WINNIPEG -- Festival du Voyageur is moving ahead amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but it’s going to look different than it has in previous years.

Instead of going from tent to tent, and enjoying food, live music and contests, Manitobans will be given a virtual experience at the upcoming festival.

“We’ve really had the luxury of time, which a lot of events did not have this past summer to look at what we offer and how we can transform it in safe manner, whether it’s in person or online,” said Darrel Nadeau, executive director of Festival du Voyageur.

The 2021 event, which is set to take place from Feb. 12 to 21, will include the following activities:

  • Virtual concerts and events;
  • French-Canadian meal kits that people can eat at home;
  • Virtual versions of classic Festival du Voyageur contests, such as the beard growing contest and the jigging contest;
  • A series of educational vignettes on Metis culture;
  • Instructional videos on ‘How to Festival at Home’; and
  • A modified Canada Life school program that will bring fur trade and Indigenous histories into schools through pre-made craft kits, virtual presentations and educational activities.

“We fine-tuned our offerings for virtual activities based on our observations of other activities,” Nadeau said.

“So some events, for example, have done one-night only concerts that last three to four hours and we’ve all observed Zoom fatigue, where people have a hard time watching a screen or watching a concert for that length of time.

“So what we’ve decided is we want to have a full festival feel, so we’ll break up our musical programming into one hour to one-and-a-half hour segments over several nights with different themes and different types of artists.”

If public health orders allow at the time of the festival, the event will also offer distanced, cohorted, and one-directional outdoor activities. The activities would include art installations, snow, ice and wooden sculptures; as well as historical interpretations.

Festival organizers are also hoping to offer a safe, distanced evening event for adults called the “Liquor Mart Labyrinth.”

“In terms of the in-person activities there’s a huge caveat on those, if restrictions allow at the time,” Nadeau said.

He added there would need to be a rollback on restrictions for these in-person events to be able to take place.

The 2021 Festival du Voyageur will follow public health guidelines. Plans for the festival will evolve as the COVID-19 pandemic evolves as well. 

- With files from CTV’s Jon Hendricks.