Regina Folk Fest hoping to work with Garth Brooks concert

Garth Brooks won’t be the only musical act in Regina on the weekend of Aug 10; his won’t even be the only big event happening that weekend — the Regina Folk Festival will take place Aug. 9 to 11.

Sandra Butel is the Regina Folk Fest’s artistic director. She said when she first heard about the Brooks concert, she initially thought “oh no,” but she said they’re making the best of it.

Some people on Twitter have lamented the clashing dates, saying the Brooks concert will steal the thunder from the festival’s landmark 50th year.

But Butel said the folk festival is now looking to work with Evraz Place and do some shared marketing.

“Do a little bit of a campaign to entice those that are coming from out of town to stick around for extra days and take in both shows,” Butel said.

She said the festival has had some time to process the news — she got a heads-up a little while ago.

“We’ve been working as we always do to see things that come up, see them more as an opportunity and see how we might be able to use this to bring more attention to Regina as a music city that weekend,” she said.

Butel said the folk festival always makes the best of things. She said that anytime in the last 21 years she has been with the festival, when something has come up that seems like a negative or is going to threaten things, it’s eventually turned into a positive.

“I can certainly see that already with all the attention we’re getting that the people care and people will continue to care about us, and I really think there’s an opportunity for everybody to succeed,” she said.

Butel said she’s confident festival organizers can pull everything off and make this an awesome year. She explained they’re doing really well on ticket sales and are expecting a lot of people to show up to celebrate the festival’s 50th anniversary.