The Westman Multicultural Festival committee gave us a taste of what's coming in early 2024 with last weekend's Summer Celebration at the Riverbank Discovery Centre in Brandon!
Organizing committee member, Dave Burgess, says between 5,000-8,000 people attended the July 29th festival that celebrated Westman's diverse cultures. "It was a great way to get everybody back together again, to get rolling again for the winter festival in February."
"Certainly, it ended up being such a fun event that I wouldn't be surprised that all the cultural groups are interested in doing this in the summer again," shares Burgess. "But definitely the winter one will be the main function where we will have separate pavilions."
The Saturday event featured 9 different cultural groups entertaining twice during the day, making for a full 12 hours of musical fun and entertainment on the Fusion Credit Union outdoor stage. "We kept it rolling the whole day and we had fairly large crowds right throughout the day," he says.
To add to the festivities were 7 food trucks, that featured a variety of tastes, smells and morsels of different cultures as well!
"I think it was just a great weekend and of course, anything that we can do to bring all the cultures and the community together, I couldn't ask for anything better!"
The Westman Multicultural Winter Festival is slated for February 8-10, 2024, to be held in different locations as it was in pre-covid years where each culture celebrated their dance, music, foods and flags on stage and at the table in their own pavilion!
Please listen to more of my chat with Dave Burgess below.
(Photo gallery credit: Cam Heming)