08/04/2026
August in Manitoba does not look like anywhere else.
In St. Pierre-Joly , the streets fill up with lawn chairs, the smell of a community supper, and the kind of crowd that drives in from hours away just to watch a frog jump. The Folies Grenouilles | Frog Follies has been going since before most people reading this were born. That kind of staying power does not happen by accident.
Thirty-five minutes east of Winnipeg, the Richer Rough Stock Rodeo takes over Dawson Trail Park for a weekend of bull riding, mutton busting, a Saturday night concert, and a pancake breakfast that draws a lineup by 8am. A small town opening itself up to thousands of visitors and pulling it off, year after year.
In Winkler, where Valley Fiber got its start and still calls home, the Harvest Festival brings free admission, a midway, a parade down the main street, and live music three nights running. The fairgrounds have looked like this every August since most of us can remember.
Then at the end of the month, Morden shuts down Stephen Street for the Corn and Apple festival. Free corn, free apple juice, 80,000 people over three days, and The Tea Party headlining the main stage on Saturday night. It started in 1967 as a Canada Centennial celebration and it has never really stopped.
Up in Ashern, the Ashern Rodeo tradition keeps going the way it always has. Street dance, fireworks, covered grandstands, and a community that still does this because it means something.
Fall comes early around here. We're making the most of what is left.
Which one are you getting to this month?