The Harvest Festival, Winkler’s biggest event of the summer, will refine its format this year to ensure that attendees — no matter which event is their favourite — can be a part of a united festive atmosphere.
Karina Bueckert is the coordinator for the festival that runs August 9th-11th.
“I'm excited to see everything come together,” she says. “It's been a long journey of lots of details, so many notes and so many emails, and I'm excited.”
This year, instead of having events spread through a large area, the festival will be concentrated in one location. This way, fairgoers will have access to the various offerings of the festivities without having to go too far.
“We're moving it all to one spot,” says Bueckert. “This year we're bringing it all together into just the Meridian Exhibition Centre and the fairgrounds.”
Bueckert says that as a part of the organizational changes, the annual Harvest Festival car show will move to the Winkler Storm soccer field.
“It will be much more intertwined,” she says. “[The car show will be able to] hear the music, and [it will be] much more involved then.”
There will also be a Smitty’s beer garden inside a baseball diamond in the area.
Bueckert is also happy to highlight a new quiet hour on Saturday of the Harvest Festival. Families of children with sensory sensitivities are invited to spend an hour at the fair from 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. during which the midway is not running. There will be children’s activities to take part in during this hour.
“I am [excited] about being able to offer extra things,” she says. “That's huge, it's just a matter of people reaching out and saying, ‘have you thought of this?’ I love that. If we can implement it, why not?”
Also new this year, the Harvest Festival will host the StrongManitoba Provincials, at which audiences can take in herculean feats of strength from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday.
“They have taken a break from coming to our festival, so this is going to be a very big one and I'm very excited to bring them in,” says Bueckert. “That'll be a good one.”
For the rumbling stomachs at the fairgrounds, there will be plenty to choose from. This year, 28 food trucks signed up for the Harvest Festival, including Beaver Tails, and King’s Deli, which will showcase another side of its business by offering barbecued chicken at the festival.
On the music side of things, it will be a three-day stretch of talent. Friday will be a night of rock music featuring Sass Jordan, on Saturday, country music reigns with the headliner Chayce Beckham, and Sunday Jordan Janzen and Austin French are on the program with their inspirational music.
To see Winkler Harvest Festival’s complete schedule, including information about its midway, other music performances, children’s activities, and more, visit its website here.
For Bueckert, the goal of the planning committee has been to address what the community would like to see at the Harvest Festival. The changes that it has decided to implement this year have been to this end.
“We're trying to be more inclusive, so we're trying to offer more options, and trying to widen spaces,” she says. “If [anyone has] feedback, please send it. Sometimes [we] just don't think of these things. We're thinking permits [and technical things like that], so . . . where you do have feedback, just send it over. I love that.”
Bueckert says that the festival is still also looking for volunteers to help clean tables or to work in the children’s tent. Anyone interested in volunteering is invited to reach out here.
~With files from Ty Hildebrand~