The venue and date had to be changed due to this spring and summer's floods, but the Collage multi-cultural festival still managed to get off the ground. Although the second year's version may not have soared, it certainly was well worth the attendance and efforts. As a result, a third annual version is most certainly in the future, said Michelle Cyrenne, community development manager for the Estevan and Area Board of Tourism, Trade and Commerce (ETTC).
"For the most part, last year's festival provided more variety, more layers of themed based exhibitors," said Cyrenne. "But many couldn't make it in the last minute, both exhibitors and performers, and we understand that," he added, in reference to the date and weather-related changes that had to be incorporated into this year's event.
"But it was a very busy event in terms of attendance. We don't have the final count done yet but I know we ran out of wristbands at one of the cabarets. With the rodeo coinciding with the Collage Festival, that made it a different situation too," Cyrenne said.
As for Collage No. 3, Cyrenne speculated that "I believe we'll have number three. There is a lot of merit to having it. The businesses in this community are bringing in people from all over the world so Collage is a good opportunity to meet them, learn from them and bring the community together."
Cyrenne said Collage may grow large enough so that it can be organized and thrive on its own, but he said there would be no problem with them partnering with ETTC next year as long as there was strong input from the entire community.
"The business community seems to think of it as an important event. We had 35 exhibitors, we could have handled more. About six exhibitors offered specialty foods and there were regular concession foods as well," said Cyrenne who said most of the activity was focused within the Lignite Miners Centre.
Original plans had called for Collage to be celebrated outdoors in Woodlawn Regional Park in the early summer with various outdoor and inside activities but those early plans had to be scrapped when the flood waters arrived to wipe out Woodlawn.
Spectra Place, the new arena and events complex, can also come into play in the future for those who will be doing the planning, such as Angela Simmons who was instrumental in getting last year's and this year's Collage off the ground and operational in spite of the many challenges.
Cyrenne said the annual Estevan Showcase will be making use of Spectra Place next weekend, giving the facility and its staff an opportunity to test the flexibility of the centre as the ice will be covered on a temporary basis. This will give event staff the chance to set up exhibit booths and events, allowing Showcase to expand its offerings to the public.
