By Sarah Klein

Dancers perform at Folklorama’s Spirit of Ukraine Pavilion at West Kildonan Memorial Arena on Thursday, August 8, 2013. (STAN MILOSEVIC / CHRISD.CA FILE)
The 44th edition of Folklorama is in the books for another year as organizers reflect on the success of the past two weeks.
The annual multicultural festival saw an estimated 416,600 visits to the 46 diverse pavilions from August 4-17.
“This year, Folklorama encouraged visitors to ‘Go Anywhere’ and travel the world in their own backyard,” said Dr. Rayleen De Luca, Folklorama president. “And that is exactly what people did! They came out by the hundreds of thousands to experience the celebration and preservation of Manitoba’s incredible multicultural mosaic. We are so proud of going strong for our 44th annual Festival and this is due to the passion and commitment of our amazing volunteers.”
On the topic of volunteers, about 20,000 of them helped make sure Folklorama ran smoothly. The event attracted 124 group tours, including two from Japan, 11 from the United States, and 52 from the VIP World Tour program.
Next year’s Folklorama will be held August 3 to 16, 2014.