(submitted/P.A.Polkafest)

By Ian Gustafson

Get those dancing shoes on

P.A. Polkafest heading into 17th year

Aug 23, 2019 | 12:37 PM

Everyone heading to the Prince Albert Exhibition Centre this weekend will need to put on their dancing shoes for the 17th annual Polkafest. It runs today through Sunday with all money raised going back into the building for renovations.

Director of the Polkafest, Lawrence Bodnar told paNOW that even though it is a local event, in years past people from other provinces have made the trip to Prince Albert.

“People who like music, it’s kind of a reunion for people who travel the circuit and they just make it a place to meet new friends and meet people at other festivals and they just say ‘we’ll meet you in P.A.,’” Bodnar said.

For people coming from out of town there will be full-service RV camping on site on Friday and Saturday with dry camping on grass or gravel in designated areas.

“We have people coming in from British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and they all do camp in their RV and it’s within walking distance to the centre,” Bodnar explained. “We’re looking forward always to our local people to support us because the money raised stays here.”

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Over the years the festival has grown into a large gathering with some festivals reaching up to 1,000 people.

“I remember when we first started, I think we had 150 or 200 people for the weekend but now it’s grown from that to almost a thousand people for all three days,” he said.

What has kept the event going for so many years Bodnar said is a great volunteer base.

“They’re the backbone of the Polka Fest,” he added. “If you like music this is the place to be.”

On Friday, doors will open at 4:30 p.m. with food available and a dance from 5:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. and then on Saturday doors open at 1 p.m. followed by a dance from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m. On Sunday there will be a pancake breakfast from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. with more live entertainment until 12 p.m.

“We can’t polka all night, which is understandable [although] I wish you could, but you’d be tired out after a few hours,” Bodnar said. “It’s not only polka there’s waltz, two steps, foxtrots, and instead of one band there are five different bands to choose from for the weekend.”

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Ian.Gustafson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @iangustafson12