comes to transportation.

The festival is organizing bike rides from Elmwood High School to the festival site and transporting participants’ gear in a van.

The festival is also encouraging people who do drive their cars to the festival to leave it parked for the weekend and take advantage of the shuttles provided.

“We have been at the forefront of a lot of (environmental) initiatives in the past, but it’s really time for the festival to tackle the transportation issue,” Kater said. “We’re starting to do that this year, and the organized bike ride is a step in the right direction.”

Visit http://www.winnipegfolkfestival.ca.

Published in Volume 64, Number 27 of The Uniter (June 30, 2010)

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