REGINA — Despite the rain, hundreds of residents gathered along 13th Ave. to witness a parade, kicking off the 34th annual Cathedral Village Arts Festival (CVAF).
The festival has been around since the 1990s, starting as a backyard party with people gathering together to play music.
Over 30 years later, the festival has grown into a 5-6 day event, with 50,000 people attending last year alone.
Don Young, executive director of the CVAF, expects the event to grow with the Regina Fringe Festival cancelling its 2025 plans and the Regina Folk Festival permanently shutting down.
The Regina Folk Festival announced the news back in March, citing financial concerns.
While Young is sad about the state of local festivals in Regina, he’s using the CVAF as a platform to keep other events alive.
One of the newer events of this year’s CVAF is a play, 'Fringe Survivor.' The play will see appearances from Annika Danielson, Emily Sorensen and more.
Other new events include ribbon skirt crafting on May 20th and reconciliation through music on May 21st, both at the new home of the YWCA Regina.
The festival is also seeing 100 more vendors show up this year, totalling almost 400 vendors.
"We have people coming in from B.C., from Winnipeg [and] all over Western Canada to sell at the street fair," said Young. The fair will take place along 13th Ave with added security.
In light of the Lapu Lapu Day block party incident in Vancouver, which saw 11 people killed, the CVAF is adding concrete barriers to protect pedestrians.
Young said his team also consulted the Regina Police Service (RPS) on the matter and added additional security.
With adding security, Young admitted that balancing this year's budget will be tough.
"We probably ended up spending upwards of $8,000 on security."
The CVAF faced a critical financial crisis in 2024, citing inflation, a reduction in sponsorship, and more.
Young said the committee tightened the budget and is pretty optimistic about their financial situation moving forward.
The festival runs from May 19 to May 24.
More information about events and the schedule can be
