KENORA — Song and dance, some tickling of the ivories and much more will be on tap in late March and early April during the 2025 Kenora District Festival of the Arts.
Dance performances will kick off the annual celebration of performing arts – and some other arts, too – on Saturday, March 29, at St. Thomas Aquinas High School.
Music, visual arts, speech/dramatic programming and more dance at various venues in Kenora and Dryden will follow in the subsequent two weeks until the festival concludes with a “Hi-Lites” showcase.
An entry form, with a Feb. 26 deadline, and information can be found at the festival’s website.
New this year is a literary arts portion for original poems and short stories, which festival president Edward Franko said he’s pleased to see on the agenda.
“We’ve had visual arts for years,” he said Thursday. “This is just an extension of that.
“There’s a strong contingent of good writers in Kenora, and this gives them another forum.”
Literary entries will be adjudicated by Robert Hilles, a Kenora native who won the 1994 Governor General’s Award for poetry and has published 25 books.
The festival is also adding a film and video showcase for shorts of up to six minutes, Franko said.
Piano, speech and singing competitions and an “electric jam” are also on the schedule.
This is the festival’s 80th edition, though it has a history that goes back about 90 years. The festival missed two years during the COVID-19 pandemic and several years during and immediately after the Second World War.
