After two long summers of virtual concerts and the occasional live show, festival season is making a comeback for the ages.
Every large music festival in the province is all systems go for the summer, despite some uncertainly at the beginning of the year.
“Sometimes it takes 12 months to plan one of these festivals,” said the general manager of Dauphin’s Countryfest, Rob Waloschuk.
“Now that we’re actually doing it, it looks like we’re going to try and do it in six months to get it off the ground.”
Tickets for Countryfest and the Winnipeg Folk Festival are on sale now.
Countryfest is set for July 1-3, while Folk Fest is scheduled for July 7-10.
The International Jazz Festival, which runs from June 14-19, will begin to release tickets later this month.
“We’re just super excited to be able to be doing this again,” Waloschuk added.
It’s almost certain that organizers will be returning to action with some minor changes.
“We will be requiring masks in our indoor venues. We will be strongly recommending masks elsewhere,” said Angela Heck, the executive director of Jazz Fest.
On top of COVID-19 protocols, festivals are still facing economical challenges like getting to and from the festivities.
“Vehicle rentals aren’t as easy to come by. I think everybody has heard about that already,” said the Winnipeg Folk Festival’s executive director, Lynne Skromeda.
“We’re having to come up with some new plans and be a little bit more creative on how we’re going to make it through without doing things the regular way.”
That won’t change the eagerness of festival-goers to get back out in the sun.
“We’re just going to bring back the best festival that we can possibly bring,” Skromeda said.
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