Rural festivals offer plenty of opportunity to get out and explore

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Vacations are great, and staycations can be nice but even if (shudder) you don’t have time off from work this summer, there’s plenty of opportunity to explore the province and its people without breaking the bank and festivals are at the heart of it all.

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“You can literally do a festival every weekend if you wanted to, leaving the city and touring around. Lots of towns have really great campgrounds and places to stay to sort of be part of the community,” offers Ashley Hoeppner, a travel consultant with Travel Manitoba.

So let’s take her up on that challenge and offer some options to see much of Manitoba one weekend at a time.

July 5-7

Music festivals dominate the rural landscape for summer festivals, with a number of food-related fixtures cropping up as well. Then there’s the grand old agricultural fair, with our first representative two hours west in Carberry, whose fair dates back to 1883. The location has moved a couple of times since, but it’s been at the Fair Grounds since 1899 and has featured activities like harness and chuckwagon racing, plowing matches, dances, a midway, and dances.

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ALSO: An hour and change to the south, there’s the Dominion City Summerfest that includes an antique car show and outdoor dance.

July 12-14

The Winnipeg Folk Festival dominates this weekend, but don’t sleep on the Triple S Fair and Rodeo in Selkirk, which is a larger version of the usual small town event that also includes a children’s festival, multiple music stages, and all the requisite rodeo events and ag displays.

ALSO: Carman Country Fair (11-13), Mitchell Fun Days, Souris Peacock Days, Prairie Pioneer Days (Killarney), West Hawk Lake Meteor Festival

July 19-21

Music festivals start heating up around this time, with the Salamander Summer Music Festival in Brandon and the Summer Winds Family Music Festival in Victoria Beach, with headliners Harlequin.

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ALSO: Manitoba Stampede and Exhibition in Morris, the province’s only professional rodeo; Arborg Fair and Rodeo; Neepawa and Area Lily Fest; Pinawa Birthday Weekend; and, Ste. Madeleine Metis Days

July 26-28

The Gimli International Film Festival, which gets underway July 24 and includes daily round-trip shuttles from Winnipeg, is a bit of a unicorn on the summer festival schedule. While you can do a deep dive of films from at least 88 countries, the highlight for many are the free 9:45 screenings on Gimli Beach. This year’s theme is chasing adventure with Barbie (Wednesday), Summer Rental (Thursday), Thelma and Louise (Friday), Theater Camp (Saturday) and Paddington 2 (Sunday).

ALSO: Bankside Music Festival (near Letellier), Boardwalk Days (Winnipeg Beach), Manitoba Sunflower Festival (Altona), Real Love Summer Festival (near Teulon), Threshermen’s Reunion and Stampede (Austin)

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Aug. 2-4

You might want to stay over in Gimli for the oversized Icelandic festival known as Islendingadagurinn, which supersizes its festival to include sporting events, art shows, and a Viking village among its numerous other features.

ALSO: Canada’s National Ukrainian Festival (Dauphin), Fire + Water Music Festival (Lac du Bonnet), Manitoba Airshow (Southport), Pioneer Days (Steinbach), Rockin’ The Fields (Minnedosa)

Aug. 9-11

Out come the assortment of food and food-named festivals with the Blueberry Jam in Flin Flon, Frog Follies in St. Pierre, Melita Banana Days, Portage Potato Fest, and Winkler Harvest. And a shoutout to Trout Forest Music Festival in Ear Falls, Ont., which is programmed by a Winnipegger and features many Manitoba performers and patrons.

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Aug. 16-18

Speaking of trout, the Rainbow Trout Music Festival takes place on the banks of the Roseau River near St. Malo and features multiple genres of music. There’s also the Bring Your Love Festival of Arts (15-19), an electronic music festival near Teulon, and Harvest Sun Music Festival (Kelwood).

ALSO: Hanover Ag Fair, Minnedosa Fun Fest, Plum Fest (Plum Coulee), Rosenort Summer Festival, Stonewall Quarry Days, Virden Indoor Rodeo and Wild West Daze

Aug. 23-25

If you’re running a little short of funds at this point in the summer, the Morden Corn and Apple Festival prides itself “on being as free as possible,” Hoeppner notes.

ALSO: GentleFest, near Teulon, with a new theme each year; Kleefield Honey Festival (24), and Whoop and Holler Folk Festival in Portage la Prairie (24).

BONUS: We’ve had the Harvest Sun, and summer unofficially wraps with the Harvest Moon Festival in Clearwater, a combination music-agriculture event, from Sept. 13-15.
Happy travels.

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