Fifty years of the Winnipeg Folk Festival are on tap at a local brewery. So too is the Folk Fest lager, the official beer of the 50th anniversary festival. Thursday, a collection of archival photos was on display at Little Brown Jug, and they’ll hang out there for a few days. Meaning Winnipeggers wanting to take a walk down Folk Fest memory lane can do so this weekend at the taproom on William Avenue. The exhibit debuted alongside a celebration of long-time volunteers. People like Candice Masters, who is a main stage artist liaison and a member of the legacy committee. She described the committee as a group of mid-century modern people who have been around a long time. “We started when it was a grassroots organization, when it was a small little festival,” Masters said. “We helped build it, we helped save it, we helped make it what it was and where it came to.” Masters said the only way to explain what keeps her committed to the festival is its magic. “It’s watching the audience dance and discover somebody new. It’s watching artists on stage discovering each other and collaborating right there and then on stage with no rehearsals, no practice, and just they make magic,” she said. Masters said the photo gallery puts all those moments together for first-time Folk Festers and volunteers who may not know the ups and downs that have happened over the decades. “They don’t necessarily know about the start of the festival. They don’t know we almost lost the festival two or three times,” she said. “They don’t know that Lyle Lovett cut his teeth here.” She said the volunteers have worked hard to help build the festival and Manitobans should know about what they’ve done. “Fifty years is a long time for anything to go, and especially for a folk festival that’s a non-profit organization,” she said. “It’s important to see where we came from so they can carry it on. That’s everything.” Her favourite Folk Fest memory was when Riders in the Sky were closing the main stage with the song Red River Valley. She said as the first notes of the song rang out, northern lights appeared in the sky and started to dance. “You can’t pay for a light show like that. It’s magic.” The Winnipeg Folk Festival runs July 10-13, 2025, at Birds Hill Provincial Park.
