Community spirit: 2025 Community Band Festival brings music to Coronation Park
This weekend, Winnipeg’s Coronation Park will come alive with the sounds of brass, reeds, and rhythms as the 2025 Community Band Festival gets underway. Held Saturday and Sunday afternoons, June 7 and 8, the free, family-friendly event is part of the Manitoba Band Association’s 50th anniversary celebration of its “family of festivals.”
Featuring a wide array of groups—from the North Winds Community Band to the Winnipeg Video Game Orchestra, and the German Club Band to the Winnipeg Pops Orchestra—the festival highlights the province’s diverse and passionate community music scene.
Celebrating a half-century of community music
“It's a long-standing tradition, actually, that predates our organization by two years,” said Brent Johnson, Executive Director of the MBA about the family of festivals. “It started with a concert band festival and a jazz band festival... formerly known as the Optimist International band festivals.”
While the concert and jazz band festivals remain core events, the community band festival has recently been brought more fully into the MBA fold. “New to the family of festivals this year—though we've long sponsored it as an organization—is the community band festival,” Johnson explained.
Building connections through lifelong music
Supporting community bands is central to the MBA’s mission. “Lifelong music making is of such value,” Johnson emphasized. “We live in a time where we face all kinds of stressors... so places where community happens—and things like music, where your mental health, which affects your physical well-being, are just so, so vital.”
The goal is to show students that band doesn’t end at graduation. “We have a thriving, thriving community band scene all across Manitoba, not just in Winnipeg,” said Johnson. “A goal of ours as an organization is to connect more of those dots... so that they can know that there are music making opportunities out there that are relevant and enjoyable.”
A lineup as diverse as Manitoba itself
From military groups to orchestral pops, this year’s lineup offers something for everyone. “We even have one of Winnipeg's newest community bands... the Winnipeg Video Games Orchestra, which is actually led by my back lane neighbour Dann Bjornson,” Johnson said with a laugh.
Other highlights include a joint performance by HMCS Chippewa and the Royal Winnipeg Rifles, as well as the ever-entertaining German Club Band. “We’ve got some more traditional community concert bands like the Westwood Band, Assiniboine, North Winds... and we’ve got some big bands joining us as well.”
A passion for people and music
Ginny Helmer, who has led the Westwood Community Band since 2017, described the joy of conducting musicians who play for the love of it. “It's just amazing to be in front of people who are amateurs in the best sense of the word. They love to be there. It's part of who they are.”
Her approach to rehearsal? Treat everyone with the same respect and expectations. “Actually, it isn't [different than teaching kids] for me because I've always treated children like adults... There's a maturity that comes with just wanting to do well.”
Finding harmony in connection
Johnson performs with the Winnipeg Wind Ensemble, and Helmer is the Music Director for that ensemble. This is a professional group that blends social and artistic fulfillment. “It’s my one musical outlet these days,” said Johnson. “It’s a social endeavour as much as it is a musical endeavour.”
Helmer added, “I agree with Brent, it was important to me always to maintain that sense of community, but also my personal playing standard. So you can really understand what it’s like for kids to be sitting in a group.”
Westwood Band brings Broadway flair and classic charm to the stage
When asked what music the Westwood Band will perform, Helmer teased a wide variety. “We're doing a March by Gordon Jacob. We have medleys of show tunes... a medley of tunes from Beauty and the Beast and music of Marvin Hamlisch. Just to give you some ideas of that.”
Fingers crossed for good weather
Despite the threat of smoke or rain, both Helmer and Johnson are optimistic.
“I’m looking forward to it not being too hot because two years ago I almost died conducting in the park,” Helmer joked. “We don’t have a rain date, so yeah, fingers crossed.”
Johnson is just excited to reconnect. “I’m just looking forward to seeing a bunch of folks that I don’t get to see all that often... folks who are all there for all the right reasons and just want to have a good time and share what they love.”
The 2025 Community Band Festival runs Saturday and Sunday, June 7–8, starting at 1 p.m. each day in Coronation Park, Saint Boniface. Admission is free, and donations are welcome. For the full schedule, visit mbband.org.
