Winterfest2006

It may still be too early to say definitely, but this year’s Lieutenant Governor’s Winter Festival has firmly established itself as one of Westman’s premier winter events.
Numbers are still coming in, but Tom Keep, Winter Festival coordinator for the City of Brandon, said attendance rose at least 10 per cent over last year’s numbers, which sat around 20,000 pavilion visits in 2005.
This year was more, and more of the same, with most of the 13 pavilions – true showcases of Westman’s cultural diversity – packed to the seams and in many cases too full to squeeze in any more pavilion-goers.
Keep said people flocked to the pavilions in the thousands and thousands, taking full advantage of the free entry, free entertainment and free bus service.
“We had to add an overflow bus. We had about 5,300 take the bus this year; last year we had about 2,000 take the bus,” Keep said.
Even on an overcrowded bus, the jovial feeling that seemed rampant throughout the festival crowd was apparent" Absolutely everybodywas in a good mood and it was like that everywhere,”Keep said. David Caldwell, president of the Westman Scottish Association nd chair of the Scottish Pavilion, which hosted the opening ceremonies last Thursday, said
volunteers clocked a total of 7,343 visitors to the pavilion over the Thursday and Friday evenings and Saturday of the Festival.
“We had almost three times as many visitors as we did last year,” Caldwell said. “We were running a bit low on supplies and had volunteers running.”
The Scottish pavilion made it through with 116 volunteers and lots and lots of Haggis, which Caldwell said was the most popular fare at the pavilion.
Keep said he and the pavilion organizers will meet soon to discuss what was good about this year’s Winter festival and what should be changed.
He said while extending the festival a day or two is entirely dependent on the over-worked volunteers, the committee will more likely look at possibly extending the bus hours and having set entertainment times at the pavilions.

Article by Kyla Henderson from the Wheat City Journal khenderson@wheatcityjournal.ca

<khenderson@wheatcityjournal.ca>

Brandon Sun Article 2006