MANITOWANING—The Wiikwemkoong Arts and Music Festival (WAMF) is back!
Save the date—next Thursday, August 18—and be prepared for an afternoon and evening of music, culminating in a highlight performance by Wiikwemkoong’s own two-time Juno Award winning Crystal Shawanda.
But there’s lots more happening that day at the open-air Manitowaning Amphitheatre located below the municipal office, on the hillside overlooking the River Road Marina and the S.S. Norisle including Logan Straats, who won the first season of the CTV show “The Launch.” He is just one of the eight acts scheduled for the one day.
My Son the Hurricane which has played Manitowaning and Wiikwemkoong, is part of the line-up and this boisterous band features “multi horns, multi drums, multi brass and multi singers.”
Organizer Jason Manitowabi of Debajehmujig Theatre says the event, that begins at 3 pm and ends, well, whenever Crystal Shawanda’s performance is over, will be free of charge and donations will be cheerfully accepted.
“This is in the same spirit as this year’s Wiikwemkoong Cultural Festival and Pow Wow,” he told The Expositor. “It’s a ‘welcome back’ event.”
Mr. Manitowabi explained that while the WAMF is usually a multi-day event, “as it turned out, Thursday, August 18 was the one day when every artist we invited could all come. So we decided to make it a one-day festival this year.”
Following the WAMF event, there will be a comedy show at the Debajehmujig Creation Centre on Queen Street in downtown Manitowaning. Admission to this event is $20 per person,
For full details of the event, please see the ad on page 14.