In just over one week, Summer In The City will take over downtown Steinbach. The fourth annual festival takes place June 15 and 16.

Chair Keith Unger says excitement is building. "Everywhere we go people are stopping us," he says. "There's definitely a buzz out there."

Unger says ticket sales are ahead of where they've been with one week remaining in any of the previous three years. In fact he says the VIP tickets for Saturday night's show with Burton Cummings and Band are sold out. "So many people are just so excited about Burton Cummings," says Unger. "DOC Walker will be great as well."

On Tuesday of this week the planning committee held a final dress rehearsal. "This is the day we run through the timeline with all committee members to make sure that every piece has fallen into place," notes Unger. "We've spent months planning, and now it's go time." Unger says everything looks good other than a few logistics to sort through.

Unger notes it's been a big help having an organizing committee made up of people who have run this festival several times already. He says it makes planning that much easier. "When you've done it three years, the fourth year we've got a bit of confidence," he says. "That's good, that allows us to look beyond and start focusing on some more exciting things."

Unger says the mandate of the festival is to center around arts and culture and he notes this year there will be more attention paid towards that. And he says the goal over the next few years is to make Summer In The City one of the top festivals in Manitoba. "It would be great to be known across the country," he says. "But that will be another challenge." Having said that, Unger says they're anticipating a lot of out-of-towners next weekend.