Folk Fest a hit once again, says executive director

They haven’t tallied the full numbers from the five-day weekend yet, but Winnipeg Folk Festival organizers say the 2019 edition of the popular event was an unqualified success.

Folk Fest executive director Lynne Skromeda told 680 CJOB that from the heatwave that covered the weekend, to the all-star lineup of performers, to the sold-out campground, this year’s festival was a memorable one.

“It was pretty incredible, the amount of sunshine we got over the course of the weekend,” said Skromeda.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It was pretty incredible, the amount of sunshine we got over the course of the weekend," said Skromeda.

“Thank gosh we have all those taps all around the festival site. I was able to keep well-hydrated along the way.”

Skromeda said the festival sold out both campgrounds for the first time ever – attracting 7,000 campers to the festival campground and 1,200 to the less party-oriented ‘quiet campground’.

“We get people coming from all over the place,” she said. “We have lots of people driving up from the States.

“When we look at our ticket sales at the end, we pretty much have somebody coming from every province across Canada and normally about 19-20 of the U.S. states.”

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The festival brought in internationally-known performers like Jason Mraz, John Sebastian, and six-time Grammy Award-winning country singer Kacey Musgraves, who closed out the festival Sunday night.

“I love standing up right by the mainstage and seeing everybody just enjoying themselves so much,” said Skromeda.

“It’s incredible how many people are just having the best time and to be able to be part of the team that brings that to this province is just so incredibly rewarding.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It's incredible how many people are just having the best time and to be able to be part of the team that brings that to this province is just so incredibly rewarding."

Despite concerns about potential pot enforcement in the festival’s first year since cannabis became legal – although it remains banned in provincial parks – Skromeda said there were no problems at Birds Hill Park.

“It had no impact on us whatsoever. It really didn’t,” she said.

“There was no increase in enforcement at all. There were no issues, there were no tickets handed out all weekend.”

Skromeda said that’s no surprise – Folk Fest audiences tend to be very well-behaved and peaceful.

“We talk about that Folk Fest feeling and the Folk Fest family and how to bring that and carry it out in to the world. It’s a divisive place, the world these days. When people come to Folk Fest, everyone’s happy, everyone gets along.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We talk about that Folk Fest feeling and the Folk Fest family and how to bring that and carry it out in to the world. It's a divisive place, the world these days. When people come to Folk Fest, everyone's happy, everyone gets along."

WATCH: With legal marijuana, Winnipeg’s Folk Fest sees ‘no enforcement issues at all’

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