Smiles in the Drizzle: Pole Archery Lights Up Nuit Blanche St. Boniface
September 26, 2026 — Provencher Park, Winnipeg
Rain, drizzle, and wet grass were no match for the St. Sebastian and St. Sebastianette Pole Archery Clubs, who hosted a night of glowing arrows and cultural learning at this year’s Nuit Blanche St. Boniface.
The event was made possible largely through the support of Sport en français, a key partner in bringing pole archery to Nuit Blanche and connecting the clubs with Manitoba’s francophone community.
Roughly 200 people braved the weather to visit Provencher Park through the night — remarkable, considering the clubs were the only attraction left standing outdoors. Every other activity planned for the park was moved indoors to the TCM at the Centre culturel franco-manitobain.
Glow-in-the-dark archery
The centrepiece of the evening was a mini horizontal pole archery setup, illuminated with pickleball lights that gave the range an after-dark glow. Visitors of all ages took their turn on the line.
A crowd favourite that didn’t make it into the photos: flashing rolling hoops, which proved enormously popular with participants looking for a moving target.
Organizers had bigger plans, including black lights on the target tarps, but as organizer Keith Loraas explained, a generator and power cords on very wet grass was “not a good choice.” Safety won out, and the event was scaled back accordingly.
Indigenous archery presentation
Dr. Roland Bohr delivered a presentation on Indigenous archery traditions, speaking in front of a bison shooting tarp. The session added valuable historical and cultural context to the evening’s hands-on activities.
Partners and volunteers
Alongside Sport en français, the event relied on the clubs’ sponsors and a deep bench of volunteers drawn from all pole archery clubs, the TCM volunteer pool, and MASRA.
Named volunteers included:
- James Platt
- Richard Bruneau
- Roland Bohr
- Irene Pines
- Ezri Loraas
- Patrick Stasiuk
- Jason Morrison
- Craig Comberbach
Eight additional volunteers rounded out the crew, several of whom Keith met for the first time that night. James Platt brought two volunteers from MASRA, and two standouts emerged from the TCM pool — Alex and a second Keith, who teaches at Université de Saint-Boniface and was randomly assigned to the archery site. Both appear in the event photos, with Keith pictured just to the left of Roland Bohr.
“Nothing but smiles”
The clubs closed down around 11 p.m. — soaked, but satisfied.
“Wet! Lol,” was Keith Loraas’s summary of the night. “It was fun, but weather caused us to scale back.” Asked about the turnout, his takeaway was simple: “I saw nothing but smiles.”
Thanks go out to Sport en français, the event’s sponsors, and every volunteer who stood in the rain to keep the arrows flying.
Learn more about the sport at polearchery.ca.
