The Prairie Sounds Festival returned to Portage la Prairie two weekends ago, celebrating four days of musical and dramatic performance with a wide range of participants and support from the community.
With the Prairie Sounds Festival committee, Pat McRae says the event brought three adjudicators to evaluate a broad range of disciplines.
“We had four days of festival, so we had three different adjudicators coming in. There was the piano adjudicator, and we had about 50 to 55 registrations for the piano, and then we had a vocal and choral adjudicator; we had eight local.”
McRae continues that seven of the eight choirs came from Portage la Prairie, while one made the trip from St. Claude. Piano participants represented several nearby towns, including Headingley. Many of them, she notes, are now part of this festival due to closures of other regional events.
“It depends on whether or not their area still holds a festival after COVID. It was slow going, getting some of the festivals going again, so some places opted to fold. Some of the smaller communities joined some other communities.”
Award money supports years of training
This year’s festival gave out prize money, a gesture McRae says helps offset the high costs of long-term training in disciplines like piano and voice.
“We gave out $1,900 in award money for the kids in piano and voice lessons. Those lessons are expensive, and that's a lot of years of training to go into somebody who's playing at, say, a Grade-7-level piano.”
McRae adds that award recipients must perform to receive their prizes, and the festival also highlighted those selected to compete at the provincial level.
“We handed out some money for them. And all our winners played before; you have to play to receive the award, and then we also announced all the participants recommended to provincials.”
Brandon hosts this year’s provincials
“We had 14 people recommended for provincials this year, and the provincials are taking place in Brandon. They always bounce back and forth between Brandon and Winnipeg. So, this year, it's in Brandon and later on in May.”
Support from volunteers and sponsors makes it happen
McRae also credits the festival’s success to dedicated volunteers and generous local sponsors who helped cover expenses and ensure smooth operations throughout the event.
“We had some great sponsors; people who have really helped us out with our Festival because sometimes, there's the cost involved with it. But there's also the fact that we do want to give out the award money."
She adds she also wants to send a shout-out to the volunteers.
"So, I've got the people on my committee who helped out a great deal, but then there were also just some local people in the community who helped us while the Festival was on.”
McRae notes that volunteers played key roles such as greeting people at the door or assisting adjudicators behind the scenes.
“We always need someone at the door, and we always need a secretary with the adjudicators. Those were just people who offered their time, and I really appreciate it. It just feels nice when you have that many people who offer to help.”
Small stipends for provincial participants planned
Looking ahead, McRae says any students who follow through on attending provincials will receive additional financial help once final numbers are confirmed.
“Any of the kids who are going to provincials once, because I've got some people from my committee who are actually helping out at provincials; they volunteer too.”
“For the kids who actually go, we are going to give them a little stipend when they've gone because it does cost them money to go, plus the gas costs.”
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