THUNDER BAY – POLITICS – The 2022 Maamawe Summer Festival was held on Saturday, June 25, 2022, from 12 – 9 pm, at Marina Park in Thunder Bay.
Thunder Bay’s Indigenous Relation’s Liasion, James Wilkinson says, “Event was a success as far as establishing an inclusive annual festival that the whole community can get behind, having an Indigenous and non-Indigenous Line-up, showing the community that the City is engaged and cares about improving and fostering better relations with everyone in the community based on feedback from the engagement survey.
“The festival is designed to be inclusive and explore the diversity that is Thunder Bay.
“The idea of creating an annual festival that will continue to grow and thrive came from 10 years of conversations in the community. 2022 is year 1 and that in itself was a success”.
Wilkinson states that, “The festival, a free event put on by the City cost approximately $22,000. This included the permits, set-up fees, inspections, insurance, artists and speakers, stage and sound production, internal inter-departmental charges, and equipment rentals”.
It was also the first of a series of live in-person community events that the City is putting on over the summer of 2022…which all had to be scaled back due to pandemic/ post –pandemic restrictions and impacts.
Wilkinson says that they estimate that the turn-out throughout the day was 500- 700 people.
Poor weather was a factor in attendance according to Wilkinson.
There were two food vendors and seven crafters who participated in the event.
Wilkinson says, “Due to the a short logistics turn-around time, vendor selection, and expressed participation, vendors and crafters were not charged a fee this year”.
