Festival du Voyageur is currently seeking memorabilia for an exhibit in its 2026 edition. Accepted items include photographs of the festival’s events, promotional materials, branded T-shirts and more. 

Colin Mackie, the festival’s director of heritage and education programs, explained that the program started last year. According to Mackie, the basement of Festival’s offices has an archive of items from the beginning of the festival to the previous year. The team decided to display these items in a shed on site, starting a “miniature Festival de Voyageur museum.”

“It was a hit. People came in there and they said, ‘Hey, I remember that year when I got that button. Oh, I remember that, this program was from the year I was born.’ […] It’s also a good way to get people engaged in the festival,” said Mackie. 

“We realized after that experience last year that maybe we can take that [and] do something interesting with it, and that’s where the idea of having a more thoughtful museum came about.”

For 2026, Festival is looking for items that revolve around art to reflect the various art forms that take place during the festival. 

“One of the things that people bring up all the time is, of course, the snow sculptures that we have. We have these massive, ephemeral snow sculptures that go up in the park, and there’s a tremendous amount of skill and dedication and art that goes into that,” he remarked.

“The other component would be dance. We have a massive jigging contest […] And then there’s also handicrafts, so it’s folks who have been finger-weaving sashes […] doing wood carving, all kinds of different things.”

This museum will be a recurring component of the festival, with future themes being heritage for 2027 and community for 2028. All of this is in preparation for the festival’s 60th anniversary in 2029, which will also incorporate elements of oral history.

“Over the course of the three previous years [before the anniversary], we’re going to be collecting stories from people,” explained Mackie. “We can display and people can listen to these stories that people are going to tell, and we’ll get a better sense of where the festival was from, maybe even where it’s going […] Maybe folks met their partner or have a great memory they want to share with us from previous years.”

When asked about his favourite item in the collection, Mackie mentioned the amusing T-shirts from competitions that Festival previously hosted, driving home the purpose of the festival — to have fun. 

“One of the most famous [competitions] is the beard growing competition. And over the course of the 80s and 90s, they had a couple artists doing these T-shirts and they are hilarious. So there’ll be a voyageur with a huge beard and he’s ironing his beard, or he’s got a raccoon living in there or something like that,” Mackie said with a laugh. 

“I find that lighthearted and touching and totally without irony, right? This is for fun […] and I think today, where we have all kinds of different messages, that idea of just doing something for fun is really refreshing […] I love those things.”

Donations for the museum can be dropped off at Festival du Voyageur’s main office at 233 Provencher Blvd. Call (204) 237-7692 or email [email protected] for further information.