Rainbow Trout Music Festival takes hiatus

A southeastern Manitoba music festival is taking a year-long pause as it searches for a new location.

Rainbow Trout Music Festival, previously held at the Oroseau campground near St. Malo, announced in a Dec. 16 Instagram post its selection process for a new home is underway but it’ll need to take the year off to plan the festival’s next iteration.

“For us to just try and rush ahead, to just kind of keep on the festival’s annual timeline and offer anything less than what we’re used to, I just don’t think that our audience would be very happy and we (the festival’s board) wouldn’t be happy either,” said Margaret Banka, the festival’s co-chair.

She said the volunteer-run board begins planning three months after the previous festival is finished. When a potential new site fell through in June 2025, Banka said it was an indicator that there wouldn’t be enough time to focus on that year’s festival and plan ahead at the same time. The board has already had property owners offer their land as a location, and the volunteers are also reaching out to local tourism associations for possible sites, she said.

Last year’s festival in August marked Rainbow Trout’s 17th year and the last time it was held at Oroseau campground, which has hosted it since 2012. More than 1,000 people attended the festival for the three days of music, art installations and workshops. Since it began, the festival has showcased 36 bands, with genres including folk, rock and punk music.

Banka said the Oroseau property was set up well to offer an activity for everyone and to separate the festival into different camping areas.

“We could have music there that people could listen to that was usually a bit more on the chiller side, and it wouldn’t be competing with the main stage music,” she said. “Not everyone has to be moshing at the main stage.”

The Oroseau property, 13 kms south of St Malo, also achieved a balance of allowing people to experience the wilderness while not being far from Winnipeg, Banka said.

While the board is open, she said being close to water is at the top of their wish list.

“The lore for Rainbow Trout is the floating and I don’t know if we’ll be so lucky to have a river next to the property that can offer a similar floating situation. But we definitely are mindful of that,” Banka said.

A site without hills is also one of their hopes so the festival can be more physically accessible, she said.

When the festival finds a new home, Banka hopes to recycle the previous location’s stage to preserve the history and memories of the art installations displayed.

Michelle Gawronsky, executive director for the Eastman Tourism Association, said Rainbow Trout is a festival that should be continued in southeastern Manitoba because of the value it brings for tourism and to the rural municipalities.

“It is a wonderful experience. If you like music and you like to be around people, it’s an opportunity to really hear some really good music,” she said.

She said the size of the festival is perfect because it’s not “huge” and maintains its personal touch when compared to other festivals such as the Winnipeg Folk Festival. Gawronsky said she’s been trying to start a music festival in the Southeast and keeping Rainbow Trout in the area is vital.

“I like the more home feel, the more personal touch, where you can actually talk to the entertainers, you can talk to the people that run the organization and you can join them and volunteer for them,” she said.

Gawronsky said she already has a few possible homes for Rainbow Trout but couldn’t provide any other details.