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The Winnipeg Folk Festival celebrates its 50th year running in 2025, and the Free Press has been there since Day 1.
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/07/2025 (459 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The Winnipeg Folk Festival celebrates its 50th year running in 2025, and the Free Press has been there since Day 1.
Here is a collection of photos from the earliest days to today, commemorating the past five decades of festivities at Birds Hill Park and the community that resulted.
Performers at the first Winnipeg Folk Festival in August 1974. (John Bachmann)Heat failed to deter faithful festival-goers on July 10, 1976. (Dave Johnson / Free Press files)This aerial view shows some of the thousands of music fans who flocked to Birds Hill Provincial Park to attend the fourth annual Winnipeg Folk Festival in 1977. More than 24,000 people attended the festival. Organizers said the three-day event had become the largest folk festival in North America. (Dave Bonner / Free Press files)Aerial view of the Winnipeg Folk Festival grounds on July 11, 1977. (Free Press files)A square dancing workshop on August 15, 1979. (Paul Deleski / Free Press files)A sea of people watch and listen at the main stage on Friday, July 14, 1980. 30,000 people were expected to attend the festival that weekend. (Free Press files)A festival-goer takes in the tunes on July 14, 1980. (Free Press files)A family attempts to beat the heat on July 12, 1982. (Jim Wiley / Free Press files)Scott Johnson, 27, of Oregon and Ruth Dixon, 32, of Minnesota were married on July 12, 1982 in a tent before 300 spectators at the Winnipeg Folk Festival. The couple, assisted in their vows by Kent Militzer and his wife Jan, met at the festival several years before. They've been promised a festival pass on their 50th anniversary. (Jim Wiley / Free Press files)Artis the Spoon Man blows bubbles at the audience from the main stage of the Winnipeg Folk Festival. Artis, of Seattle, Wash., was one of many performers who travelled to Winnipeg to take part in the 10th annual festival on July 10, 1983. Performers on stage at the Winnipeg Folk Festival on July 6, 1983. (Dave Landry / Free Press files)Berne Thury from Minneapolis, Minnesota relaxes at the main stage on July 9, 1983. (Ken Gigliotti / Free Press files)Nicholas Laporte, 4, gives his mother Mette a hand with a foot wash during the Winnipeg Folk Festival on Saturday, July 9, 1983. (Stu Phillips / Free Press files)Festival-goers find refuge from the heat on July 9, 1983. (Stu Phillips / Free Press files)A daytime stage is seen in 1983. (Free Press files)Al Simmons, in usual sedate attire, gives a child a lift on his horse bike on July 17, 1984. (Ken Gigliotti / Free Press files)Sandy Anderson and husband Gene, from Frazee, Minn., keep dry beneath a canvas during a downpour at the 1984 festival, while son Mitch sits on the ground at centre. (Ken Gigliotti / Free Press files)David Essig performs at a workshop on July 11, 1986. (Phil Hossack / Free Press files)Joel Bailey, 10, finds he has to fight the forces of gravity to complete his world tour of continents marked on the earth ball at the Winnipeg Folk Festival on July 12, 1986. John Radcliffe monitors the young traveller's progress. (Phil Hossack / Free Press files)A member of Lights in a Fat City plays a drum at the festival on July 8, 1989. The group was known for playing on instruments from all over the world, alongside custom built devices made from recycled scrap metals and bamboo. (Ken Gigliotti / Free Press files)Kevin Muir blows giant bubbles while sister Carolyn watches on July 8, 1988. (Dave Johnson / Free Press files)Scruj MacDuhk play on a daytime stage at the festival in 1998. (Boris Minkevich / Free Press files)Angus Grant of Shooglenifty from Scotland jams with groups Tabache and Wild Mountain Time on a Sunday, July 9, 2000. (Joe Bryksa / Free Press files)Ariana Histed, 8, plays in the crowds with a twirling ribbon at the Folk Festival on July 9, 2004. (Ruth Bonneville / Free Press files)Festival volunteers Kim Flynn and Sam Owens take a break from the heat on Friday, July 7, 2005. (Ruth Bonneville / Free Press files)Two women dance in the mud at the Winnipeg Folk Festival on a Sunday evening, July 10, 2005. (Boris Minkevich / Free Press files)Crowds at the Little Stage on the Prairie on Saturday. July 9, 2011. (Hadas Parush / Free Press files)A festival-goer plays with devil sticks as the sun sets on the second last day of the 2012 festival. (Melissa Tait / Free Press files)Twin eight-year-old brothers Ethan and Kieran Wiebe practice their hand stands prior to Beth Orton performing on Friday, July 6, 2012. (Trevor Hagan / Free Press files)The crowd cheers on Feist as she performs on the Main Stage at the 39th annual Winnipeg Folk Festival at Birds Hill Park Wednesday, July 4, 2012. (Ruth Bonneville / Free Press files)The sun sets on the last day of the festival on Sunday, July 8, 2012. (John Woods / Free Press files)Festival-goers groove while Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros play on Thursday, July 9, 2015. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press files)Kacey Musgraves closes out the Winnipeg Folk Festival Sunday, July 14, 2019. (Mike Sudoma / Free Press files)
People rush to claim spots on the field at the main stage on July 9, 2022. (Daniel Crump / Free Press files)Kat Rother dances as Finjan performs on the Big Bluestem stage on Sunday, July 9, 2023. (John Woods / Free Press files)Juno Award-winning artist Elisapie performs at the main stage Friday, July 12, 2024. (Nic Adams / Free Press)
Lucinda Williams performs on opening night of the 49th edition of the Winnipeg Folk Festival in 2024. (Nic Adams / Free Press files)
People wait in the merch line to snap up 50th anniversary merchandise on the first day of the 2025 festival. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press)Five-year-old Mariel Ladouceur, (left) and Lauriane Bellefeuille, age four, listen to the music at Folk Fest on July 10, 2025. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press)The crowd listens to Allison Russell on the main stage as the sun sets on July 10, 2025. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press)
Photography by the Winnipeg Free Press5 minute readFriday, Jul. 11, 2025
The Winnipeg Folk Festival celebrates its 50th year running in 2025, and the Free Press has been there since Day 1. Here are a collection of photos from the earliest days to today, commemorating the past five decades of festivities at Birds Hill Park and the community that resulted.
MOON ALERT: There are no restrictions to shopping or important decisions. The moon is in Scorpio.
ARIES (March 21-April 19)
Tread carefully as it’s easy to get into an argument, especially with your kids or even a romantic partner. Very likely the dispute will be about mutual expenses, shared property or perhaps differing values. Do what you can to keep the peace.
Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press4 minute readUpdated: Yesterday at 9:16 AM CDT
OTTAWA - France's new ambassador to Canada says her country admires the Carney government's response to "extremely radical" American demands and is calling for swift action to boost Canada's strategic ties with Europe.
"My mission is very clear. It's to work toward making France one of Canada’s closest allies in Europe, in each field, in every sector," French Ambassador Hélène Farnaud-Defromont told The Canadian Press on Friday.
In her first interview since her posting started last month, Farnaud-Defromont said in French her country sees Prime Minister Mark Carney's approach to managing trade negotiations with U.S. President Donald Trump's administration as "exemplary."
The prime minister called a halt to trade talks with Washington in August and accused the Trump administration of bringing fresh demands to the table at the last minute. Carney also has vowed to protect Canada's language sovereignty and ability to regulate big tech firms.
Outside the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, digital billboards flashed fans their singular photo op for the night: “I took this photo before I saw Phoebe Bridgers: The Lost Tour 2026.”
It is, as it is for so many other people, my only documentation of a concert by one of my favourite artists. The American singer-songwriter — who I discovered at the Winnipeg Folk Festival in 2018 — has had a meteoric rise in the past few years, winning three Grammys in 2024 as one third of Boygenius, the indie-rock supergroup rounded out by Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker, and opening for Taylor Swift on select dates of her titanic Eras Tour.
Now, Bridgers is touring in support of Lost Weekend, her third album and first since 2020’s Punisher. It’s a feat of a record, a richly textured meditation on loss and grief, written in the aftermath of the death of her dad, with whom she had a complicated relationship.
So she is in a position to not only play multiple sold-out arena shows, but also insist that those shows be phone-free.
Robert Gordon has watched the trees grow along a popular Windsor Park walking path for nearly six decades.
Now, as Manitoba Hydro cuts them down to protect nearby power lines, he says a familiar part of his childhood neighbourhood is disappearing.
Although he no longer lives in the area, Gordon regularly returns to walk or cycle along the tree-lined path, which runs parallel to Archibald Street.
He was concerned when he recently spotted crews clearing vegetation near the entrance to the path, but initially assumed they were removing brush. When he returned, he discovered the clearing had extended farther along the corridor.
The Associated Press2 minute readUpdated: Yesterday at 4:00 PM CDT
LONDON (AP) — Philadelphia linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr.'s ejection from Sunday's 19-17 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in London came 21 years after his father was also tossed from an NFL game.
Bryan Thomas Jr. of the Jaguars also was ejected after a scrum at midfield at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium that followed the opening kickoff.
Trotter’s father, Jeremiah Trotter, was tossed in 2005 with Philadelphia after a pre-game scuffle in a meeting with Atlanta.
Jacksonville rookie Josh Cameron returned the kickoff 90 yards for a would-be touchdown, but it was called back because of offsetting penalties that included a hold by Branson Combs of the Jaguars.
