Winnipeg Folk Festival


The Winnipeg Folk Festival is a nonprofit charitable organization with an annual summer folk music festival held in Birds Hill Provincial Park, near Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The festival features a variety of artists and music from around the world and is sure to include a number of local artists.
Begun by Mitch Podolak, Colin Gorrie, and Ava Kobrinsky in 1974 as a celebration of Winnipeg's centennial, the festival itself has grown into an event exceeding 70,000 attendees to the festival annually. The festival is held over the second weekend of July, beginning on Thursday night and running through to Sunday night.
During the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the festival there are eight active stages filled with concerts and workshops. The Main Stage is active in the evenings Thursday through Sunday and the Big Blue @ Night stage is active Friday and Saturday.
Beyond the four-day festival, the organization offers year-round concert programming at venues throughout the city bringing in artists as well as organizing free concert programming throughout the city.

Music

The festival offers a wide selection of music over the four-day festival. Throughout the year the organization facilitates the Hear All Year concert series.

Festival programming

There is a large variety of music at the festival, including bluegrass, Celtic, blues, roots, indie folk, Americana, folk rock, French Canadian, contemporary singer-songwriters, and a variety of children's performers. Every year artists join the lineup from all over North America and across the world. The Winnipeg Folk Festival hosts over 70 artists annually from nearly 10 different countries including Australia, Colombia, Iceland, Ireland, Mexico, Netherlands, Niger, United Kingdom and more with the majority of the acts coming from Canada and the United States.
The festival showcases several genres every summer, past performers include Bahamas, Barenaked Ladies, Blue Rodeo, Brandi Carlile, Bruce Cockburn, City and Colour, Courtney Barnett, Death Cab for Cutie, Elle King, Feist, Great Big Sea, Half Moon Run, Jason Mraz, Kacey Musgraves, k.d. lang, K'naan, Natalie MacMaster, Passenger, Sheryl Crow, The Shins, Stan Rogers and The Strumbellas. Each year the Winnipeg Folk Festival showcases local Manitoba talent including Begonia, Boniface, The Bros. Landreth, John K. Samson, Leonard Sumner, Living Hour, Richard Inman, Roger Roger, William Prince and more.
Workshops are a big part of the folk festival culture providing the audience with a unique opportunity to see artists play together on the same stage that they could never see anywhere else. These workshops allow anywhere from two to five artists or bands on a stage to jam together for an hour.
The festival offers award-winning family programming for children and families including incredible children's performers, an arts and crafts area, a field full of activities and a reading tent to wind down. Children aged 12 and under are admitted to the festival for free.
Each year on the Friday of the festival young performers aged 14 to 24 take over the Shady Grove stage to perform as a part of the organizations Young Performers Program. The Young Performers Program was created to give young artist from across Canada the opportunity to learn about music and the industry from artists in the festival's main lineup. After the young performers spend Wednesday and Thursday learning from seasoned artists they have the opportunity to play for a festival audience on Friday at Shady Grove stage.

Hear All Year Concert Series

The Winnipeg Folk Festival expanded to include music throughout the year taking place at various theatres in Winnipeg. Through this concert series the organization brings new artists to the city and brings back festival artists from years past.

Experience

In addition to music, the Winnipeg Folk Festival offers two campgrounds, a wide variety of food vendors, a Hand-Made Village, art installations on the festival site and in the Festival Campground.

Camping

There are two campgrounds available to festival attendees. The Festival Campground is home to 6,000 people over the festival weekend, hosts a select group of food vendors, is the backdrop to several art installations and includes an unserviced RV area. The Quiet Campground is more spacious with about 2,000 people and farther away from the festival creating a quieter more serene environment with a quiet time is in effect between 11:00 pm and 7:00 am.

Food Vendors

The Winnipeg Folk Festival offers a lineup of around 30 food vendors that offer LOFT foods for attendees as well as vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free options. Vendors are available to attendees in the food village located near the centre of the festival site as well as in both taverns and Festival Campground attendees have access to a select few vendors in the Festival Campground. The organization ensures that all vendors use compostable cutlery, packaging and dishware to reduce waste entering the landfill.

Hand-Made Village

Located near the centre of the festival site is the Hand-Made Village where 40+ artisans from across Canada come together to sell hand-made instruments, clothing, art, crafts, toys, homeware and jewelry.

Prairie Outdoor Exhibition

Art can be found throughout the festival site thanks to the Prairie Outdoor Exhibition which is an outdoor art gallery dedicated to showcasing visual works of art created through different mediums, such as stage murals, sculptures and print-making.

Art and Animation Program

The Festival Campground offers even more art through the Art & Animation Program. This program involves projects made by the community for the community. Artists apply with an idea for a structure, performance piece or group activity and with the support of the organization they bring these ideas to life in the Festival Campground.

Volunteering

The Winnipeg Folk Festival has nearly 50 crews that are run by over 2,800 volunteers each year. Volunteers work 16–20 hours for festival crews. Volunteers receive a four-day festival pass with backstage access which includes complimentary meals throughout the weekend, a crew t-shirt, free bus transportation and a private volunteer party on Sunday night.

Environmental Sustainability

is home to the annual Winnipeg Folk Festival and the organization manages the environmental impact to the site in several ways.
The organization uses industrial composting which allows meat, bones and dairy to be composted as well as other food scraps. Food vendors are required to use compostable plates, cutlery, napkins and packaging and the taverns serve beverages in compostable cups.
In 2012, Winnipeg Folk Festival was certified as a fair trade event by Fair Trade Manitoba. Food vendors are encouraged to offer LOFT, vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free food options. On the Friday of the festival the backstage kitchen goes vegetarian for the day offering only vegetarian options to volunteers, staff artists and guests.
The recycling initiative for the festival began in 1989 and recycling bins can be found throughout the festival site and Festival Campground. The volunteer Enviro Crews work hard to ensure waste is going into the correct bins as well as sorting waste in the Festival Campground throughout the weekend.
Free bus services both from downtown Winnipeg and around Birds Hill Provincial Park are available to attendees.
Since 2014 the Winnipeg Folk Festival has been a bottled water free festival. Attendees are encouraged to bring reusable water bottles and fill them up at one of the many taps throughout the festival site and Festival Campground.
The festival was the first event in Canada to be certified by The Eco-Logo Program as an environmentally-friendly event. In 2018 the organization was presented with The Clearwater Award by Folk Alliance International which is given to a festival that prioritizes environmental stewardship and demonstrates public leadership in sustainable event production.

Accessibility

The Winnipeg Folk Festival works with an Accessibility Advisory Group to provide accessibility services for attendees who require assistance and are equipped with an accessibility plan and accessible customer service policy. Accessibility services include accessibility passes that provide free admission to support persons helping someone with a disability to attend the Festival, accessible seating areas, accessible port-a-potties, wheelchair charging stations, sign language interpretation offered at select stages, service animals are welcome and accessible camping areas.

Indigenous Initiatives

The Winnipeg Folk Festival takes place on Treaty 1 Territory and the homeland of the Métis people. The Winnipeg Folk Festival works with an Indigenous Advisory Committee to ensure that Indigenous voices and culture are shared with Manitobans through engagement, education and celebration of Indigenous art, song, ceremony and storytelling. The festival begins with an opening blessing from a Knowledge Keeper from the Indigenous community. Indigenous artists from our lineup, Prairie Outdoor Exhibition and Hand-Made Village take part in a welcoming ceremony which includes prayer, song and a tribute to the land we are on.

History

Honourary members
2018–2019
2017 – 2018
2016 – 2017
2015 – 2016
2014 – 2015
2013 – 2014
2012 – 2013
2011–2012
2010–2011
2009–2010
2008–2009
2007–2008
2006–2007
2004–2005
2003
2002
1995