Hard to believe that it's that time again -- but the festival is set to begin!! Tomorrow, the Instrumental and Strings disciplines will take to the stage. Kristjanna Oleson will be the adjudicator and the Steinbach Cultural Arts Centre will be the setting.  There are over 900 entries and over 3,000 participants for the 22 day event. More numbers to add?  There a team of about 30 people that work throughout the year putting this all together and then of course way more volunteers during the festival itself helping out. We wish all of the competitors all the best and AM1250 will be recording at all of the highlights nights which will be heard on the radio April 8-10, and the daily festival reports can also be heard at 10:30 each morning.

For more information on the festival, check out semf.ca or to purchase a program (which includes detailed schedule information), go to Steinbach Arts Centre or 'Musical Directions' in the Steinbach Shopper's Plaza.  Just a note - to attend performances throughout the day and evening, it costs $2, Awards nights are $4 (up to a maximum of $12 for a family) and  Dance highlights evening is $4 (no family rate).  People can also purchase a festival pass for $12.  Plus, the Southeastern Star Gala, where all of the trophy winners perform, is free of charge on March 20th.