The RM of Portage la Prairie now has a signature event.

At this week's meeting, Council approved the request from Linda Omichinski for the Whoop and Hollar Folk Festival to receive that designation. She says this positions the festival well for potential funders.

"We're in a growth phase," she says, "We're moving to a weekend festival. We're bringing on a third venue for other activities, so all this takes money. We want to pay our musicians favourably, and so funding will help that to occur."

Reeve Kam Blight says Council took about two weeks to make their decision, because it's something new to them.

"In looking at the requirements based on the municipality, and the direction that the Whoop and Hollar Festival is going, we felt it was okay to proceed with assigning signature status to this event for the 2019 year," he says, "Hopefully, this will help them access any other resources that they need may need to help them growth their event."