Your guide to Manitoba’s many summer festivals
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 30/05/2015 (4132 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Pick up a tube of sunscreen. Buy a bottle of bug spray.
Then prepare to empty your wallet, harm your liver and deprive yourself of sleep, because summer festival season is almost back in southern Manitoba.
Unless you’re independently wealthy and a glutton for punishment, you cannot attend them all. Here is a handful of the larger events, so you decide how to best damage your eardrums and shorten your lifespan while enjoying summer in the most hedonistic manner possible.
Winnipeg International Jazz Festival
June 11-21, Exchange District
What you get: Four nights of free outdoor jazz, blues, Latin, hip hop and indie pop performances at The Cube in Old Market Square, followed by a week of indoor concerts and club shows at nine venues.
What you won’t get: Any slumber whatsoever, if you live in the West Exchange.
Headliners: Kenny Barron Trio, Buddy Guy, Dave Holland, Owen Pallett, Esperanza Spalding and Mavis Staples.
Tickets: Individual shows range from $15 to $79.50. Nightly club passes are $30 for weekdays or $35 for weekends. Week-long club passes are $90 and super-passes covering all performances are $250.
More info: jazzwinnipeg.com
Pride Winnipeg Festival
June 13-14, The Forks
What you get: Two days of free live entertainment at The Forks, plus the annual Pride Parade on the Sunday.
What you won’t get: Any weird looks for wearing gold lamé.
What else? There’s also a $30, adults-only closing party on June 14 at the Metropolitan Theatre.
More info: pridewinnipeg.com
Red River Exhibition
June 12-21, Red River Exhibition Park
What you get: Vertigo-inducing rides, live music and deep-fried everything at the traditional summer fair.
What you won’t get: Either Randy Bachman or Burton Cummings in the version of the Guess Who performing at the Ex.
New this year: Deep-fried pickles, a revamped Fireball ride and “the extreme jump,” a new attraction offering you the opportunity to fall 10 metres from a tower on to an inflatable cushion.
Tickets: $10 in advance at Mac’s and Sobey’s or $15 at the gate; $7.50 weekdays before 5 p.m.
More info: redriverex.com
Dauphin’s Countryfest
June 25-28, Selo Ukraina Site
What you get: Four days of country, roots rock and blues on three stages on the north slope of Riding Mountain — and the biggest outdoor party of the summer, anywhere in Manitoba.
What you won’t get: Hipsters. Shaved sides don’t count any more.
Headliners: Brantley Gilbert, Brett Kissel, Miranda Lambert, Jake Owen and, weirdly, Andrew W.K.
Tickets: Day passes $79 to $89, camping passes $89, weekend passes $239, and VIP weekend passes $619.
More info: countryfest.ca
Winnipeg Folk Festival
July 9-11, Birds Hill Park What you get: Four days of folk, roots rock, world music and indie pop in a glorious prairie setting northeast of Winnipeg.
What you won’t get: A redundant Wednesday night concert. The fifth day of the festival has been put to rest.
Headliners: Bahamas, Arlo Guthrie, Dan Mangan + Blacksmith, Jenny Lewis, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros and Wilco.
Tickets: Day passes $48 to $88, weekend passes $130 to $235, weekend passes with camping $165 to $270.
More info: winnipegfolkfestival.ca
Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival
July 15-26, Exchange District
What you get: 182 theatre, comedy, improv and dance performances — all under 90 minutes — in 32 downtown Winnipeg venues.
What you won’t get: Broadway production values, but who needs that, anyway?
Notable names: Crumbs, T.J. Dawe, Mike Delamont, DnD Improv Show, Hot Thespian Action and Charles Ross.
Tickets: Admission is $10 per show. Frequent Fringer passes offering admission to 14 shows are $109.
More info: winnipegfringe.com
Brandon Folk Music & Art Festival
July 24-26, Brandon
What you get: Three days of folk and roots music on the grounds of the Keystone Centre.
What you won’t get: Perimeter-itis.
Headliners: A Tribe Called Red, Digging Roots and Tanya Tagaq.
Tickets: Day passes $40 to $45, weekend passes $70 to $80.
More info: brandonfolkfestival.ca
Rockin’ the Fields of Minnedosa
July 31 to Aug. 2, Lake Minnedosa
What you get: Classic rock, which now covers bands from the mid-1990s. Take that, Generation X!
What you won’t get: Hipsters. Not even the most ironic ones.
Headliners: Moist, Night Ranger, the Tea Party and Wide Mouth Mason.
Tickets: Day passes $60, weekend passes $160.
More info: rockinthefields.ca
Folklorama
Aug. 2-15, Winnipeg
What you get: Two weeks of community efforts to show off multiculturalism through food, dance and music at 43 pavilions.
What you won’t get: A Colorado pavilion, because the chief form of entertainment isn’t legal here. Yet.
New this year: A Cuban pavilion. Returning after absences are Hungaria, Indo-Caribbean Paradise and Indochina-Chinese.
Tickets: Single-pavilion admission is $6, five-ticket packs are $25 and 12-ticket packs are $54.
More info: folklorama.ca
Manitoba Electronic Music Exhibition
Aug. 13-16, mostly at The Cube
What you get: Three nights of free electronic music outdoors at Old Market Square, plus a Thursday night indoor show and after-Cube events the rest of the weekend.
What you won’t get: Vocals, generally.
Headliners: Jon Delerious, Rennie Foster, Justin James and Timo Maas
Tickets: Passes to all four indoor events are $75.
More info: memetic.ca
Interstellar Rodeo
Aug. 14-16, The Forks
What you get: Three days of folk and roots music at a new Winnipeg festival produced by Six Shooter Records, which started the first Interstellar Rodeo in Edmonton.
What you won’t get: Outside the city.
Headliners: Blue Rodeo, Steve Earle & the Dukes, Sinéad O’Connor and Dwight Yoakam.
Tickets: Day passes $65 to $99. Weekend passes are $125 to $225.
More info: interstellarrodeo.com
bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca
History
Updated on Saturday, May 30, 2015 9:19 AM CDT: Replaces photos, tweaks headline.
