A parade truck makes its way down the street during the Dorintosh Winter Festival Parade over St. Patrick's Day weekend. (NorthWest Community Lodge Association Inc./Facebook)

By Julia Lovett-Squires

Parade

Dorintosh Winter Festival back after COVID hiatus

Mar 18, 2024 | 4:22 PM

A sunny day that only those with the luck of the Irish could dream of helped the community of Dorintosh celebrate their first Winter Festival and parade since before the pandemic.

“I started with the local people,” said April Reszel, parade organizer of the event held over St. Patrick’s Day weekend.

She explained the community boasts a number of non-profits and businesses.

“That was my main goal,” added Reszel, noting she wanted to also put a focus on local businesses.

“It’s good to get everybody out and about and enjoying life again.”

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The festival began in the ‘80s and save for the COVID years, has always celebrated and been well attended. Some of the featured events throughout the weekend and hosted by different community groups included a pancake breakfast, street shinny, a cornhole tournament and evening entertainment.

“The bulk of everything is on Saturday with a little bit of spillover into Sunday,” said Brad Osborne, treasurer with the Dorintosh Community Cooperative.

“It was good, we really didn’t know what to expect, you know when you haven’t had something for several years, getting the awareness back is tough,” he said.

“There was other things going on this weekend that you’re competing against.”

According to Reszel, the parade included a mix of floats, riders on horseback, Gary Vidal, MP for Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, and MLA Jeremy Harrison make appearances along with other local dignitaries.

“We had the (NorthWest Community Lodge Association)… their fundraising committee had a float,” she said, noting other local organizations also joined in the fun.

“There was a lot of participation and a lot of people volunteered,” she said.

According to Osborne, while the festival made money, they don’t have the final figures in, though he said that wasn’t the point.

“At least initially to try and get it going again, I mean certainly, you don’t want to go in a hole in it but making a bunch of money was not the main objective here,” he said.

“It was more just about trying to get it fired back up again and get the interest back.”

Of the festival itself, Reszel said the event did what organizers were hoping it would do.

“I think it was successful that everybody worked together and participated and was part of the community.”

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julia.lovettsquires@pattisonmedia.com

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