Summer In The City 2022 may go down as the best-attended festival in its history.

"We figure we're not too far off when we say there were upwards of 40,000 people on the street over the weekend." Graham Pollock, Festival Operations Chair said Monday morning. "I think that reflects on how much people wanted to get together, enjoy the good weather, and be out there. It was all pretty awesome."

Pollock says it was busy in all areas of the festival from Cultures to Kids. "It was nice to see. So many kids got to enjoy the foam party that someone tried to get me into but I declined graciously. It was nice to see all the venues being active and enjoyed seeing people taking in all that was there to offer."

The festival happens because of two main reasons, business support, and volunteers. Pollock says both areas really stepped up this year. "It wouldn't happen without the sponsorships. So many of our local businesses are quick to step up whenever we ask. After coming through the last two years and we know the businesses have had a harder time because of the pandemic, they still want to help, still make it happen. I say the festival doesn't run without the support of the business community and it's equally as important for our volunteers. We had 156 slots to fill for volunteers and I think we were close to 80%. The committee really stepped up, as they always do, and did all those little jobs like sitting at the info booth or delivering ice and water throughout the festival and painting faces. In all the areas we needed people, they stepped up and did."

Much praise also goes to the committee, according to Pollock. "Hats off to our committee. It's a group of 28 individuals who wear their hearts on their sleeves, all working towards one common goal of making this festival a really, really great event over the weekend. It was a tremendous weekend.... (Sunday) was hot. Hot, hot, hot."

Looking into the future, there are a few areas that Pollock knows the committee will need to work on. "I think one of the things we're going to talk about is the Wonder Shows setup. I don't think they anticipated the number of people and we certainly didn't. We know there were long lines to wait to get wristbands for the kids and to ride the rides. We addressed that in sort of a stop-gap way on Saturday, we brought in tables for them and they brought in more staff. There's no way someone should have to stand in line for two hours, waiting to buy ride tickets with their seven-year-old. That's just not acceptable for us. So, we're looking to set up the middle area to better function in terms of taking tickets. Another area is the vendors. We've talked a lot over the last couple of festivals, we'd love to make use of the area from the TG Smith Centre up to Lumber. We think we can create a crafters row kind of thing where more people can go in there and for people who are interested in walking in and seeing those things, it would all be in a concentrated area for them to enjoy."

Absolute Queen performing during Friday night at Summer in The City in SteinbachAbsolute Queen during Summer in the City

Main stage performances throughout the day and evening, headlined by Absolute Queen on Friday night and The Hunter Brothers Saturday night, produced the first-ever sell-outs for the festival. Pollock says it will be tough to top what we had in 2022. "I've been thinking about this, it'll be hard to replicate this year in terms of entertainment because both of the headliners were signed in 2018 and... I don't know if a lot of people know this... but both the headliners honoured their contracts from 2018 to come in 2022. That was huge because the prices to bring in that level of entertainment goes up every year. Certainly, for the Hunter Brothers who have exploded in the time between when they signed and now, they're now getting a lot more money than they did when they signed originally. Had we been in a position where we would have had to pay what they normally would sign for today, we couldn't have afforded to bring them in. So, in that sense, it'll be hard to replicate. But, we have a great committee who will look for those young, well-known but up-and-coming artists, especially on the country side. We also take suggestions from the community. People email or talk to us and bring up names. It was great to see the sellouts, it was the first time for that, but it'll be a tough task to replicate The Hunter Brothers and Absolute Queen, they were both awesome, just awesome."

Even though the sounds and smells of Summer in the City linger, Pollock and board chair Audrey Harder are already looking at what 2023 could be down Main Street in Steinbach. "Audrey and I have chatted a little bit about it already. We'll meet with all the individual coordinators that look after their particular area in the next two weeks and get their feedback. Get their thoughts on how the setup and teardown went and if they need more. We'll then go to the board and kind of figure out the best way to move forward. Do we make a lot of changes or a few changes? Our goal is to be better every year. We want to make it a rockin' weekend for everybody. That's the plan."

Pollock does say over the next couple of days he will take a little time off from thinking about the festival  "I've got yard work to do and work to do around my pool." Pollock chuckles. "I'll be focused on that for at least a day."