It's a cheese-off! Festival du Voyageur 2018 to include cheddar carving competition

Up for some winter carving? This year your choices are snow, ice, wood — and cheddar cheese.

Festival du Voyageur announced their entertainment lineup Tuesday, and it includes a delicious new competition. 

"Bothwell Cheese … reached out to us in terms of wanting to do something, and the idea they had was a cheese carving competition," said Darrel Nadeau, executive director of the festival.

"So we took on that challenge and thought it would be a great idea."

The competition will happen on Feb. 18 after all the ice sculptures are completed, said Nadeau. Six carvers have agreed to sculpt a cheesy masterpiece within a four-hour time frame from an 18-kilogram, 43 by 28 by 35-centimetre block of cheddar.

Sadly, audience members won't get to eat the final masterpieces, but there will be other cheese on hand for sampling, Nadeau says.

Voyageur Pride

A new focus this year is inviting members of the LGBT community to take part, Nadeau says.

"Festival du Voyageur is doing, in partnership with a few LGBT organizations in the community, Voyageur Pride Night," Nadeau said. 

"That will be an inclusive evening where we'll have drag performances, we'll have jigging from a two-spirit performer, and we'll be raising funds also for LGBT refugees," Nadeau said, adding Voyageur Pride will take place Feb. 24 thanks to partnerships with Queer People of Colour Winnipeg, Sunshine House and Room Service.

"I know that [Festival du Voyageur] wasn't really well-attended by the LGBT community so I wanted to do a welcoming, inclusive event which would basically be an introduction to LGBT folks what the festival is all about."

Prices go up, unless you're a kid

While adult prices have gone up this year, there has been little pushback because the festival has made it more affordable for families, Nadeau says.

The adult admission price has increased to $25 a day, while youth aged 13-17 and seniors will now pay $15. However, admission for children 12 and under is free.

"We received feedback in past years where families said it's just not affordable for me to bring the whole family," Nadeau said. 

In anticipation of more families participating due to the new pricing structure, Nadeau said the festival is "doubling the children's programming," which includes music, dance parties, circus workshops, crafting, snowshoeing, sleigh rides and an outdoor playground with towers, tunnels and climbing hills. 

To cut down on lineups, organizers say they are limiting the number of day passes sold and those will be for a specific day only, rather than any of the days during the eight-day festival.

"We haven't received a lot of negative feedback from the community [about the new pricing structure]," Nadeau said. 

This year's festival runs Feb. 16 through 25, 2018, with free programming at The Forks on Louis Riel Day long weekend. About 150 bands, musicians and entertainers will be taking part in this year's festivities.

For a full list of entertainers and tickets, head to festivalvoyageur.mb.ca.