Page 58 - 2023-2024 Travel Guide to Canada

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HERITAGE AND CULTURE
Winnipeg’s historic Exchange District is
home to the Design Quarter, a casual
grouping of eclectic, original design shops
ranging from fashion to fine dining and fine
art (www.designquarterwinnipeg.ca).
Outside the city, historic gems include
Thompson’s Heritage North Museum and its
tales of the Indigenous Peoples of the area
(www.heritagenorthmuseum.ca); and, in
Special Events
JANUARY – FEBRUARY
• WINNIPEG NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL
FEBRUARY
• FESTIVAL DU VOYAGEUR, WINNIPEG
• NORTHERN MANITOBA TRAPPERS’
FESTIVAL, THE PAS
MARCH
• FESTIVAL OF FOOLS, WINNIPEG
• HUDSON BAY QUEST, CHURCHILL
MAY
• MANITO AHBEE FESTIVAL, WINNIPEG
• WINNIPEG COMEDY FESTIVAL
MAY – JUNE
• PRIDE WINNIPEG
JUNE
• MANITOBA ELECTRONIC MUSIC
EXHIBITION, WINNIPEG
• MANITOBA SUMMER FAIR, BRANDON
• TD WINNIPEG INTERNATIONAL
JAZZ FESTIVAL
JULY
• MANITOBA STAMPEDE & EXHIBITION,
MORRIS
• WINNIPEG FOLK FESTIVAL, BIRDS HILL
PROVINCIAL PARK
• WINNIPEG FRINGE THEATRE FESTIVAL
AUGUST
• CANADA’S NATIONAL UKRAINIAN
FESTIVAL, DAUPHIN
• FOLKLORAMA, WINNIPEG
• ICELANDIC FESTIVAL, GIMLI
SEPTEMBER
• MANYFEST, WINNIPEG
• NUIT BLANCHE, WINNIPEG
SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER
• CULTURE DAYS, WINNIPEG
OCTOBER
• WINNIPEG COMICCON
www.travelmanitoba.com/
things-to-do/art-arts/festivals-events
far western Manitoba, the Inglis Grain
Elevators National Historic Site
(www.ingliselevators.com). It is the best
remaining example of an “elevator row” in
Canada. Winnipeg’s Manitoba Legislative
Building, the Tyndall limestone-clad beaux
arts classical seat of government, opened on
July 15, 1920, on the 50th anniversary of
Manitoba’s entry into Confederation
(www.gov.mb.ca/chc/hrb/prov/p040.html).
Architectural historian, Dr. Frank Albo, takes
small groups on “Hermetic Code” tours of
the building (www.frankalbo.com/tours).
In May, the Manito Ahbee Festival in
Winnipeg showcases Indigenous culture
and spectacular powwow performances
(www.manitoahbee.com). February’s
French Festival du Voyageur, centred in
St. Boniface, focuses on Franco-Manitoban
history and culture (www.heho.ca/en).
MUST SEE, MUST DO
Lower Fort Garry, the national historic site
just south of the City of Selkirk, shelters an
historic fur-trading fort. It is also the site
where Treaty 1, the first treaty between
colonial explorers and Indigenous Peoples,
was signed, and where the North-West
Mounted Police—the precursor to
Canada’s Mounties—were first trained
(www.parkscanada.gc.ca/fortgarry).
PROVENCHER BRIDGE, WINNIPEG • SHUTTERSTOCK/NELEPL
In summer, hardy adventurers can kayak
with more than 57,000 white beluga
whales that calve and raise their babies
near the mouth of the Churchill River
(www.travelmanitoba.com/churchill).
The Canadian Museum for Human Rights,
adjacent to The Forks National Historic Site,
houses a permanent exhibit called Truth and
Reconciliation. It chronicles the findings of
the 2008 Truth and Reconciliation Commis-
sion that aimed to right the wrongs of the
residential school system in Canada
(www.humanrights.ca).
Quick Fact
THE ST. BONIFACE MUSEUM, ORIGINALLY
BUILT AS A GREY NUNS’ CONVENT, IS
WINNIPEG’S OLDEST BUILDING AND NORTH
AMERICA’S LARGEST OAK LOG STRUCTURE.
SCENIC DRIVES
Bunk in at Riding Mountain National Park’s
Wasagaming townsite, and take the next day
to drive to the park for early morning wild-
life spotting, a visit to the resident bison
herd, selfie stops all around beautiful Clear
Lake and ups and downs in the park’s unique
topography. Return to Winnipeg via Highway 5