Summer Festival Guide
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Pioneer Days
The Pioneer Days festival is a longstanding tradition in Steinbach. The annual event, put on by the Mennonite Heritage Village (MHV) museum, celebrates two noteworthy milestones in 2024. While this year marks 60 years of operation for MHV, Pioneer Days will also fall on the 150th anniversary of Mennonites’ first arrival in Manitoba.
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Real Love Summer Fest
The name Real Love Winnipeg is a familiar one to virtually any virtual music fan. The independent concert promotion company, started by Gil Carroll and Adam Soloway in 2012, didn’t plan on starting their own festival. But following an invite in 2014 to organize something on the grounds of the Matlock Festival of Music, Art and Nature, the duo developed what would eventually become Real Love Summer Fest.
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Festival Listings
It’s a gargantuan task to keep track of all of the various festivals taking place in a single province, especially one as committed to merrymaking as Manitoba.
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Manitoba Sunflower Festival
The Manitoba Sunflower Festival (MSF) has been a fun-filled, family-orientated festival in Altona, Man. since 1964.
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Gimli International Film Festival
Heading into their 24th year, the Gimli International Film Festival (GIFF) shows no signs of slowing down.
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Pride Winnipeg
Pride Winnipeg is celebrating its 13th year at The Forks, and it’s bigger than ever. The theme this year is “Transcend Together.” According to Pride Winnipeg’s website, the theme “embodies the collective strength and unity within the queer community. It emphasizes the empowerment and resilience of trans individuals, advocating for the protection of trans rights and the celebration of their unique identities.”
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Blue Hills Fibre Festival
Located a two-hour, scenic drive west from Winnipeg is the town of Carberry which hosts the annual Blue Hills Fibre Festival (BHFF). Founded in 2013, BHFF gives artists an opportunity to share in the making of all types of fibre crafts.
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The Winnipeg Underground Film Festival
Winnipeg is a city with a rich cinematic culture and history. As such, there’s no shortage of local film festivals during the summer season. However, for films that truly can’t be seen anywhere else, local cineastes should set their sights on the Winnipeg Underground Film Festival (WUFF).
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Winnipeg International Burlesque Festival
What exactly is burlesque? It’s a word that conjures up a particular mental image of risqué turn-of-the-century stage acts with sharp wit and sexually charged energy. When asked to define “burlesque,” DD Brassiere, director of the Winnipeg International Burlesque Festival (WIBF), has a more direct response.
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Confessions of a festival apprehensionist
I have a confession to make. It’s something that I’d find embarrassing to admit in any context. I’m particularly bashful sharing it in the pages of the first Uniter festival guide since 2019. But if I’m going to be writing about festivals, I have to fess up.
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The return of the Summer Festival Guide
Manitoba might have a reputation, among both Manitobans and outsiders, as a sleepy corner of the Canadian Prairies. But it’s getting harder for detractors to keep the truth under wraps: Manitoba is party country.
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Writing in the summertime
Green leaves are growing back, the city is bubbling with activity, there are more jovial faces on the streets, and there is no need to layer up, because it is nice out! How about channeling all those summer vibes into a place poem or an ekphrastic poem?
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Real Love Summer Fest
While they do boast one local favourite as a headliner (Begonia), the co-artistic directors of Real Love Summer Fest are focusing on bringing “out-of-the-box artists” to the small festival in Teulon, Man.
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Folklorama turns 50
Folklorama started in 1970 as a one-time celebration of Manitoba’s centennial and is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. The festival is known as the world’s largest and longest-running cultural festival.
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Follow the Sun off the Grid Yoga Festival
Follow the Sun off the Grid Yoga Festival is in its third year of offering a one-day festival at Eternal Springs, just south of Lenore, Man.
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Manitoba Stampede and Exhibition
The Manitoba Stampede and Exhibition, Manitoba’s only professional rodeo, has its roots in the town of Morris, Man.
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Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival
The Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival is in its 32nd year, and Chuck McEwen, the festival producer, says they try to make the festival accessible and affordable to everyone in the community and visitors.
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Winnipeg Folk Festival
The Winnipeg Folk Festival is now in its 46th year and features a variety of musical genres.
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Heart of the Nation Music Festival
Ego Spank will play at Heart of the Nation.
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Summer festivals and sober joy
Over the last year, I’ve been contemplating the distance between not drinking and being sober, and that gap shows up even more prominently when it comes to summer activities, especially festivals.