Neepawa's trying to fill a hole for a festival, and are thinking of one that highlights a veritable cornucopia of activities. Mayor Adrian de Groot says a delegation came forward with a suggestion.

"What the delegation brought forward is recognition of the absence of a focused type of festival for Neepawa. A couple of years ago, unfortunately, the Lily Festival organization decided to disband. And as a consequence there's really no focus for a festival."

He explains events starting popping up last year, showing there is an interest in having something like a new festival.

"So, last year a number of spontaneous events did happen. And they were kind of carried on by their various people who were still interested in doing that; whether it was a fair, drag races, ball tournaments, or a cultural event at Viscount Cultural Centre. How do we recreate that focus of a festival? So, this delegation was very timely."

De Groot notes they're planning to use a brand the town already uses.

"What they're calling it is the Cornucopia Festival. Neepawa already has a brand of the cornucopia, and that's also with the Land of Plenty. The idea was, that not only within that cornucopia, not necessarily fruits and flowers, but activity. How do we coordinate them? How do we engage people who have an interest in those various events?"

He adds the delegation has been in contact with a community in eastern Canada.

"And so, what the delegation proposed was modeling it after a series of festivals, or a regional festival that is in Inverness, one of the communities in New Brunswick, that is a part of that. And they brought forward an event calendar that they had. And they said, 'Yeah, this is something that we recognize that is missing.'"