A full re-brand of the Morden Corn & Apple Festival is complete - the first in the 54-year history of the event. The new look was unveiled to the public Wednesday.

Executive Director, Tim Hodge, explained that while a tweak was made to the branding in 2005, the logo really hasn't changed much since the first festival in 1967.

"We adopted the logo that was being used by the City and by the Morden Chamber of Commerce at the time, and we've kind of stuck with it ever since. It's been good to us, it served us for more than fifty years, but we thought it was time for a change," added Hodge.

With the pandemic forcing organizers to postpone the festival two years in a row, Hodge noted this was the perfect time for the Board to hammer out a new look featuring the familiar colours of red, green and yellow. However, he says everything else about the branding, including graphics, has changed. 

Stylized cobs of corn and apples now form the ampersand between “Corn” and “Apple”.

The main logo now consists of text laid out to resemble a street sign, with stylized cobs of corn and apples forming the ampersand between “Corn” and “Apple”.

“We are Manitoba’s largest street festival, so having our main logo resemble a street sign is a wonderful connection,” explained Hodge.

"A change like this, I think it has to be intentional but it also has to have a lot of meaning to it," he added. "We didn't just want to get a new logo, we wanted to make improvements, and we're very very excited about what we have."

In addition, Hodge says the visual of the corn and apple ampersand also allows the Board the versatility to use the branding at a variety of scales.

"One of the things that I found most frustrating about our previous logo was (that) it had so much fine detail that at various scales, especially socially media profile pictures on a smartphone...our logo didn't really translate very well to being small. This new branding gives us options at a whole bunch of levels."

The re-brand also includes a suite of stylized assets like pumpkin pie, jugs of cider, apples, corn and smiley face graphics.

"It really is a whole lot more than just a logo," said Hodge.

Meantime, planning is underway for a number of events and activities this summer in light of the festival's postponement.

“We are really excited with our plans for this summer," said Hodge is a news release.

The list includes several live-streamed concerts in August, and the first-ever video contest which allows the public to submit a video for a chance to appear in a Corn & Apple promo. As well, the Committee will be selling Corn & Apple baskets this summer. Click here for more information.

The re-brand also includes a suite of stylized assets like pumpkin pie, jugs of cider, apples, corn and smiley face graphics.