OFF THE GROUND AT FOLK FEST 2026

Eric Peters
14 minutes ago
4 min read

————— DRONE OPERATIONS · EVENT COVERAGE · WINNIPEG MB

FLYING

ABOVE

FOLK FEST 2026

1

Event Day

July 11, 2026

2

Drone Platforms

DJI Aerial · FPV

10+

Stages & Zones Covered

Main Stage · Big Bluestem · Shady Grove · More

12h

Hours on Site

11:30 AM – 11:30 PM

There's a particular kind of energy that builds at a festival before the crowds fully arrive. The stages are set, the vendors are firing up, and the grounds have that anticipatory quiet that won't last long. That's the world we walked into at Winnipeg Folk Festival this July — and it's exactly the kind of environment we love working in.

This was our first year at Folk Fest, and we were brought on to cover aerial and FPV footage across the full day and into the night. Here's how it went.

PRE-PRODUCTION

GETTING ON SITE

We arrived at Birds Hill Provincial Park around 11:30 AM, unpacked, and headed to the media tent to meet with the festival's content team and lock in the shot list for the day. One of the first things we did was walk the entire site — all stages, the food village, the family area, the campground — to confirm our pre-planned flight zones against the real layout on the ground. Everything matched our June 26 site survey, which made for a smooth and confident start for 2:00PM ops.

Having done the site walkthrough weeks earlier paid off. There were no surprises, no last-minute replanning, and the crew knew exactly where they were going before a single flight happened.

Aerial Platform	DJI Mini 3 Pro
Certification	TC Advanced RPAS
Authorization	Canada-Wide SFOC
Airspace Class	Class G · Birds Hill Provincial Park

AFTERNOON

THE DAY

By early afternoon the grounds were filling up and we started doing laps — aerial passes across the main stage, Shady Grove, Snowberry Field, Big Bluestem, and the vendor areas as the crowd energy built. It was a hot one — 40°C with the humidex — but the footage from those golden afternoon hours, with the light hitting the tree line and the stages, was worth every degree.

One moment that stood out was a powered paraglider that appeared over the site between 4:30 and 5:30 PM, flying visually low — estimated 500–700 feet AGL. With three sets of eyes on it at all times, we put the drone down every time it came over the site and waited for a clear sky before resuming. It's the kind of thing that doesn't make the highlight reel but reflects exactly how we operate: eyes up, no shortcuts.

40°C Humidex on Site Hottest Shoot of 2026	3 Eyes on Airspace At All Times
0 Airspace Conflicts Zero Incidents	400' Max Altitude AGL Class G Airspace

"Eyes up, no shortcuts."

EVENING

EVENING INTO NIGHT

As the smaller stages wound down, we shifted focus to Main Stage and Big Bluestem for the evening sets. Flying at dusk and into the night is where this kind of aerial work really earns its keep — the stage lighting, the crowd, the atmosphere of the grounds after dark. It's a different visual world than the afternoon, and the contrast made for a strong range of footage across the day.

We wrapped up around 10:00 PM, packed out by 11:30PM, and headed home with a full day of coverage in the can.

TAKEAWAYS

WHAT MADE THIS WORK

PLANNING

A site walkthrough in June meant no surprises on shoot day. Our flight zones, takeoff and landing points, and points of interest were all pre-mapped and confirmed on arrival.

COMPLIANCE

We operate under a Canada-Wide SFOC and Transport Canada Advanced RPAS certification. All airspace coordination, flight notifications, and safety documentation were handled before we ever set foot on site. The festival team didn't have to worry about a thing on the regulatory side.

THE CREW

Josh and Noah were excellent on the day — professional, adaptable, and great with everyone they interacted with. The feedback we received from the festival's media team and attendees reflected that.

SMALL DRONES

The DJI Mini 3 Pro is quiet, nimble, and non-intrusive. People were excited and curious rather than bothered — and that made for a much more relaxed operating environment than you'd get with larger equipment.

3 Crew on Site PIC · VO · Ground	2 TO/LZ Zones Pre-Surveyed June 26
1st Year at Folk Fest Back in 2027	0 Negative Interactions With Public or Staff

LOOKING AHEAD

This was a strong first year at Folk Fest and we'd love to build on it. There's a lot of creative territory left to explore — tighter FPV work through the stages, more coordinated coverage across multiple zones, and a proper recap edit that does justice to the grounds and the performances.

If you're running an event and thinking about aerial or FPV coverage, we'd love to talk.

The regulatory side isn't a box to check. It's the thing that makes everything else possible.

Our SFOC is what put us in the crowd zone when no one else on site could legally be there. That's not a competitive talking point — it's the foundation of every creative decision we made across both days.