Organizers of an inaugural downtown Winnipeg festival are pleased with the turnout this weekend. Downtown Winnipeg BIZ’s weekender festival wrapped up Sunday on Graham Avenue. The three-day festival included multiple activities and events, including basketball, family games, and live music. “We’ve got a great crowd here, but there’s something for everyone all around throughout the weekend. We’ve had everything from pro wrestling to salsa dancing to spray painting a car,” said Kate Fenske with Downtown Winnipeg BIZ. The Weekender was the successor to ManyFest, a previous downtown Winnipeg Street festival that hadn’t been held for several years. Fenske said events like this are important to helping revitalize downtown. “I’ve seen folks from tiny little kids playing games in the family zone to older folks enjoying things, and it’s really cool to see the entire community come together,” she said. “There’s not a lot of free things to do in our city, and so that’s really important for us that we’re making sure we’re providing a fun event for all ages that you can enjoy something for free.” Fenske did acknowledge some challenges with attendance, owing to Saturday’s colder temperatures. “Weather always plays a factor, but it’s great that we’ve got a sunny day on Sunday,” she said. “It was a little slower and quieter than we would have liked Saturday afternoon, when you got high winds and it’s a little bit chilly, but we saw some Bomber fans and we also saw some Rider fans come after the game to check things out.” She said feedback from this year’s event will give organizers an idea about what to work on for next year’s event. “This is the first time we’ve tried it here on the Graham pedestrian corridor, and so we’re taking over some surface parking lots, we’re taking over the street, and I think it’s really about how do we make sure the footprint works really well,” Fenske said. “Because I think there are some things that are kind of hidden; you have to go and seek and find them, and so it’s really about bringing it all tightly together.”
