A Manitoba summer tradition is back for another year, and attendees were up early to claim prime camping real estate.
Although the live music doesn’t start for another day, the Winnipeg Folk Festival opened its gates Wednesday morning to crowds of festivalgoers getting a jump on camping.
“It’s really important for people to get their favourite camping spots every year,” Folk Fest director Lynne Skromeda told Global Winnipeg.
“Folk Fest is a big tradition overall, but the campgrounds are a really important part, because that’s your home for the weekend, so people like to get their same spot year after year.”
The festival, which runs through the weekend, is expecting between 72,000 and 75,000 people to descend upon Birds Hill Provincial Park, just north of Winnipeg, for the long-running annual party.
Headlining this year’s festivities are Pennsylvania rockers The War on Drugs, Australian singer-songwriter Vance Joy, country/folk legend Emmylou Harris and Seattle indie group Fleet Foxes.
They’re joined by dozens of others, including — as always — a healthy contingent of Manitoba talent, including William Prince, Andrina Turenne, Matt Foster, Leaf Rapids and Fontine.
“The music changes from year to year, but it’s the community that we build here that people keep coming back for,” Skromeda said.
“There’s certain friends that people have that only see them at Folk Fest, and that might be because they’re coming in from Minnesota — we have lots of people coming from south of the border.
“It’s the food, it’s the taverns, it’s the tarp culture, it’s everything that we do here that makes people feel it’s a tradition they want to come back for.”
Although the festival is 25 kilometres north of the city, Skromeda said Folk Fest has a positive financial impact on Winnipeg businesses and creators each year.
“All the food vendors that we have here are local restaurants…. We have lots of local artisans as well, we have lots of local artists, so even though we’re technically just outside the city, it really has a big impact on Winnipeg.”
Singer-songwriter Keri Latimer, of homegrown group Leaf Rapids, told Global Winnipeg she understands why there’s so much demand among festivalgoers who line up to get in a day before the music starts.
“(Folk Fest) is amazing. It’s a place where people are here to listen, they’re here to just be kind to each other, and it’s really heart-filling.”