By Michael Joel-Hansen

Community Events

Winter Festival set to kick off

Feb 6, 2019 | 5:00 PM

A major annual event is getting ready to officially kickoff in Prince Albert.

The 55th Prince Albert Winter Festival is set to get underway this weekend. The festival will officially be kicking off on Sunday and running until the 24th.

However, comedy fans got an early taste of what’s to come as the Rock and Iron Sports Bar hosted an open mic comedy night with a competitive twist, the Funniest Guy with a Day Job. The winner of the open Mic was Lyle Kaye from Saskatoon.

Ax throwing will be part of the Prince Albert Winter Festival. (Facebook photo/Prince Albert Winter Festival)

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Kaye has been performing stand-up comedy steady for about a year and often attends open mic nights in Saskatoon. Winning the Funniest Guy with a Day Job competition means that Kaye will get to open for XFM’s Kelly Taylor at his show on Feb. 11. Kaye said having the chance to open for Taylor is big for him.

“[I] had a hard time sleeping that night, because Kelly’s a big name,” he said.

When it comes to his set opening for Taylor at the winter festival, Kaye is confident he will have enough material to fill the set.

“I believe I do have enough material for that, it just refining and getting it down,” he said.

Speaking to paNOW, Taylor said the event brought out a healthy sized crowd, who also appreciated the entertainment.

“We kind of put our heads together and thought it would be a good idea, because usually when they kind of have that, people go out for the first time, they usually bring their friends and its usually a real good crowd and it was a great crowd last night, place was full and it was real fun,” he said.

The open mic brought out a total of seven comedians. Taylor said the comedians who took part had a wide range of experience when it came to working.

“There was a couple guys that have been on stage, they were open mic guys, they were funny people with a day job, you could tell they had a little bit more experience, where there was a couple it was their first time ever,” he said.

Barry Mihilewicz, the president of the Prince Albert Winter Festival, said the festival has some new offerings this year.

One of the new events is called the Youth Extravaganza, which will replace the Voice of Prince Albert.

“It almost harkens back to the variety shows of the old days, there’s going to be dancers and singers and other things happening,” he said.

Another new event this year will see the winter festival team up with the Kinsmen Club to raise money for a worthy cause.

“It’s going to be the Prince Albert Winter festival Telemiracle cabaret,” said Mihilewicz.

Mihilewicz wasn’t just excited about the new events on offer at this year’s festival. He said the fiddle show, which will be the first events to take place, is one people should try to get out to as many talent musicians will be taking part.

“It’s going to be an amazing show,” he said.

While this winter has been a cold one for P.A. and area, Mihilewicz is not concerned about the cold weather bringing down attendance numbers.

“That cold is just something that happens around here,” he said.

When it comes to attendance, Mihilewicz said the numbers have been trending upwards the last few years. Last year some people who attended came from quite far away.

“We actually had somebody from Chicago last year, we had somebody from Sweden last year,” Mihilewicz said.

MichaelJoel.Hansen@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @mjhskcdn