designated a "Cultural Capital" by the Minister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women in 2008 for its emphasis on art and culture. This includes hosting various festivals such as the Back Forty Festival, which highlights aboriginal influences in the community. Award money was spent on a new performing arts centre, and four murals. Corn and Apple Festival Morden holds the Corn and Apple Festival each August. Founded in 1967, the festival includes free corn and apple cider, and celebrates a fruit and vegetable that thrive in Morden's long growing season. Notable entertainers at past festivals include Prairie Oyster, Colin James, Dr. Hook, Randy Bachman, The Trews, Chad Brownlee, and Rick Mercer. Morden's quaint and historic downtown was featured in the 2020 TV series Tales from the Loop by Amazon Prime Video and the 2022 Hallmark Channel TV film Pumpkin Everything. In 2023 Still Standing, a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation TV show about "towns that are against the ropes but still hanging in there", featured the city of Morden. Attractions The community's recreation hub is the Access Event Centre. The multi-purpose facility houses two indoor arenas, a 1,000-seat community hall, the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame, as well as banquet and conference rooms. The lower level of the facility is home to the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre. Sports Morden is home to various ice hockey teams, including the Morden Bombers of the South Eastern Manitoba Hockey League, Morden Thunder of the Manitoba High School Hockey League, and the Pembina Valley Hawks of the Manitoba Female Hockey League. The 2017 Esso Cup, Canada's national female midget hockey championship, was hosted by the Hawks in Morden. The Morden Mud Hens are the men's senior baseball team that plays in the Border Baseball League and captured a provincial title in 2018. Morden has been the host of the Manitoba Games in its summer and winter editions in 1996 and 2014 respectively. Government Morden is governed by a mayor and six councilors who are elected by residents. The current Mayor of Morden is Brandon Burley, who won the 2018 Municipal Election with 1,334 votes (49.17%). Councilor Doug Frost currently serves as Deputy Mayor. Also serving on City of Morden Council are Councilor Gord Maddock, Councilor Garry Hiebert as Corporate Chair-Person, Councilor Hank Hildebrand, Councilor Jim Hunt, and Councilor Nancy Penner as Operations Chair-Person. The City of Morden City Manager has been Nicole Reidle since spring