Winnipeg, Manitoba - Folklorama

Every year, Winnipeg Manitoba, Canada, puts on a two week festival of cultures called Folklorama. Folklorama occurs in August annually and lasts for two weeks. The International Council of Organizations for Folklore Festivals and Folk Art (CIOFF) acknowledges that Folklorama is the biggest, largest and longest-running celebration of diverse cultures in the world. The celebration invites visitors to different pavilions all located throughout the city of Winnipeg. Pavillions have sample exotic cuisines, cultural displays, ethnic heritage displays, as well as daily cultural and ethnic shows and demonstrations.

There are usually forty to forty-five pavilions. Folklorama features half the pavilions in the first week and the other half in the second week. Each pavilion represents a country, and is assigned somewhere in the city. Each pavilion is different and has a range of activities and goods that is used to help educate visitors about their culture as well as showcase it. A highligh for some people is that some of the country pavilions provide imported alcohol from their home countries. The festival has a range of talent from professional performers to volunteer local talent.

Folkorama is organized by the Folk Arts Council of Winnipeg. The festival showcases Winnipeg's diversity and acceptance of diverse cultures. Folklorama attracts thousand of tourists every year and helps to add to the local economy.

The first Folklorama happened back in 1970. Originally intended to run as a celebration of Manitoba's one hundred year celebration, Folklorama was measured to be successfully enough for it to become a regular annual event. The original event had twenty one cultures, ran for only one week and was able to draw seventy-five thousand visits.

Guided Tour Presents Folklorama
This page has more details about the Folklorama festival.