WINNIPEG — It’s a festival of events.
ManyFest diverted vehicle traffic to give pedestrians Memorial Boulevard and part of Broadway over the weekend.
Tens of thousands of people flocked to downtown Winnipeg for three days of music, markets and munchies.
“Lots of people — it’s crazy. I don’t know where everybody comes from,” said Sabrina Andrade, owner of Healthy Eats food truck.
ManyFest is one of the city’s largest street festivals and organizers say it’s become more successful every year.
“I think by the time the event closes (Sunday) at 6, we’re probably going to be approaching 50,000 people,” said Stefano Grande, executive director of the Downtown Winnipeg Biz.
This year, the food truck wars made the biggest bang. The new event was so popular, the culinary competition almost turned into a food fight.
“The crowds have been insane. Nobody expected it to be quite as good as this,” said Mark Langtry, owner of the Habanero Sombrero food truck.
“The food trucks are the rave, there’s no doubt,” said Grande. “People are waiting in line for an hour and once they get the food, they understand why. It’s quite a culinary treat.”
Some trucks couldn’t keep up with the constant flow of people.
“Yesterday we did run out,” said Andrade. “The first day we didn’t, we went right till the end, and today I’m pretty sure we’ll be okay. We know what to expect.”
“The lineup started the second we opened at 5 p.m. The lineup was down the block, and it hasn’t stopped this whole weekend,” said Langtry.
Though ManyFest 2013 just wrapped up, organizers are already thinking of ways to make next year bigger and better.
“Next year you can pretty much guarantee it will continue to grow,” said Grande.
- ‘Shock and disbelief’ after Manitoba school trustee’s Indigenous comments
- Canadian man dies during Texas Ironman event. His widow wants answers as to why
- Several baby products have been recalled by Health Canada. Here’s the list
- ‘Sciatica was gone’: hospital performs robot-assisted spinal surgery in Canadian first
Comments