First-aid volunteers treat folk fest attendees suffering from heat

Shade was at a premium at Birds Hill Provincial Park over the weekend as Winnipeg Folk Festival goers tried to keep cool during an extreme heat wave.

Heat warnings were issued across southern Manitoba and temperatures peaked at 35 C Sunday afternoon.

First-aid volunteers were seen administering cold compresses to several overheated attendees. STARS air ambulance responded to a medical call at the park on Saturday night, but did not transport the patient to hospital. By Sunday at noon, EMS had been called to the festival nine times.

“This is not an unusual number of calls for us or other events of our size,” festival executive director Valerie Shantz said.

Programming carried on as planned despite the forecast at the sold-out music festival, which was predicted to see an estimated daily attendance of 20,000 people, including paid ticketholders, volunteers and artists.

Long lines formed at water taps and visitors seeking shade were tucked under umbrellas, tents and along treelines during daytime performances.

Cary Bilcowski was standing in the shade offering to spritz passersby with his battery-powered mister.

“It helps keep me and the people around me cool,” said Bilcowski, who has earned the nickname “Mist Guy” over his 20-plus years of attending the festival. “Every year kind of feels like the hottest year when you’re in it, but this one is up there.”

“Some shade and the breeze helps,” said Russ Klingaman of Florida from under an umbrella at the beer tent Sunday. He and his wife Mary have been coming to the festival since 1999.

“Yesterday was tough,” Mary said of Saturday, which reached 33 C.

“It’s brutal. It’s hard at some points of the day … we’re definitely moving from stage to stage less.”

Their friend Louise Penner is also a four-day attendee; this was her second festival.

The Boston resident relies on cold beverages, a hand fan and a cold cloth on the back of the neck to stay cool.

“I lived in Texas for three years without air conditioning, so basically you just get wet and stay wet.”

“Beer,” Rob Schneider of Wisconsin joked when asked for his tips.

His friend Brenda Wong was at her second festival. She was coveting the battery-powered air-conditioned vest she’d seen a man wearing the previous day, but the Los Angeles resident wasn’t letting the heat get her down.

“I could go to a great music festival (in California) and I would still be like, ‘Meh, it’s no Winnipeg.’”

“That’s the only time that phrase is ever, ever said,” Schneider said with a laugh.

For Ryan Wiebe and Shawn Vidal, co-owners of Pop Cart, a mobile popsicle stand with six outlets at the festival, the heat is a blessing and a curse.

Frozen treats are a natural choice when the mercury soars, but lower attendance owing to extreme heat negatively affected Sunday sales.

“We always have a cart at the kids stage,” Vidal said. “We just moved it because there’s nobody there.”

“Who’s bringing their kids out in 37-degree heat?” Wiebe asked.

The company also lost about 4,000 popsicles when its 12-foot mobile refrigeration unit failed on Saturday night.

“We showed up this morning to find a bunch of our stuff soupy,” Wiebe said.

Pop Cart’s custom insulated carts, filled with dry ice, have held up to the high temperatures, however.

“We’re thrilled and so thankful to be here,” Wiebe said. “For a lot of people, we’re like an institution at the festival.”

eva.wasney@winnipegfreepress.com