Street Festival was a hit in North Battleford, board says

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The location downtown for the festival also changed slightly this year due to construction, but Christensen said everything worked out well. She said the festival was held in front of local downtown businesses this time around, and the merchants were able to take advantage of that and a number held sidewalk sales.

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“The streets really came alive,” Christensen said. “A lot of the businesses we talked to had a lot of success selling all weekend, having more people than they normally would.”

This year the festival was produced locally by Kali Weber, the festival co-chair, who is Saskatchewan-based. Christensen said that qualified the festival for a grant from the Saskatchewan Arts Board as a bonus. Having a larger, nine-member board and about 40 volunteers also helped in putting on the event, she said. 

Some of the criteria the festival board looks at when measuring the success of the festival include attendance numbers and several other variables. 

“Number one, we look for the number of people who come down,” Christensen said. “We have crowd counters that are continuously counting and recording numbers. The other thing we look for is the diversity.”

Christensen said the board noticed a very diverse crowd taking in the festival this year, reflecting all age groups. In comparison, she said during some previous years the festival mainly drew parents with young children, but this year’s event saw a wide variety of people attending. The event also attracted more newcomers to Canada.

“That’s very important,” Christensen said. “When the festival first started I wouldn’t say there was a lot of diversity. After this year I believe that anybody who is from North Battleford was reflected at the festival. The vendors are becoming more diverse. You see people from a baby who was six days old to my grandpa, who comes every year, and this year he’s 97 … We measure success in the smiles of the people and just the happiness it brings.”

angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW