Music festival leaves legacy of community and creativity

As Georges Beaudry takes a rare break from running errands on his golf cart, a group of Rainbow Trout Music Festival goers walk by yelling, “Hi Georges.”

“Every year, it’s like the children are coming back home,” he said. “It’s like Christmas all over again.”

The 74-year-old has hosted the music festival at his property, named Oroseau, since 2012. He described Rainbow Trout as a big family and said it’s been special watching people return year after year.

This year marked the final time his land hosted the festival, which is 13 kilometres south of Saint Malo. It ran from Aug. 15 to 17.

Beaudry was first connected with the festival when a group of Winnipeg Folk Festival volunteers were looking for a place to unwind. The group first set up at Reyolds Ponds and brought electrical generators and guitars. The size quickly exploded into what would become Rainbow Trout.

In its third year, the RM of Reynolds and local RCMP slapped a cease-and-desist order on the group after it outgrew its unofficial venue. The organizing group began sending out letters to municipalities, searching for someone willing to host the festival.

Beaudry, who bought his Roseau River property in 2000, had always thought about using his space to host a festival. While he was a member of the Eastern Manitoba Tourism Association, Beaudry caught wind of the group’s search when a friend connected him with the organizers.

He was skeptical about the idea at first, but when he heard the group had a board and was organized, he wanted to get involved.

“The stars lined up, I believe that,” Beaudry said. “I was under one star, and they were under another star.”

After 13 successful years, Beaudry started getting noise complaints from neighbouring properties. He describes himself as a “victim of his own success” because of the attention he’s brought to the area. When he first moved onto the property, there was barely anyone living in the area, he said. But following Rainbow Trout’s growth and his own booming campsite business, more people began buying property.

Last year, a councilor from the RM of Emerson-Franklin alerted Beaudry about the noise complaints. Following those notices, and the fact both him and his wife, Florence, were looking to settle down and retire, Beaudry decided to tell the Rainbow Trout board that he would stop hosting the festival.

This summer, the festival reached its 17th year. More than 1,000 people attended Rainbow Trout, and it hosted 36 bands.

“We still want the people to know that it exists and to be able to enjoy it, but not 1,000 people.” Beaudry said.

The festival’s “social fabric” has kept people together and built many meaningful relationships, he said.

Between the bands playing, people mill around the stage, reconnect with long lost friends and make new ones. Under one tent, an artist sits with crayons and draws people as ethereal fish after she gauges their “fishy aura.”

The neighbouring tent hosts The Love Post, a festival mail service where people can write letters to someone they care about and have them hand-delivered over the weekend.

Since the property borders the Roseau River, many festival goers bring inner tubes to float down the river and unwind in the day’s heat. An ever-growing stack of inflatable pineapples, flamingos and donuts line the path to the lazy river.

Performing on stage Saturday night was a full circle moment for Stephen Levko Halas, frontman for band Tired Cossack. When he first came to Rainbow Trout 12 years ago, he wasn’t in a band or making any music. He remembers gazing up on stage and taking in all the sights and sounds. Levko Halas points to the festival as being one of his most definitive moments of his life.

“We just finished our set, and just looking out and being up there and being like, “Wow this is actually crazy,’” he said. “It’s like doing your younger self a solid.”

When the 33-year-old stepped foot on the property, the beauty and energy of the space hit him immediately. He was taken aback by how everything was somehow in the same place but also improved simultaneously.

As bands like Royal Canoe and Holy Void performed on stage in past years, Levko Halas saw how much Rainbow Trout spurred artists to bring their best for the concerts. It was unspoken that while bands played local shows for much of the same crowd that came to Rainbow Trout, the bar was always raised for the festival.

“There was a real sense of vigor in everyone. We all just without saying anything knew we wanted to nail this one and do a great job,” Levko Halas said.

He said it’s bittersweet to end the festival on stage. But he’s grateful for all the memories created in the space.

Levko Halas remembers his first time at Rainbow Trout and thinking the artist lanyards bands got were “so cool” and wishing he could get one.

“It’s like a ‘We did it’ moment,” he said. “I realize how over the top dramatic that sounds, but it’s what it feels like. Those moments really do exist, and that’s what makes them cliché.”

Co-chair of Rainbow Trout Aine Dolin has camped out for the festival for a decade and joined its board in 2018. She’s always amazed at the community and culture Rainbow Trout has created. Each year the culture has grown, with more art installations and local bands on stage, she said.

Dolin has been involved in other Manitoba music festivals, but the relationship with the Beaudry family and the land itself has helped create the unique community and creativity that comes out of Rainbow Trout each summer.

“Everyone knows Georges, and he doesn’t know everyone that knows him at the festival, but he loves everyone,” she said.

With this year being the last time the festival will happen at the property, she’s tried to avoid thinking about it. Rainbow Trout has been a place where she’s grown up, and it’s been special watching others meet their spouses at the festival or return now with children of their own, Dolin said.

“There’s a lot of memories and a lot of relationships built up in this space,” Dolin said, while wiping away tears. “It’s hard to capture in words how like grateful we are as a group, and how grateful like I am.”

Rainbow Trout isn’t the only Manitoba festival that has experienced changes. In July, Real Love Music Festival, near Teulon, held its final concert. The Winnipeg Folk Festival also celebrated its 50th anniversary this summer.

Dolin sees the festivals as cyclical in nature and in an important transition period. With Rainbow Trout, its board has considered succession planning so the spirit of the festival will continue to live on, she said.

“I have a lot of hope that it’s also a moment where new folks will take up the torch and build new festivals,” Dolin said. “That’s going to be really exciting to see.”

While there’s no solid plan for a new location yet, she said the board is in talks with other property owners for a new site. Moving the festival will hopefully bring new opportunities for exploring how to keep Rainbow Trout growing, Dolin said.

Even though the festival won’t return to his land, Beaudry believes the connections made through Rainbow Trout will remain.

“We’ll see them again,” said Beaudry. “The children know where we are.”