The Vice President of Southeastern Manitoba Festival says the 2018 Festival is a go, with or without a President. Candace Georgijevic says the Executive is still without a leader but that isn't stopping them from going full steam ahead with planning next year's event.

Georgijevic says if someone was to step forward and take over that position, they would welcome that individual with open arms. And, though the President is there to make sure the rest of the Executive stays on task, Georgijevic says the President is only one person within a large group and not integral to the success of the event.

The Executive held its first planning meeting this last week for the 2018 event. Georgijevic says she is relieved by the number of veterans that are returning for another year. She adds there is a lot of enthusiasm.

Georgijevic notes the inaugural meeting is always exciting and the first thing they do is line up adjudicators. In addition to missing a President, Georgijevic says there are some other Executive positions still needing to be filled. Plus, she notes there will be plenty of other opportunities to volunteer.

"We're looking for people to volunteer, come out and support their community," says Georgijevic. "It's a great way to give back, especially if you have a child that's performed in the Festival before or you have children in the Festival."

The Festival attracts about 3,000 participants. Georgijevic says this year they are hoping to grow the Speech/Theatre Arts discipline.

"It's such a great discipline for people who maybe aren't that musical or don't feel like they want to sing something but still enjoy getting up in front of people and entertaining that way, by speaking or acting," she says.

Meanwhile, there are a couple of dates which Georgijevic wants Festival hopefuls to take note of. The addendum is expected to come out at the beginning of October, outlining the rules of how to enter. And December 1st is the deadline to enter.

The 2018 Festival runs February 19 to March 27.