With around 3,000 people expected to participate in next spring’s Southeastern Manitoba Festival, organizers have set the registration deadline for December 1st.

Festival President Sharon Guenther says last year they had participants from 29 communities across southern Manitoba.

"We have a lot of people involved, we have 123 people that volunteer their hours to help us run the festival, sitting at the doors, or sitting beside the adjudicator and then the executive, we have 23 people on the executive. Then there are entries, we have over 1,150 entries every year which often includes groups."

Guenther says they have been able to cultivate a very fun and encouraging environment at the Southeastern Manitoba Festival, adding it is a great place for people to learn and grow.

"You can get a wide range of experience. If you like to do music, you can do vocal, musical theatre, piano, guitar, you can sing in a choir and if you don’t sing and you are thinking ‘what can I do?’ There is speech arts and theatre arts, if you come and present to an adjudicator, they will give you ideas of how to present yourself when you are speaking to others."

Guenther says entry forms can be found on their website at semf.ca along with an addendum that outlines the classes they offer. She adds a provincial syllabus can be found in the reference section at the Jake Epp Library.