One of the first contestants rocks out on a guitar solo during the Adventure Youth Talent Show in February 2020. (Ian Gustafson/paNOW Staff)

By paNOW Staff

The Show Must Go On

Board of Directors put plan in place for Prince Albert Winter Festival in 2021

Dec 28, 2020 | 5:12 PM

With just over a month until the Prince Albert Winter Festival, the Board of Directors have announced they have plans in place to put on the Winter Festival in February despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to a media release, the Festival, which will take place from Feb. 6 to 21 will have a combination of virtual and in-person events. The virtual shows will be streamed online.

“Through funding from Canadian Heritage as well as generous support from Canadian Tire, we feel that we are able to produce shows which will be entertaining, but just as importantly will provide a showcase for the amazing talent Prince Albert has to offer,” President Bev Erickson said in the release. “We also feel that it is very important to carry on in spite of the COVID restrictions, and that we can produce the shows safely in accordance with the health guidelines.”

The Festival will kick off on Feb. 6 with a Rock show, which will be streamed. The next day on Sunday will be the Youth Extravaganza and will also be streamed online.

The following weekend on Feb. 13 the Voices of the North show will be streamed and on Sunday Feb. 14 the Fiddle show will be live-streamed from the EA Rawlinson Centre for the Arts. On the final week of the show, the Country North show will be streamed on Thursday Feb. 18 and on Saturday, Feb. 20 the Country North 50^th anniversary reunion show will also go on. Finally, on Sunday the Festival will wrap up with the Gospel show live-streamed from the EA Rawlinson Centre. Depending on the restrictions at the time they explained they may be able to have a small in-person audience.

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A popular event at the festival, the annual Tuxes and Toques Gala was replaced this year. On Dec. 22 they put on a virtual Christmas show which had local performances and those who watched the show were encouraged to make a Food Bank donation.

Some other fun events will go ahead during the Festival such as the snow sculptures and the fireworks show will be a drive in event. Although, Festival Coordinator Barry Mihilewicz said changes will be inevitable but they hope to have as many events as they can do.

“We hope to have the Sled Dog Races, which are always a highlight of the Festival,” he said in the release. “We are currently looking at ways to continue the races while maintaining proper social distancing protocols, however safety is our number one priority.”

They plan to have the Family Day Sliding Party at the Little Red River Park. A virtual Jigging Contest is also in the plans as an online show. Other virtual events include two comedy shows including the Funniest Guy with a Day Job as a possible online show.

The Winter Festival buttons will go on sale in January at local businesses and Winter Festival masks will be sold for the first time, however there is a limited amount. Currently they are selling 50/50 and raffle tickets to help fundraise for the events. For more information visit their website.

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panews@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @princealbertnow