After 4 decades of performing, Fred Penner connects with new generation at 41st Winnipeg Kidsfest

The lead organizer of the Winnipeg International Children's Festival says he's "really over the moon about the performance lineup" for the 41st annual Kidsfest event this weekend — a lineup that includes everyone from a hoop dancer from Manitoulin Island to a Ukrainian dance ensemble to longtime favourite Fred Penner, who himself has been entertaining kids for more than four decades.

The Winnipeg International Children's Festival's annual Kidsfest began at The Forks on Thursday.

This year's lineup includes drag queen storytellers, world champion hoop dancer Lisa Odjig, the all-female circus show Brave Space from Chicago, Manitoba's Zoloto Ukrainian Dance Ensemble and Magdaragat Philippines, a local group that blends elements like traditional Filipino folk dance, ballet, jazz, martial arts and hip hop. 

"One of our central tenets of the organization is to make sure that every child — regardless of their background or who they are — can see themselves represented on stage and celebrated, and feel safe and loved," Winnipeg International Children's Festival executive director Neal Rempel told CBC News.

The lineup also includes Fred Penner, who has been a mainstay of the festival.

"You just can't not have him," Rempel said. "He packs the house every time he's there."

Penner is best known for his blockbuster song The Cat Came Back, which was released more than 40 years ago. While it may be Penner's best-known song, he notes it's not entirely his.

"It was from 1893, written by Harry S. Miller," he told host Marcy Markusa during a Friday interview with CBC Radio's Information Radio.

"I found that song in a book in the '70s and it captured me," said Penner, who notes that he added his own original verses to the song.

Penner said he thinks of himself as both a musician and an educator, and hopes to bring a message of acceptance, understanding and love to his audiences.

"At this point, I'm sort of at a semi-retirement phase, but I still have something in me that I want to bring out. I'm frustrated with the way the world is going."

Penner said he didn't plan on performing for children for the last four decades, calling his longevity "overwhelming," but it has been special to see the children he's entertained grow up and bring their own kids to his shows.

"I did my first show yesterday at the Kidsfest, and that's who the audience was," he said on Friday.

"It was the kids who I connected with — [who are now] moms and dads in their 30s and 40s.… They really want to have their children connect the way they did."

Making kids feel 'they're really in the show'

Yamoussa Bangoura was one of the performers in Won Ma Africa — "Our Africa" in the Sousou language — a show from the Quebec-based circus troupe Kalabante running at the festival this year.

In addition to the circus acts, the show includes performers who showcase different African instruments like the kora, a West African stringed instrument, and the djembe, a drum, he said.

Bangoura said he likes to get the audience involved in the show, including getting them to sing along.

"Children feel … like they're really in the show," he said.

But they also admire the strength circus act require, he said.

"When they see us, the first thing they ask [is] 'how you get that muscle?'"

Won Ma Africa is one of the performances taking place indoors this year.

While the festival has traditionally been largely an outdoor event, half of the festival's lineup this year is taking place inside the Manitoba Theatre for Young People space at The Forks, said Rempel.

Having an indoor venue was helpful for the rain this week, but the change is also a response to intensifying effects of climate change.

"Extreme weather events are more common, and we don't want to get ever get shut down because of it," he said.

Attendance at the festival was capped at 60 per cent last year to ensure social distancing, but audiences this year have been holding around 80 per cent for each show, he said.

"People are coming. They're having a great time, they're filling the tents, they're filling the theatre. It's just going swimmingly."

Kidsfest runs until Sunday afternoon. Performance schedules can be found on the festival's website.