Altona is the place to be this weekend as the community hosts the 2025 Manitoba Sunflower Festival.
It’s the celebration’s 60th anniversary, and organizers are ready to celebrate, says festival committee chair Sandra Klassen, noting, however, that it’s really the 65th anniversary that they’re planning to go big with in a few years.
“The 65th will be our big, big celebration, but we are doing a little more this year to mark the 60th,” she said, pointing to the return of the free Thursday night community barbecue that kicks the whole weekend off. “It kind of got put by the wayside for a few years and so we thought let’s bring that back as something special for the 60th.”
The supper is followed by a movie night in the park featuring showings of The Secret Life of Pets and Jumanji. The Altona fire department will also be hosting a family fun event that evening where kids of all ages can see what it’s like to be a firefighter.
“They’re going to let the kids take the fire hoses and aim at different targets,” Klassen said. “It’ll be a fun evening to start everything off.”
Friday then features events such as the Altona Rhineland Emergency Services fire truck pull, the Gallery After Dark silent disco, and a performance on the PlayNow Stage from Pop Vegas, a Winnipeg cover band that sings the hits from the ‘80s, ‘90s, and today.
Friday evening also sees the return of another formerly defunct event: the ping pong ball drop, which takes place at Diamond 1 in Altona Centennial Park.
“We’re bringing it back,” Klassen said. “It used to happen when I was a kid, and many of our committee members said, ‘Yeah, I remember that. What happened to that?’”
A drone will drop thousands of balls from the sky for people to grab to see what prize they’ve won.
“They’ll each have a prize that they can go to a local business to collect,” Klassen said. “It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Festival Saturday starts with a pancake breakfast and ends with fireworks. In between you can enjoy the giant parade through town starting at 10 a.m. , the Sprkl Studio Youth Rock Band Showcase, axe throwing, CultureFest booths, Gifted The Market vendor booths, the Outland Games fitness challenge, an Only Local Flower Fair featuring fresh-cut blooms from area growers, Winnipeg Pro Wrestling bouts, the Vertical Adventures Climbing Wall, the petting zoo, Prairie Exotics displays and shows, the Altona Elks dance, performances from comedy juggler and circus artist Mr. Circus on the new children’s stage (Sun Valley Co-op Stage), and more.
On the main stage, Shania Twin (a.k.a. Donna Huber) will provide the soundtrack for the night with a Shania Twain tribute show at 7:30 p.m.
“We had Shania Twin a number of years ago and we’ve brought her back because who doesn’t love Shania Twain music?” said Klassen. “She does a fabulous job.”
At 10 p.m., Queen Quest will crown the 2025 Manitoba Sunflower Festival Queen.
“That’s also celebrating 60 years,” noted Klassen, who headed up the program for years before taking on the reins of the festival as a whole last year. “So with 60 years, we’ve had 60 different young women who have gone through the program and proudly represented our community.”
There are nine young ladies taking part in Queen Quest this year. The winner will travel to Altona’s sister city, city Emerald, Australia, next spring.
Sunday’s line-up includes, in part, the community workshop service, Legends Car Club’s 44th annual Show in the Park, performances by Sleepy the Clown on the children’s stage, free watermelon and roll kuchen for faspa, an old time dance, and Music in the Park all afternoon featuring performances from The Seven Pines, Brett Schulz, and Ezrah Stone.
“It’s a chill afternoon to sit in the shade, if you can find shade, and just enjoy the afternoon,” Klassen said.
“The biggest thing we like to boast is that our festival is free from start to finish,” she stressed, noting the only thing you really need to bring money for is for the food trucks or market vendors, if you so chose.
Volunteers are the lifeblood of the festival, Klassen noted, with an organizing committee of eight and then upwards of 70 people working behind-the-scenes festival weekend.
“We’re a small town of almost 4,000 people, but we seem to be able to celebrate our community and our and our culture really well. It’s going to be a great weekend.”
For the complete festival schedule, head to manitobasunflowerfestival.ca.
