Discussions

I know, it is the weekend you speak of. And have seen advertised.

Since Jan 26.27 & 28, 2017 fall on a Thursday to Saturday seems that would be right, I think.

Winter fest will run the 26-28th of January 2017

@LoadedGun, could you say where you saw the Festival advertisement? I'd like to learn more about what pavilions will be on this year and their venues.

Why does this festival have to be such a shit-show every year?  
Aside from the fact that the overall quality has gone downhill every year for the past 5 years, with certain popular pavilions dropping out (or being forced out), now it''s almost impossible to find out basic information like the operating dates or which pavilions are participating. Never-mind finding out where they are or their individual operating hours and show-times.  
 
I finally stumbled onto the ad on eBrandon that linked to their "website", which is just a single image that shows the dates, but it gives no other information other than social media addresses that don''t seem to actually exist. http://www.gotothepavilions.com/ for those who weren''t lucky enough with their webpage refreshes.  
 
Its incredibly frustrating that such a massive event that has this much potential is so poorly handled. The individual pavilions are usually well run by the volunteers, but there is very little overall event coordination.  
 
Edited by TJ1284, 2017-01-09 18:05:08

Oops, This Page Could Not Be Found! So much for any info.

http://gotothepavilions.com/

TJ1284 said "Why does this festival have to be such a shit-show every year?   Aside from the fact that the overall quality has gone downhill every year for the past 5 years, with certain popular pavilions dropping out (or being forced out), now it''s almost impossible to find out basic information like the operating dates or which pavilions are participating. Never-mind finding out where they are or their individual operating hours and show-times.     I finally stumbled onto the ad on eBrandon that linked to their "website", which is just a single image that shows the dates, but it gives no other information other than social media addresses that don''t seem to actually exist. http://www.gotothepavilions.com/ for those who weren''t lucky enough with their webpage refreshes.     Its incredibly frustrating that such a massive event that has this much potential is so poorly handled. The individual pavilions are usually well run by the volunteers, but there is very little overall event coordination.     Edited by TJ1284, 2017-01-09 18:05:08"

Sounds like you need to volunteer and show these folks how its done.

JackAzz said "    TJ1284 said "Why does this festival have to be such a shit-show every year?   Aside from the fact that the overall quality has gone downhill every year for the past 5 years, with certain popular pavilions dropping out (or being forced out), now it''s almost impossible to find out basic information like the operating dates or which pavilions are participating. Never-mind finding out where they are or their individual operating hours and show-times.     I finally stumbled onto the ad on eBrandon that linked to their "website", which is just a single image that shows the dates, but it gives no other information other than social media addresses that don''t seem to actually exist. http://www.gotothepavilions.com/ for those who weren''t lucky enough with their webpage refreshes.     Its incredibly frustrating that such a massive event that has this much potential is so poorly handled. The individual pavilions are usually well run by the volunteers, but there is very little overall event coordination.     Edited by TJ1284, 2017-01-09 18:05:08" Sounds like you need to volunteer and show these folks how its done. "

Exactly. And then if they charged there would be this huge uproar that if they want people to come out it should all be free. Remember you are getting what you paid for. This is FREE!! All volunteers last I heard.

Tara Taylor said "@LoadedGun, could you say where you saw the Festival advertisement? I'd like to learn more about what pavilions will be on this year and their venues. "

Everyone is getting the Lieutenant Governor's WinterFest confused with the Dakota Nation's Winter Fest.  
 
I don't understand why there is so much frustration over community events! Like, is a bowl of haggas and blood sausages really something your gonna be angry about missing? Is whether or not you make it for the spoon competition really gonna be the deciding factor in the rest of your years enjoyability?  
 
Take the free bus tour, and go check out whats available. Or, drive around and try to avoid the other participants in whatever their state of minds are.

LoadedGun said "    Tara Taylor said "@LoadedGun, could you say where you saw the Festival advertisement? I'd like to learn more about what pavilions will be on this year and their venues. " Everyone is getting the Lieutenant Governor's WinterFest confused with the Dakota Nation's Winter Fest.     I don't understand why there is so much frustration over community events! Like, is a bowl of haggas and blood sausages really something your gonna be angry about missing? Is whether or not you make it for the spoon competition really gonna be the deciding factor in the rest of your years enjoyability?     Take the free bus tour, and go check out whats available. Or, drive around and try to avoid the other participants in whatever their state of minds are. "

Its no longer the Lieutenant Governors Festival, I think the name now is the Westman Multi-Cultural Festival. It is confusing for sure.

i:ncludes a list of pavillions and their locations  
 
https://www.travelmanitoba.com/event/westman-multicultural-festival/48454/  
 
Edited by JackAzz, 2017-01-12 16:12:07

JackAzz said "i:ncludes a list of pavillions and their locations     https://www.travelmanitoba.com/event/westman-multicultural-festival/48454/     Edited by JackAzz, 2017-01-12 16:12:07"

Link to Westman Multiculture Festival facebook page  
https://www.facebook.com/wmmfest/

We are super happy to have our new website up at http://www.gotothepavilions.com and social media on Instagram, Facebook and twitter with the handle @wmmfest or wmmfest.  
 
We are mostly a new group running the festival this year and the new name reflects all of Westman and the multicultural makeup of our region.  
 
A huge event like this takes time to organize and we are posting updated information as it comes to us.  
 
Look for plenty of online and print advertising, as well as news, TV and radio information in the coming days and weeks. This will all lead up to the Festival from January 26 – 28, 2017.  
 
We have seven great Pavilions from England • Honduras • Ireland • Mauritius • Philippines • Scotland • Ukraine and all this information on each pavilion can be found at http://gotothepavilions.com and on social media.  
 
It is going to be another great event and we hope everyone comes out and enjoys the Westman Multicultural Festival again this year!

If you notice - the link that was i:ncluded in the other post was "http://gotothepavilions.com/ which i:ncluded was part of their formatting of the post - that is not the correct link - although all the information is accessible through that link also. http://gotothepavilions.com  
 
Edited by Cam Heming, 2017-01-13 11:00:29

Thanks for posting that. To get up-to-date info please refer to http://gotothepavilions.com The Phillipine Pavilion has changed locations (from that Travel Manitoba posting) to The Ukrainian National Home - 1133 Stickney Avenue.

It is a brand new board this year and they are starting from scratch apparently. The website looks great and easy to figure out, I love that the website is called gotothepavilions.com I think they need all the volunteers they can get. Instead of complaining, volunteer next year! FYI the city no longer sponsors the free bus route.  
 
Edited by karen Numrich, 2017-01-13 11:27:52

Sarah1991 said "Does anybody know when the winter festival is schedule for in 2017? AAA's website says January 26, 27 and 28th. The city website has a scrolling banner that says this as well but in my experience the city website doesn't update often, could this be for 2016?   Anybody know of a working website? "

The AAA's website is correct.

Cam Heming said "We are super happy to have our new website up at http://www.gotothepavilions.com and social media on Instagram, Facebook and twitter with the handle @wmmfest or wmmfest.     We are mostly a new group running the festival this year and the new name reflects all of Westman and the multicultural makeup of our region.     A huge event like this takes time to organize and we are posting updated information as it comes to us.     Look for plenty of online and print advertising, as well as news, TV and radio information in the coming days and weeks. This will all lead up to the Festival from January 26 – 28, 2017.     We have seven great Pavilions from England • Honduras • Ireland • Mauritius • Philippines • Scotland • Ukraine and all this information on each pavilion can be found at http://gotothepavilions.com and on social media.     It is going to be another great event and we hope everyone comes out and enjoys the Westman Multicultural Festival again this year! "

Its great to have someone who is involved so that the information is known to be accurate. Thanks for your hard work, and that of your co-organizers.  
 
Looking forward to it!

Just wondering what happened to the Metis Pavilion. It used to be at the WMCA. This was our favourite go to Pavilion.

We would love to have the Metis and First Nation Pavilions (and others) rejoin the Festival. We have adjusted the dates for next year to run Feb 1 - 3, 2018. This new date won't conflict with the Dakota Nation Winterfest and should allow these pavilions to participate if they choose.  
 
http://www.gotothepavilions.com

http://irishsocietyofwm.org/pavilionschedule.htm

Cam Heming said "We would love to have the Metis and First Nation Pavilions (and others) rejoin the Festival. We have adjusted the dates for next year to run Feb 1 - 3, 2018. This new date won't conflict with the Dakota Nation Winterfest and should allow these pavilions to participate if they choose.     http://www.gotothepavilions.com "

So glad to hear that these will be back next year and that it won't conflict with the Dakota Nation Winterfest. Isn't great when we can have it all? I will miss out on the stew and bannock this year but it will be something to look forward to for next year for sure.

but the people putting on the events are to be commended.  
 
the city on the other hand - could you not have cleared some snow banks in the very congested areas of the pavilions on city streets.  
 
near the Ukrainian and the Pilipino pavilions there was barely room to drive one vehicle past parked cars, let alone walk down the street as well.  
 
It is an event that brings people to the city and also to areas of the city they may typically not drive in. Tourism I am sure is a very big interest of the city council. How to encourage more people to visit and then you make them wish they had not come because they are worried about an accident.

Very sad to see a lot not participating this year. The roads by Philippine and Ukrainian were terrible and we got out of there before we got in an accident or stuck!  
 
We ended up at Honduras and Mauritian ones. Both very enjoyable. Might head out to a few more today.

AHH! said "What happened the Lieutenant-Governor's Winter Festival? Brandon's winter festival is now known as "Westman Multicultural Festival".The amount of pavilions has decreased in the last two years since changes have been made to both the Manitoba provincial and Brandon civic governments.     Did the Manitoba Conservative government or Brandon's current government cut funding to the festival and participating groups? "

According to the Go To the Pavillions website: “Last year, the festival parted ways with its title sponsor, Lt.-Gov. Janice Filmon, and the 2016 event was simply called Winter Festival.”  
 
http://gotothepavilions.com/festival-featured-in-brandon-sun-article/

Volunteers for these type events are hard to find....as they are for most things, maybe a cause to why there aren't as many this year?  
Kudos to those helping out to make them a success!

I was in Philippinos last night, they put so much effort and hard work and I enjoyed a lot. I also enjoyed Irish, Scottish and English and Ukraine that I have been so far. My plan is going to Henduras and Mauracious today pretty soon. I love all of the pavilions and they need our support to come back next year. Hope to bring More next year. German, China, Brazilian, Elsalvador and the rest !!  
This is one of the activities that I like about Brandon and try not to miss it even in -40. This year's weather is so nice and cooperative!