Three days in May

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/05/2012 (5135 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When Winnipeggers raise a cold one this weekend, it’s doubtful they’ll be doing it to officially commemorate Queen Victoria’s birthday.

The three-day long weekend is officially called Victoria Day in honour of Queen Victoria’s birth on May 24, 1819. The holiday used to be on her actual birthday, but since 1952 has been celebrated on the first Monday before May 25 (why not on or before May 24? I don’t know. I don’t make the rules. If I did, it would be a four-day weekend).

So now you know some of the history, you can get with to having fun, which for Manitobans means everything from opening up the cabin, camping (alcohol is banned at provincial parks this weekend, remember), planting their gardens or setting off fireworks in a high school football field (that might be illegal, so don’t consider it a recommendation, just a past observation).

If you don’t have a cabin and have been rained out of too many camping trips over the years, here are a few ideas for things you can do in the city.

Get into the garden

FOR gardeners, May long is a busy time — a chance to head outside and get their plants, flowers and vegetables in the ground.

Over the past week, nursery centres have sprouted up like tulips all over the city, in parking lots of churches, grocery stores and malls, and at the many greenhouses on St. Mary’s Road.

Barbecue

THERE’S nothing quite like cooking meat (or soy dogs, zucchini and yam fries, if you’re a vegetarian) over a grill. Local Juno Award-winning metal band KEN Mode will even shift gears a bit after their show tonight at the Lo Pub — instead of entering their usual Kill Everyone Now Mode, this weekend they will get into GEN Mode, a.k.a. Grill Everything Now Mode.

Frontman Jesse Matthewson has even volunteered this recipe for us, known in St. Vital as Classic Matthewson Family Style Chicken.

MARINADE

400 ml (about 11Ñ2 cups) tomato sauce

200 ml (about 3Ñ4 cup) orange juice

100 ml (about 1Ñ3 cup) vegetable oil

100 ml (about 1Ñ3 cup) lemon juice

3 cloves garlic

30 ml (2 tbsp) Worcestershire sauce

30 ml (2 tbsp) oregano leaves

6 chicken breasts on the bone, and 12 thighs on the bone.

FOR BASTING

125 ml (1/2 cup) honey

15 ml (1 tbsp) dry mustard

Marinate chicken in sauce for at least an hour. Grill on medium, basting frequently. Melt honey and mix with dry mustard. Baste finished chicken with honey, and gorge like barbarians.

Serve with salad and other vegetables, because true warriors eat greens.

Serves a strong 6.

Do you wanna go faster?

WONDER Shows will bring the Zipper, Sky Master and the Tilt-A-Whirl to the Heritage Victoria Community Centre on Sturgeon Road for the annual Optimist Assiniboia’s Buffalo BBQ, which runs Friday evening to Monday.

Tinkertown officially opened its gates last weekend, but will expand its hours this weekend with the kiddie theme park open noon to 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday and noon to 6 p.m. Monday.

See some art

THE Winnipeg Art Gallery show American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell was scheduled to end Sunday, but has been extended until May 27, so if you want to see portraits of family dinners sans arguments, you have an extra week. The exhibit is open tonight and Friday until 9 p.m. and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The WAG is closed Monday.

Just down the street at Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art, Sound & Vision: Crossroads looks at how popular music affects social change. Exhibit curator Anthony Kiendl has even sourced out original music for a vinyl compilation album — Vision: Crossroads. The Contour 2011 Sound + Vision — featuring tracks by Lee Ranaldo, Chicks on Speed, Pierre Bismuth, Edith Dekyndt, Cory Arcangel and more. The gallery is open until 9 p.m. tonight to Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. It is closed on Monday.

If you’re feeling adventurous, why not take a chance on something new? The Exchange District is full of galleries and shops that could be part of a “gallery crawl.” Combine it with a stop at a few restaurants and pubs for drinks and you’ve got a spontaneous, fun afternoon.

Bet on the ponies

ASSINIBOIA Downs officially opened May 6 and held its regular Friday and Saturday evening races last week (does anybody else miss those Sunday afternoon races? I do) but are holding races on the holiday Monday beginning at 1 p.m.

Park it

OUR early spring means there is already plenty of green, green grass at the city’s parks, so a walk or bike ride should definitely be in your plans.

If you are visiting the city’s largest park, Assiniboine Park, you can check out the first stages of the Shirley Richardson Butterfly Garden. The garden, located in the zoo, is still a work in progress and most of the plant material and additional species will be added in the coming weeks, so it will only get bigger, better and more colourful. Consider this a sneak peek.

This weekend also marks the beginning of extended hours at the zoo (9 a.m. to 6 p.m.) and a full daily schedule of talks and demonstrations with zoo keepers and feeding sessions with the animals.

The zoo has bears (and lions and tigers, oh my), but over at the Pavilion Gallery Museum, you can see a stuffed bear and all his friends at the new Pooh Gallery, which opened last month. The three-room permanent exhibit on the pavilion’s second floor houses an array of Pooh art and memorabilia, including stuffed toys, figurines, books and art, the most famous being Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Pot by Ernest H. Shepard, the original illustrator of A. A. Milne’s Pooh books. The free exhibit is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

After catching up with Pooh and his friends, check out the new art exhibit and sale called Spring Florals by landscape, floral and still-life oil painter Daria Mudryj, in the Clarence Tillenius Gallery in the Pavilion Gallery Museum.

Da planes, da planes

THE Royal Canadian Air Force Snowbirds will be flying their Canadair CT-114 Tutors over the Forks on Saturday from 3 to 3:30 p.m., performing more than 50 different formations and manoeuvres during a free demonstration choreographed to music.

The Boeing Stearman was developed by the RCAF in 1943 as a supplemental trainer for the Tiger Moth, but was rejected because some genius eventually figured out the open cockpit wasn’t ideal for Canadian winters.

However, the planes were perfect for crop dusters, barnstormers and aerobatic performances, and were the plane of choice for daredevil wing walkers.

The plane is landing at the Western Canadian Aviation Museum Monday for three days. Visitors will be able to sit in the cockpit (but not walk on the wings) and ask the pilot and crew questions from noon to 5 p.m. Monday; 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday; and 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Wednesday. Admission is $5.

Go fish

JUST because you can’t get out of town doesn’t mean you can’t catch the big one. Sure, you can throw your rod in the Red or Assiniboine Rivers and reel in some catfish, or you could head down to FortWhyte Alive for its annual Free Fishing weekend and potentially hook some arctic char, carp, crappies, pike and walleye in one of its five lakes.

If you don’t have equipment, you can rent some. Poles and tackle are $5, while a boat rental is $10.

Catch some music

AS mentioned above, local Juno winners KEN Mode are at the Lo Pub tonight with Electro Quarterstaff and the Strap, a local noise-rock supergroup releasing its debut album, A Different Point of View (admission $12), but if you’re looking for something a little folkier, the Songs and Music of Woody Guthrie: A 100th Birthday Celebration takes place at the West End Cultural Centre with the Magnificent 7s, Lindsay Jane, Sweet Alibi, JD Edwards, Greg Crowe and more, singing the songs of the folk legend. Tickets are $20 at the WECC, Organic Planet and Mondragon.

Over at the Pyramid Cabaret, the aptly named James Cohen and the Prairie Roots Rockers release their self-titled debut. Admission is $15.

Back at the WECC, a new youth showcase series kicks off Friday with teenage bands Cruel Society, Thursday’s Forecast and Of Unsound Minds sharing the stage. Tickets are $8 at the venue.

The live music dance party of the weekend is Saturday at the Pyramid when 12-piece Vancouver funk/soul/R&B/rock outfit Five Alarm Funk hits town in support of its new album, Rock the Sky. Tickets are $14 at Kustom Kulture.

Over at the Times Change(d), Toronto roots duo Scarlett Jane are in town supporting their new album, Stranger. Admission is $10.

On the holiday Monday, there are three distinct options to choose from. Hip-hop fans can check out the D-Block tour at the Pyramid with Styles P., Sheek Louch, Peter Jackson and Jay Boogie (tickets are $17 at Kustom Kulture); extreme metal fans should head to the WECC for the Black Dahlia Murder and famed gore-metal quartet Exhumed (tickets are $26.50 at Ticketmaster); while Toronto-via-Montreal psych-rock art duo Yamantaka//Sonic Titan are at the Lo Pub with Scab Smoker (admission is $8).

Relax

GRAB a drink, a book/newspaper/comic/magazine and enjoy your backyard/balcony/front step. You might even spare a thought for Queen Victoria.

rob.williams@freepress.mb.ca