Latest News

Winnipeg Free Press - ONLINE EDITION

Folklorama organizers thrilled with turnout so far

By: Staff Writer

Posted: 08/14/2012 12:15 PM | Comments: 0

A dancer performs at the Pearl of The Orient Philippine Pavilion during Folklorama on Sunday. The second week of the annual festival greeted Sunday with all-new pavilions. (JOHN WOODS)

Ambassadors, dancers, volunteers, and pavilion visitors have helped make the first week of Folklorama "fantastic" by staying "upbeat," said Debra Zoerb, executive director of the two-week festival.

"The feedback that we’ve received is overwhelmingly positive, people are having a great time," Zoerb said when speaking about the first half of the festival, which wrapped up on August 11. "Overall, it was a great week."

Zoerb said she cannot provide numbers that show how many people visited each pavilion because those figured are submitted by people who volunteer at the pavilion and she has not received them all yet. Numbers are typically released after the full two weeks of Folklorama wraps up, she said.

She also could not say with certainty what the most popular pavilion was in the first week, because some venues do not accommodate as many visitors as others. "We have pavilions that have a capacity of 200 people and then we have pavilions that have a capacity of 3,000," she said.

Over the full two weeks, all the pavilions combined typically experience more than 420,000 visits, and Zoerb said this year should show a similar turnout.

"We are certainly well on target for where we would want to be, and the numbers are coming in within the range that we’re looking for," she said.

Feedback – in the form of phone calls and emails to the Folklorama office, activity on Twitter, and posts on the official Folklorama Facebook page – has been very positive, too, she said.

"Being out and about at the actual pavilions observing the crowd, listening to the crowd, and getting anecdotal information," has provided positive and encouraging feedback, as well as communicating with the pavilions about the feedback they’ve received directly, she said.

Folkorama continues to Aug. 18.

Factual inaccuracy? Something missing? Help improve our journalism.

Know about news? Share your story suggestions, photos and video.

Spelling error? Punctuation problem? Send us an email if you’ve found a typo.

More Latest News

Undock

You can comment on most stories on winnipegfreepress.com. You can also agree or disagree with other comments. All you need to do is register and/or login and you can join the conversation and give your feedback.

Have Your Say

New to commenting? Check out our Frequently Asked Questions.

The Winnipeg Free Press does not necessarily endorse any of the views posted. By submitting your comment, you agree to our Terms and Conditions. These terms were revised effective April 16, 2010.