{"id":3348,"date":"2011-12-09T10:03:53","date_gmt":"2011-12-09T16:03:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stylusmagazine.ca\/?p=3348"},"modified":"2011-12-09T10:03:53","modified_gmt":"2011-12-09T16:03:53","slug":"big-fun-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2011\/12\/09\/big-fun-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"BIG FUN FESTIVAL"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/a>photo: Silas Chipelski<\/strong>
\nBy Kaeleigh Ayre<\/strong><\/p>\n

Winnipeg music fans will be able to shake, rock and roll off the snow this January with the inaugural Big Fun Music Festival.
\nWhat started as conversation over a breakfast at the Nook, a Wolseley area diner, has snowballed into a full-fledged music festival to be held throughout the Exchange District during the longest and coldest days of our Prairie winter.
\n\u201cWe were sitting out on the patio, having breakfast, throwing out ideas, and I said, \u2018You realise we could do this,\u2019\u201d Lauren Swan, the festival\u2019s business manager, says over a late lunch at Cousin\u2019s Diner.
\nThe group of five young Winnipeggers behind the effort is comprised mostly of musicians involved in multiple bands around the city, so the idea was not that big of a stretch for them. \u201cBeing in a band, putting on shows, you kind of know what to look for, who to talk to,\u201d Stefan Braun says. Braun, 23, is another member of the elite squad that assembled to make the rock festival happen. Braun says he has been contemplating getting together his friends\u2019 bands for a festival of sorts for some time.
\nThe festival is being held Thursday, January 26 to Sunday, January 29 with different events being held over the four days at different locations in the Exchange. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a few little secret tidbits hidden that we\u2019re still working on,\u201d Braun says.
\nSince Winnipeg is famous for its frigid winter temperatures, location is key for getting around to each venue without succumbing to the elements. \u201cThey\u2019re all in a really tight radius,\u201d Swan, 25, says. \u201cThis is what we wanted because there is going to be a festival pass, which will get you access to all of the shows. We wanted to make sure the venues were within walking distance, so that people are actually willing to hop between shows.\u201d
\nThe locations are also unique to the festival, and in some cases, as rock show venues. \u201cAll of the venues are re-purposed warehouses and art galleries and lofts. We really wanted to stay away from the \u2018usual\u2019 bar venues for something different,\u201d Swan says.
\nSocial media and \u201cguerrilla-style\u201d advertising are playing a big part in the success of the festival. \u201cPeople are really excited. There are a lot of people who are really supportive,\u201d Swan says. \u201cThere\u2019s a buzz already, and we only just announced it. We\u2019ve got our teaser poster up, and our website, and our social media component, which all went up on the same day.\u201d
\nThe excitement over a mid-winter ice breaker is not only being felt on the organizer\/music lover front. Several local artists and bands that have been confirmed for the line up have expressed great anticipation via email for the January festival.
\n\u201cAs a band we’ve been really excited about the potential of Big Fun to fill this void in the dead of winter, giving everyone who’s into music something to look forward to,\u201d Stefan Kroeker of The Mystics says. \u201cIt seems like something that could easily grow into an annual event, and we feel privileged to be a part of the first run.\u201d The Mystics are slated to play the Friday evening festival show, according to the Big Fun Twitter feed.
\n\u201cIt’s going to be great to have something rad to go out and do at the end of January,\u201d Tim Hoover<\/a>, a.k.a. DJ Co-op, says. \u201cRather than staying home and being sad and lonely. And cold.\u201d Hoover commends the level of organization behind the festival.
\n\u201cCold weather, shmold meather,\u201d Levi Kwade of Narwhal Strike <\/a>says. \u201cI think Big Fun is going to be a really positive force in the Winnipeg music scene. There\u2019s really awesome talent here, but sometimes I feel like not enough Winnipeggers are aware of that.\u201d
\nKwade\u2019s bandmates agree that our city is always in need of quality events. \u201cMaybe less people will move away now that there’s something to do during the depths of the winter besides sit in your room and cry,\u201d Narwhal Strike guitarist Hudson Fedun jokes.
\n\u201cI usually spend January studying for exams,\u201d Dom Markiw, drummer for Narwhal Strike, says.
\n\u201cFor me personally I have a lot of new songs that Winnipeg hasn’t heard yet,\u201d Curtis Walker of Blunderspublik says. \u201cThis will be a great opportunity to play them out and see what people think.\u201d
\nFestival pass and ticket prices, as well as the line up and specific times and locations, are yet to be confirmed, so keep an eye on their websites for more information leading up to the festival:<\/p>\n

bigfunfestival.blogspot.com\/<\/a>
\ntwitter.com\/#!\/BigFunFestival<\/a>
\nwww.facebook.com\/pages\/BIG-FUN\/124386187668616<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

photo: Silas Chipelski By Kaeleigh Ayre Winnipeg music fans will be able to shake, rock and roll off the snow this January with the inaugural Big Fun Music Festival.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[102,563,715,747],"class_list":["post-3348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","tag-big-fun","tag-local","tag-party","tag-pop"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3348\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}