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Summerween at Dalnavert

• Dalnavert Museum, 61 Carlton St.
• Today to July 12
• Tickets $10-$69 at friendsofdalnavert.ca

Got any fun Summerween plans?

Haven’t heard of it? It’s the relatively recent cultural phenomenon in which Halloween lovers celebrate all things spooky in the summertime. Which makes sense, really; nothing like a well-timed crack of thunder during a ghost story.

Dalnavert is leaning into both the unofficial holiday and its designation as an “allegedly” haunted house and is hosting 10 days of Summerween programming, which kicks off today with Death at Dalnavert tours at 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m., exploring Victorian death customs, and Secrets & Spectres: A Dalnavert Mystery, a Victorian horror escape-room style experience, at 6:30 p.m.

Visitors can hear Tales of Victorian Madness (Saturday, 7-9 p.m.), featuring readings of Charlotte Perkins Stetson’s The Yellow Wallpaper and Edgar Allan Poe’s The Black Cat in the parlour with specialty cocktails. Or perhaps spend an evening Gossiping With Ghosts (Friday, July 10, 7-9 p.m.), using communication mediums favoured by the Victorians, or having Dinner with Drac (Sunday, July 12, 7-9 p.m.), a screening of the 1931’s Dracula with a corresponding three-course meal.

Those are just some of the Summerween events on offer. For full programming details and how to book, visit friendsofdalnavert.ca/summerween.

Is There a Spirit With Us?, the museum’s exhibition on Victorian spiritualism — the 19th-century belief that the living could communicate with the dead — will also be on view during Summerween.

— Jen Zoratti

 

A Palette of Colour

• Costume Museum of Canada, 410-70 Arthur St.
• Thursdays, 12:30-2:30 p.m.; Saturdays, 1-4 p.m., or by appointment
• Free

If you’ve got a thing for vintage bridal fashion, you’d do best to pop down to the museum this summer. Just don’t go expecting to see a traditional gown; there’s not a single white wedding dress on display.

The 12 gowns featured are all non-traditional bridal gowns in rich jewel colours, some dating as far back as the late 1800s.

The oldest dress is an 1883 Ashes of Roses-coloured silk taffeta two-piece, first worn by Merran McLean, the great-grandmother of collection director Helen Leeds. The intricate creation features a full skirt, fine sleeve detailing and 13 covered buttons.

Another highlight is a black satin wedding dress from 1990, shown with its matching black netting headpiece, black, rhinestone-embellished satin pumps and long black gloves. The bride Victoria McPherson commissioned her mother Judy, a former museum volunteer, to make the dress for her outdoor ceremony at the Winnipeg Canoe Club in August 1991.

“Most of the dresses are handmade and it’s amazing to me to see the sense of style, design, proportion and decoration these women had over the years,” says Diane Zakala from the museum. “When putting together this exhibition, we were looking for dresses with pizzazz, something unusual that would appeal to people.”

— AV Kitching

 

When We Became Folk Fest

• Dave Barber Cinematheque, 100 Arthur St.
• Saturday, 3 p.m.
• Admission $9-11.50

From co-directors Kevin Nikkel and the late Winnipeg Film Group programmer Dave Barber, this 70-minute documentary offers viewers a time-capsule journey back to 1975 when one of the country’s most iconic summer music festivals was still a fledgling operation at Birds Hill Provincial Park.

To craft the film, Nikkel — the author of the companion oral history Founding Folks — and the serial archivist Barber tapped into a cache of previously unseen Super 8 film shot by film group rovers over 50 years ago, featuring interviews and performance clips from pre-eminent ’70s mainstays such as Tom Jackson, Cathy Fink, Paul Mills, Bruce Cockburn, Ken Whiteley and Grit Laskin, the luthier who built many of their guitars.

With the festival returning next week with a lineup including local performers such as Fontine, Jacob Brodovsky, the Secret Beach and Amos the Kid, visit Cinematheque for a reminder of how it all began. Nikkel be on hand for an introduction.

— Ben Waldman

 

First Fridays in the Exchange

• Tomorrow, 5-9 p.m.
• Various Exchange District locations
• Free and paid events

Thirty-nine Exchange District restaurants, retailers, museums, artists and galleries are participating in this month’s First Fridays event.

Meet at Jennifer Stillwell’s High Five sculpture (the silver wings on Waterfront Drive) at 6 p.m. and head out on a free public-art walking tour hosted by the Winnipeg Arts Council. The two-kilometre route includes stops at eight different artworks.

Warehouse Artworks (222 McDermot Ave.) is hosting a blowout sale of prints from painter Cori Jaye, as well as an exhibition of work by painter and cancer survivor Mavi Brake.

Grab a matcha at Parlour Coffee (468 Main St.) and head upstairs for DJ music and vintage shopping at Archival Studios and Eric’s Objects.

Patent 5 Distillery (108 Alexander Ave.) is serving a special cocktail alongside music by Gabriela Ocejo and art by Miguel Morales.

Visit firstfridayswinnipeg.org for a full list of events.

— Eva Wasney

 

The Tallest Pop Up

• Saturday, 1 p.m., 2 p.m., 6 p.m., 7 p.m.
• 633 Portage Ave
• $44-$48 at showpass.com

Move over Independence Day, Public Domain is hosting its own July 4 celebration on Saturday. The pop-up dining experience is a collaboration with the team from Tallest Poppy, a favourite former West Broadway (and, before that, North End) diner.

The menu offers the same comfort food that kept Tallest Poppy so poppin’ a few years ago: there’s buttermilk fried chicken, Belgian waffles, more buttermilk fried chicken and a hefty helping of mashed potatoes or collard greens.

The event, sponsored by Low Life Brewery, has four seatings (1 p.m., 2 p.m., 6 p.m. and 7 p.m.) and two price points — $44 and $48, depending on whether you go for the bigger plate — and will be a welcome back for friends of the Poppy, whose dances and drag shows made it a hub for West Broadway community.

With plates this finger-lickin’ good, expect not just the regulars but folks from all over.

— Conrad Sweatman