Last week I travelled to Winnipeg to record stories for the upcoming season 7 of the ‘Yes, We Are Open’ (YWAO) podcast. Manitoba was the last of the provinces that I hadn’t visited yet—hopefully the territories are next. Everyone whom I told about trip had something similar to say in response. It was some variation of, “Ooof! Sorry to hear!” or “You’re going there on purpose?”.
Don’t get me wrong, this not a case of the entire country shitting on one city. I’ve got many friends who are originally from Winnipeg who’d would say the exact same things. I even had a conversation at the airport on my way to Winnipeg, with a young woman who was on the same flight and the words she used to describe her home city was that it was a little “stabby”.
I paid them no attention because this is my favourite part of my job. Exploring the different places in this country and learning what it’s like to live and work there. I’m back now and upon some sober reflection I have this to say about the city of Winnipeg…I really liked it!
I arrived on a Sunday evening and got to my hotel only to find there was a weekend music festival called the Burt Bloc Party wrapping up less than a block away. The music was loud, luckily I was enjoying it. I could hear the incredible voice of Sass Jordan singing to 4k+ fans bouncing off my hotel window. What a voice! My old band used to rehearse in the same studio as Sass back in the day—but that’s another story for another time.
That night after dinner I made my way down to the Burton Cummings Theatre. The concert was being held just outside in the parking lot. I was hoping to catch some of Tom Cochrane’s set. He was the headliner for that night. I was able to catch most of it from just outside the barricade.
I didn’t stick around for Life Is A Highway, but I was able to hear it from my hotel room. It was like I was there. What a welcome to the city!
The next day my first interview wasn’t until the afternoon, so i went for a walk to explore the city, but first a shot of the view from my room looking north…
I decided to return to the scene of the previous night’s concert to see the Burton Cumming Theatre during the day. It’s a lovely old-style building. Reminded me a little of the Elgin Theatre in Toronto.
What I noticed on my walk was the beauty of the old architecture. The fading painted advertisements on the old brick facades, the firescapes, the graphitti, and the art-deco style. Thanks to government grants, there is a lot of filming done in Winnipeg right now. Certain parts of the city can pass for parts of New York or Chicago and there is definitely a lot of room considering how few people I see out and about. Sadly a lot of these beautiful buildings are empty or boarded up. I don’t know if it’s the part of town I was in, or some other reason, but you could definitely feel the economic struggle in the city.
The infrastructure is there. Wide roads, ample parking—it’s definitely a city designed for cars—some bike lanes, buses, etc…I don’t know if it’s just because I’m used to the crowds in Toronto, but it seems like Winnipeg is a city at about half-capacity. Considering it’s the third-largest city in the Prairies—behind Calgary & Edmonton—in terms of population, that tells me there is so much potential for growth and investment. So what’s holding them back? Is it just an image issue?
I know, I know…the winters are cold in Manitoba and I just happened to arrive at the tail end of a heatwave, so perhaps I’m biased. But is temperature really the reason? I feel like it’s more of a PR or marketing problem because here’s a newsflash. By Canadian standards, Winnipeg is a big-league city!
Here is my case in point. My hotel was across from the Canada Life Centre, home of the Winnipeg Jets. I only saw it from the outside, but it looked like a big-city NHL arena. I paid a visit to the beautiful University of Manitoba campus to check out the Princess Auto Stadium home of the CFL’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers:
It was as an impressive stadium! One of the nicest I’ve seen in this country. Later during my visit to The Forks—I’ll get to that in a second—I was looking out from a tall vantage point in the city and noticed this beautiful minor league baseball stadium…
I didn’t even know there was a minor league team in Winnipeg! This is home of the Winnipeg Goldeyes of the American Association of Professional Baseball. I wish I had known, I would have planned to go to a game! Unfortunately I missed the opportunity to see both the Blue Bombers and the Goldeyes in action, and Jets are still in their offseason, so no sporting events for me. Oh well…maybe next time.
Each night after dinner—as is my usual when I’m on the road—I went for a walk to try to find something interested to do or see. Usually I look for places where I can catch some live music. It didn’t take me long to find the Exchange District, Winnipeg’s Arts and Cultural district.
There were some open-mic performances taking place. It was the Caravan Open Mic + Open Stage presented by The Purple Room. They hold it every Monday night throughout the summer and even livestream it on Youtube! It was a great atmosphere for some outdoor live music.
The next night I returned to the district, this time to catch a double bill of Return of the Living Dead and Cemetery Man at the Dave Barber Cinematheque as part of their Trash Cult Tuesdays. I’m not much for zombie movies, but hey…it beat sitting in my hotel room thumbing through Tik Tok.
After a couple of days of interviews and work, I finally had a free day on Thursday to be a tourist. First I visited a place called The Forks. If sporting events, live music, or cult horror films aren’t your idea of fun, don’t worry there is always The Forks. Touted “Winnipeg’s foremost destination” on their website. They get over 4 million visitors each year. It has been a meeting place for over 6,000 years. A place of trade by the indigenous, european fur traders, scottish settlers, railway pioneers and tens of thousands of immigrants.
Today it’s a place where you can eat, drink, work, shop, play, and stay. It was a neat place.
While there, I went on a river boat tour of the Assiniboine and Red rivers. It was a cool tour where I learned a bit more about the history of the city and its role in the building of Canada.
After a morning of touring, I had lunch with Matt Cundill, former radio guy and owner/operator of The Sound Off Media Company and Susie Erjavec Parker a PR expert. They both were an enormous help in setting me up with the businesses that will be part of Season 7 of YWAO, so I thought I’d treat them to some lunch. On the menu was delicious Dim Sum from Kum Koon Garden.
After a great lunch and conversation, I decided that a visit to Winnipeg would not be complete without a visit to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. I was right.
I especially appreciated an exhibit they had called Beyond the Beat: Music of Resistance and Change. The exhibit “explores the ground-breaking and history-making moments where music played a pivotal role in social and political transformation”. From Elton John, to Chuck D, to Buffy Sainte-Marie (recent revelations aside).
They even had an entire section dedicated to Rage Against The Machine including the red van that they originally toured in. It was a very cool exhibit and it’s only there until the end of September 2024.
I don’t know if it will travel to other museums. If it does, and you can check it out, I recommend it.
To round out my day of tourism, I crossed the bridge to Sainte Boniface, which is a french-speaking community in Winnipeg. It’s named after the Saint Boniface Cathedral, which almost completely burned down in 1968. Today only the front facade and parts of the side walls remain standing. A more modern church was built behind it.
The other reason for my visit to Sainte Boniface was to visit the Summer Market which is held every Thursday in the summer. There I bought some handmade souvenirs to bring home to the family.
After dinner, once again—as the great Gord Downie would say—I went out looking for a place to happen. I found a cool bowling alley called Park Alleys Bowl which featured live jazz music. That night there was a band called M’Organ Threemen. They are a 3-piece (sometimes 5-piece) jazz band. They sounded great!
It was a great way to finish up my week in Winnipeg!
So I don’t get it. Cold weather aside, Winnipeg is a great city! There are other cities that get cold weather too and they don’t seem to get nearly as much hate as ‘The Peg’.
Is it a perfect city? No.
Are there problems with homelessness and drugs? Absolutely!
I can say that about every other major city in North America, and you read me correctly, Winnipeg is a major city!
So it comes down to reputation. What will it take to turn their reputation around? Well here is my modest attempt to get the Winnipeg bandwagon going. Winnipeg is one great city!
That reminds me. The one song I can think of that mentions Winnipeg by name is “One Great City” by The Weakerthans. It’s a beautiful song! Here is a video of me from a couple of years ago attempting to play it…
Alas, the song doesn’t end well for the “I Love Winnipeg” bandwagon, but my point still stands.
P.S. What is it with Winnipeg and Dollar Stores? There’s like one on every corner!
What are you thinking?