Attendance holds strong for first Interstellar Rodeo

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This article was published 16/08/2015 (4010 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg’s first Interstellar Rodeo is done and dusted, and as attendees took in some amazing performances from the likes of July Talk, Vance Joy and Blue Rodeo Sunday, it was clear Winnipeggers have welcomed the new festival with open arms.

“The response has been overwhelmingly positive,” says Sara Stasiuk, director of operations for Six Shooter Records and one of the lead organizers of the festival. “There’s been a lot of great social media happening and people telling their friends to come out… it’s been a great weekend.”

The thing that seems to have impressed most people is the relaxed yet extremely organized feel of the event — every band hit the stage on time, the lines for the bar and bathrooms were never outrageous, and there was always a place to sit or stand that had a great view of the stage. It’s almost shocking how few hiccups there were throughout the weekend, especially given it’s a first-year festival, and that fact has not been lost on those running things behind the scenes.

“We put a lot of thought into every little detail; we’ve talked about it inside and out excessively for months. So we kinda designed how we thought we’d use the space and how we thought it would go, but it’s gone even better than we thought,” said Stasiuk. “We kind of assumed we’d have to tweak things, but from a logistical standpoint, everything has gone completely smooth.”

Attendance held strong Friday and Saturday, hovering between around the 2,500-3,000 mark. Exact numbers weren’t in for Sunday at press time, but organizers expect it to be about the same, around 2,700 people, depending on walk-up traffic.

“We’ve been totally pleased, it’s been a good mix of critical mass and buzz,” Stasiuk says. “There’s enough people around to seem like it’s happening but it’s not to the point where people are cramped and uncomfortable, they can find space if they need to.

“Across the board it’s been better than expected, better than I could have hoped for.”

That statement is true for attendees as well, who more often than not had only positive things to say about the inaugural weekend of Interstellar Rodeo.

“It feels like the folk festival for adults,” says Heather Arabsky, 29, who just came for the day on Sunday and was enjoying Rhiannon Giddens from the comfort of one of the picnic tables. “And the porta-potties are above reproach! That’s coming from a germophobe.”

The few complaints that were noted largely fell into only two categories. The first was there was too much dead stage time between performers. As the night got closer to the main headlining act, some tweeners would pop up, but during the day, there was sometimes as much as 40 minutes of silence between sets. With smaller festivals, it’s likely not possible to have live music going all the time, but the consensus was piping recorded music through the sound system would be preferable to complete silence.

The second gripe was the wine was too expensive. It’s hard to say if that’s just the stereotypical Winnipegger frugality shining through, but many said that $8 or $10 for a six-ounce pour was just too much money.

But, regardless of the price and the complaints, the wine did sell well, with most of the feature wine pairings for each artist selling out every day.

“I think it was kind of a hard concept for people to even consider, but I think people who are really into wine really appreciated it,” says Stasiuk. “And the bands really appreciate their pairings too; July Talk was backstage really interested in their wine, just sipping away.”

The ability to move around the festival site with an alcoholic beverage, too, was a concept that some had a hard time understanding, but Stasiuk says though it was an extra cost to the festival to hire the needed security to make that possible, they feel it’s the ideal model, and there have been no alcohol-related problems all weekend.

“People have been responsible, which is what we kind of expect from most humans,” she laughs.

Of course, the crux of any good festival is the volunteers who give their time to make it all possible.

“Two-hundred-fifty people took a risk; they didn’t know who we are or what we do and they donated their time and they’ve been amazing. People have really come out of the woodwork to help,” says Stasiuk.

Two of those volunteers were 18-year-old Katie Schoenborn and her mom Brenda, 48, who were on the green team picking up garbage from tables, trying to keep the site as clean as possible.

“It’s been really great so far,” says Katie. “Everyone is so nice here and so far we’ve had a great time.”

“It’s very well organized and it’s a super user-friendly site,” added Brenda. Both women also said they appreciated how well the festival takes care of its volunteers, too, noting they each received a meal ticket and a $25 voucher for the merch tent to use on Interstellar Rodeo merchandise such as t-shirts, sweatshirts or some of the wine glasses used at the festival.

Interstellar Rodeo’s slogan is Just Be Awesome, and it’s unanimous from attendees, volunteers and organizers alike this weekend was successful attempt at embodying that idea. And this is just the start — when asked if the festival will be back in Winnipeg next summer, Stasiuk responded with a wide grin before the question had even been fully uttered.

“Oh yes, definitely, we’ll be back.”

 

erin.lebar@freepress.mb.ca

 

Twitter: @NireRabel