Everything is in place and set for this weekend’s Morden Corn and Apple Festival to perhaps be one of the biggest and best of recent years.
As the festival weekend drew near, it’s been both exciting and somewhat nerve-racking for the organizers.
“We feel like we’re really prepared. You can’t of course prepare for everything. There’s some things you have to take as they come … but we’re right where we expected to be and where we should be as far as preparations go,” said chairperson Nathan Knight.
And he noted the credit for that largely goes to the army of volunteers who really make it all happen.
The organizing board has close to 30 sub-committee chairpersons and members for every aspect of the festival, so it is a large task to manage it all.
“They’re all fantastic. Many of them have been doing their jobs for a number of years, some probably going on 20 years,” Knight said. “Whenever we have someone new, they seem to fit right in, and because we can lean on the experience, it makes it a little bit easier for the newer volunteers as well.
“We have our two staffers in the office, but the bulk of the work is done by volunteers. A small group has done a lot to this point, and then of course as we got closer to the festival, the number of volunteers continued to grow right up to the weekend,” he noted. “And they’re the ones you will see hands-on at the festival making it happen.
“We’re probably going to be in the vicinity of I would say about 600 volunteers,” he suggested. “We always order 500 volunteer T-shirts, which we go through every year, and then we have committee chairs and we have the board helping out.”
The weekend’s lineup is very much a case of not messing with something that just works so well.
All of the usual attractions will be there, from the free corn on the cob and apple cider to the wide variety of vendors and perhaps the largest parade in Manitoba, so there will be a bit of everything for every taste.
“That’s what we try to do,” said Knight. “We try to have at least something for everyone.
“Some people want to spend their day at the midway. Some people like the shows, and a lot of people come just for the food and the many different food vendors … I believe we have more food vendors at our festival than at any other street festival.”
And he added there is something special about the atmosphere of the street festival idea.
“I think that is part of the charm, that it is on Stephen Street. It’s a great way to showcase Morden as well … it gives it a whole different feeling.”
Knight noted they have a full slate of vendors this year.
“We did see a bit of a decline after COVID. I believe we are completely sold out this year … and we moved our craft tents back a little bit to make even more space. Since COVID, we haven’t had this many vendors.”
Knight is happy with the lineup for the main stage entertainment. It includes local band Brothers Keep opening up on Friday for Chad Brownlee and then another local band the Monochromatics opening on Saturday for the Big Shiny ‘90s cover group.
He noted they had enough interest for them to bring back a country night on the Friday main stage.
“We do get requests for different genres from time to time, and it has been a couple years since we had done it, so we thought it was good to do it now,” said Knight. “We’re never typically married to a specific genre on a specific evening. Sometimes, it works out … and a lot of our decisions are made based on the availability of bands.”
And he pointed out the overall variety of entertainment on the schedule overall, with the Cottonwood Stage catering to an older crowd with old-time dance and music while the Youth Stage near the Kenmor Theatre engages the younger crowd.
“Richard Klassen has been running the youth stage for a number of years, and he does an excellent job.”
For a complete schedule of events, head to cornandapple.com. That’s also the place to go to get your 50/50 raffle ticket, which was introduced this year to help cover the increasing costs of making it possible for the festival to remain “fun and free” for most of its offerings.
