Flin Flon’s Culture Days will soon kick off for its 10th edition, spreading both new events and familiar favourites across Flin Flon and the surrounding area.
When Flin Flon Arts Council cultural coordinator and lead Culture Days organizer Crystal Kolt first began the festival’s presence in Flin Flon, there was little indication that the event would become the institution it is now – a nationally acclaimed festival showing off the embarrassment of cultural riches around Flin Flon.
“It’s a pan-Canadian celebration of arts and culture. What I wanted to do was connect more nationally. We’ve been fortunate, since we’ve done so well, that we have had a national presence because of our number of events – people know Flin Flon within that sphere because of it,” said Kolt.
The events kick off in earnest Thursday at the Flin Flon Community Hall with the Superstar program, an annual event that teaches students a number of different activities including beading, singing, improv, photography and other skills. The program is open for students of all ages, with sessions being held for Kindergarten to Grade 5, Grades 6-8 and high school students.
Typically held on Friday afternoon, the program has been moved a day earlier at the urging of organizers.
“Because most kids leave on band trips or some kind of sports trip on the weekend this year, we decided to have those events on Thursday,“ said Kolt.
Later in the weekend, some Culture Days past favourites will make a comeback, including the Wild Things Market, family activities at the Rotary Wheel, the Dance Down Main Street on Sunday and Human Books event Friday at the Flin Flon Public Library.
The tried and true favourites will be joined by events as well, including heritage quilt displays from the North Star Quilt Guild Saturday, artist talks at the NorVA Centre with bagpiper Ian Kinnear and Winnipeg-based multidisciplinary artist Evin Collis, a Local Roots show Friday night and a radio play at Johnny’s Social Club, an original production written by Raphael Saray entitled, “The Invisible Man is Missing.”
“Everybody has something they’re passionate about. If you can give people some time and space to showcase that, it takes on a life of its own. Whether it’s five people who show up at an event or a hundred and five, it’s there for people to show off their passion,” said Kolt.
Organization for this year’s event was different than past years – with Kolt gone until September on the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage, much of the work fell on the shoulders of other organizers this year.
Kolt said the event has become a major fall season tourist draw to the community.
“There are people who are coming here who have heard about Culture Days. They can come at any time of the year, but they’ve chosen to come to this experience, which is really affirming,” she said.
Thinking back to the nascence of Culture Days and seeing what it has become, Kolt is pleased with the present while still looking for ways to grow the festival into the future, including working with other communities hoping to hold their own Culture Days festivities.
“If there’s a way for us to connect even more nationally and provincially, I would like to know. We’ve had a few connections with some other communities that have called us and asked, ‘How do you do what you do? Can we connect? Can you share some words of wisdom?’ I love that. I’d like to do as many connections as we can nationally,” Kolt said.
“It was like, ‘Everything is culture. Welcome to our tribe. We design your T-shirts and possibly your puck. We play music at all the events, we designed the logos – we are part of arts and culture.’”
A full Culture Days schedule can be found in the Culture Days passport, available for free at several locations in Flin Flon, including at the office of The Reminder.
