What’s up: Meow Mania, July Talk, chili, soup and Two Pianos, No Rodeo

Meow Mania Expo

• Assiniboia Downs, 3975 Portage Ave.
• Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Tickets $7.35-$31.50 at meowmaniaexpo.com

Calling all proud cat parents and aspiring kitty owners — you won’t want to miss Sunday’s fair celebrating all things feline.

Highlights include a market with more than 40 vendors offering a variety of products, a cat adoption fair featuring nine local rescues, cat-care presentations on the speakers’ stage and a silent auction/raffle with all proceeds donated to the rescues in attendance.

Since the first fair and adoption market in the fall of 2024, 35 cats and kittens have found new homes, and nearly $3,600 has been donated to local rescues.

— AV Kitching

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July Talk

• Burton Cummings Theatre, 364 Smith St.
• Friday, 8 p.m.
• Tickets $42.50-$66 at Ticketmaster

Remember when throwbacks to 2016 were trending on social media earlier this year? July Talk is engaging in a little 2016 nostalgia of its own.

That was the year the Toronto alt-rock outfit released Touch, the explosive, Juno-winning sophomore album that firmly cemented the sugar-and-salt vocal interplay between lead singers Leah Fay Goldstein and Peter Dreimanis as singular.

The band is celebrating the 10th anniversary of Touch with a Canadian tour that will stop in at the Burt on Friday. Winnipeg-based indie-folk singer-songwriter Taylor Jackson will open the show.

— Jen Zoratti

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Charity Chili Cook-Off

• St. Norbert Farmers’ Market, 3514 Pembina Hwy.
• Saturday, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
• Tickets $15 at wfp.to/iam

Spice up your weekend starting Saturday morning with a good old-fashioned chili cookoff sure to bowl you over.

The fourth annual charity chili cookoff takes place at the St. Norbert Farmers’ Market, and will see nine local vendors and chefs square off to see whose beans reign supreme.

The tasting kicks off at 10 a.m. — enter the canopy, pick up your map and three ballots and get to tasting the hearty chilis. Once you’ve found your favourites, put your ballot in the pertinent vendor’s ballot box. Votes will be tallied at 1 p.m., and the winner announced at 1:30 p.m., with the top three chili cooks splitting ticket sale proceeds among Manitoba charities of their choices.

In addition to a belly full of chili — from mild to spicy, vegetarian to meaty — guests will also get a chance to walk away with a door prize.

— Ben Sigurdson

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Stone Soup Fundraiser

• Various locations
• March 23-29
• Visit childnutritioncouncil.com for details

Chili or soup, take your pick!

The Child Nutrition Council of Manitoba is hosting its annual Stone Soup fundraiser next week.

Inspired by the folk tale of the same name, the event sees restaurants across the province serving specialty soups from March 23 to 29 and donating $1 per bowl sold to the council. Last year’s effort raised more than $46,000 for school meal and snack programs.

More than 40 restaurants from Flin Flon to Steinbach have signed up to participate. Winnipeg offerings include a squash, apple and cheddar soup from the Park Café at Assiniboine Park, tortellini soup from Bonnie Day, lemon chicken orzo from Black Market Provisions, red Thai curry from Smith Restaurant, and many more.

Stone Soup is also a friendly competition; diners can visit childnutritioncouncil.com to vote for their favourite bowl.

— Eva Wasney

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Two Pianos, No Rodeo

• West End Cultural Centre, 586 Ellice Ave.
• Today, 8 p.m.
• Tickets $30-$35 at wecc.ca

Move over, Two Pianos Four Hands… Two Pianos, No Rodeo might be Canada’s most interesting duelling piano show right now.

Winnipeg-born Bob Wiseman, a founding member of Toronto roots act Blue Rodeo, brings his punk pianism up against another BR man, Mike Boguski tonight at the West End Cultural Centre. Boguski is the band’s current keyboardist, known for his soulful, cinematic touch — making for a dialogue across styles and generations of Blue Rodeo.

Despite the title, there aren’t actually two pianos involved: the musicians will each take a turn at a singular keyboard, playing his own material (Boguski has a couple of solo albums, while Wiseman, who has a lengthy solo catalogue, might also read excerpts from his book, Music Lessons).

This clearly isn’t their first rodeo: Wiseman and Boguski have been touring versions of this show since the summer — they played Gimli’s Ship & Plough in October — which has no doubt helped them helm their unconventional concert into something special.

— Conrad Sweatman