The Winnipeg Folk Festival is a nonprofit charitable organization[1] 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.[2]
Begun by Mitch Podolak, Colin Gorrie, and Ava Kobrinsky[1] 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.[3] The festival is held over the second weekend of July, beginning on Thursday night and running through to Sunday night.
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.[2] The Winnipeg Folk Festival hosts over 70 artists annually from nearly 10 different countries[4] 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.[5]
The first Winnipeg folk festival was held August 9 - 11, 1974 at Birds Hill Provincial Park.[7][8] The free concert was staged with funding from the Centennial Committee and the CBC.[9] The event depended on the collective work of many local volunteers so the organizers developed an organizational structure that embodied their philosophy that everyone contributing was a significant participant.[9][8] Subsequent events built on the foundation of this initial idea creating a model that heavily influenced the operation of other similar festivals in Canada, particularly the Vancouver Folk Music Festival and the Edmonton Folk Festival.[9][10]
