Winnipeg’s annual cultural festival, Folklorama, kicks off Sunday evening and organizers are hoping to return to pre-COVID attendance levels.
The festival runs from Aug. 6th until Aug. 19 and people can still buy tickets.
It’s the 52nd edition of the festival and organizers are getting ready to welcome thousands of people.
Last year, the event saw a total of 168,515 visitors, according to numbers released by the organization.
The average attendance across its 24 cultural pavilions increased by 14 per cent over 2019, which was Folklorama’s 50th annual event.
“Three shows every evening, the performances are different for each show because we have a lot of countries we have to showcase. So it’s really fun being at the African Pavillion,” says Frank Indome, a volunteer for the African Pavillion.
Indome says visitors will get to experience the sights, sounds, and tastes of about a dozen African countries, giving tourists a chance to try something new and an opportunity for African people to celebrate their culture together.
“It’s one week where a lot of people converge. Meet old friends, new friends, they basically connect with the continent.”
It’s but one of the 40 pavillions that festival-goers can take in over the next two weeks and after a few years of scaled-back performances, organizers are ready for the festival to come back in full swing.
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“Sales have been really strong, not just for general admission but for our tours as well,” says Tanya Williams, director of marketing for Folklorama.
Williams says the ticket sales show people from all across Canada are excited to come back.
She says people will get a fully scaled-up festival this year hosted by 8,000 volunteers who collectively put in 300,000 hours to plan and set up for the event.
“Folklorama is going so strong after 52 years because of the people. Because of the volunteers. Because of the communities wanting to embrace not only showcasing their own cultures but also the guests who want to experience them.”
The event gives everyone the opportunity to expand their horizons and celebrate cultures from around the world without ever having to leave the city.
— with files from Global’s Katherine Dornian
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