It was the festival so nice they've decided to try it twice.
The Collage Multicultural Festival will be returning to Estevan in 2011, and quite possibly for the next few years after that.
The Estevan and District Board of Tourism, Trade and Commerce recently announced they are spearheading a group that will hold Collage in September. TTC executive director Michel Cyrenne said given the success of the first Collage, the decision to make the event an annual one was easy.
"The (initial) plan was for it to be a one time event," said Cyrenne. "It just went over really well and we felt that it was something that could kind of fit in as an annual event.
"Our attendance expectations were easily surpassed and people in the community were really happy with the event and we heard a lot of really good comments and a lot of positive response to the event."
Cyrenne said the TTC began applying for various grants and has already had some success in that realm, receiving $17,500 from the province's Community Initiatives Fund's community pride grants.
That money has allowed them to hire Angela Simmons, who organized the first festival, on a contract basis.
Cyrenne said the group is eyeing Sept. 9 and 10 for the 2011 festival. He added the event will be slightly different than with a change in location to Woodlawn Regional Park one of the most notable differences.
"There are a few facilities we can use down there and we will probably rent some tents for exhibitors," he said. "We do plan on having it a little bigger. Last year we had all the exhibitors in one facility in 10 to 15 foot booths. This year we would like to have some bigger ones, something a little more similar to Mosaic in Regina.
"We are starting to look at entertainment as far as bands that can come down. Things went really well last year; we would like to do something quite similar but grow from there."
The TTC plans to create an advisory committee comprised of different community groups in the near future. They will also be looking for corporate sponsorship and volunteers as the event draws closer.
