Weekender festivities to take over downtown

Come one, come all, to Graham Avenue this weekend.

Organizers of the Weekender hope to welcome thousands of Winnipeggers to the streets and parking lots in and around the Graham Avenue pedestrian mall in what they are billing as “Downtown’s Biggest Street Party.”

Starting Friday evening and running through Sunday, the free festival boasts a plethora of ways by which visitors can enjoy themselves. From food trucks to markets, games to live music, classic cars and free bike repairs, the festival aims to provide a little something for everyone.

“The Weekender is truly about bringing people together, to have fun, to experience all that downtown has to offer,” says Olivia Billson, director of communications and public relations for Downtown Winnipeg BIZ, which is putting on the festival in conjunction with Smith Events and Arch Events.

“Whether you work downtown or are coming for the weekend, we hope they’ll come downtown, explore the festival, support local businesses and build some memories.”

“We’ve packed a lot into three days, with something for just about everyone. It is a great way to hold on to summer for one more weekend and have some fun downtown,” Jason Smith, CEO of Smith Events, says.

The bulk of the festival is focused on the Graham Avenue pedestrian mall between Donald and Fort streets. However, programming spills over into surrounding spaces, including the greenspace behind the Millennium Library, which will host the family zone activities, and Lake of the Woods Brewing Company’s Lakeside Lounge live music and entertainment zone, outside the brewery in True North Square.

“A lot of people who still aren’t familiar with all the amazing things going on down here,” says Mike Reis, Manitoba sales rep Lake of the Woods Brewing Company. “The end goal is to create more traffic downtown and, for us, to be the brewery that brings people together to socialize, responsibly.”

Among the free entertainment on the menu is a classic car show and shine, hosted by Winnipeg Cruising Culture, on Friday night, Winnipeg Pro Wrestling on Saturday night and Bachata dancing on Sunday night.

The eclectic nature of the festival echoes that of its spiritual predecessor, Manyfest, which was held downtown along Broadway for several years until the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

“We’ve had a lot of folks talking about bringing Manyfest back. There have been some challenges there, so this about trying to give people that positive experience,” Billson says.

That experience, on the whole, is aimed not only at getting people downtown, but getting them to come back again and again.

“There’s really cool stuff happening downtown,” Reis adds. “You see stuff like this in other large metropolitan cities. It’s important to be ambassadors for downtown. Hopefully everything goes well for this event and it sparks a catalyst for more people to want to do things like this on Graham Avenue.”

Sheldon.Birnie@freepress.mb.ca