What’s up: Festive things to do this week

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This article was published 12/12/2024 (625 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Park Theatre offers ‘festive’ double feature

The Nightmare Before Christmas/Die Hard
Park Theatre, 698 Osborne St.
Monday, 6:30 p.m.
Tickets $13-18 at wfp.to/Aa3

Two films that have been hotly contested as to whether or not they qualify as a “Christmas movie” will be screened at a double feature at the Park Theatre on Monday.

First up is Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, a 1993 stop-motion animated musical featuring songs by Danny Elfman. The film follows pumpkin king Jack Skellington, a resident of Halloween Town who stumbles upon Christmas Town, learns about the wintry holiday and vows to take it over. While the film was modestly successful upon release, its legacy has grown over the last three decades, although most would deem it a Halloween movie before dubbing it a Christmas flick.

Next up is the 1988 Bruce Willis action vehicle Die Hard. The film follows John McClane (Willis), an NYPD detective who flies across the country to surprise his estranged wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) in L.A. McClane arrives on Dec. 24 and, after crashing the Nakatomi Corporation Christmas party (where Holly works), is thrown into action as a radical German faction led by Hans Gruber (played brilliantly by the late Alan Rickman) take over Nakatomi Plaza.

The film enjoyed commercial success right away, and in more recent has also come to be considered a classic in the action-film genre.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m., with The Nightmare Before Christmas starting at 7 p.m. and Die Hard screening at 8:30 p.m. Tickets to either of the films individually are $10 plus fees, and includes a 16-ounce beer from Sookram’s, or entry to both films and one beer is $15 plus fees. The event is all ages.

— Ben Sigurdson

Vinter Fest Craft Market

Ikea Winnipeg, 500 Sterling Lyon Pkwy
Friday, 10 a..m-8 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m., Sunday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
Free

It’s the most wonderful time of the year when you can shop local while shopping at Ikea.

Now in its third year, Vinter Fest is a cosy holiday market presented in partnership with Manitoba Craft Council. This year’s edition will feature 20 artisans working in a variety of mediums, from pottery to textiles to prints.

Vinter Fest is located in the “self-serve warehouse” area of the store. Admission is free.

— Jen Zoratti

Solargraphy: How to Capture the Sun

Tier Building, room 409, 173 Dafoe Rd, University of Manitoba
Saturday, 11 a.m. -1.30 p.m. Second session to follow in spring 2025
Registration: $75
Email brendaclairestuart@gmail.com by Friday to pre-register.

In this two-part hands-on workshop led by artist Brenda Stuart, participants will learn about solargraphy, a long-exposure photographic technique that captures the passage of the sun over a duration of time.

During the first session on Saturday, participants will explore various approaches of solargraphy’s uses, its history and how it works.

They will then create their own basic pinhole camera, load it with light-sensitive paper and receive instructions on how to set out the camera for optimal results.

Results will be revealed in the spring next year (date and location TBA) when participants will open their cameras to discover the sun trails captured. They will scan the photographic paper, digitally process it and share results as a group.

This workshop is suitable for adults and teenagers, and no previous experience is necessary. All materials provided. Pre-register by Friday.

— AV Kitching

Live at the King Cob

580 Ellice Ave
Saturday, 7:30 p.m.
Entry by donation

Not every idea that slides across Darryl Friesen’s bartop is worth writing down, but a few weeks ago, the owner of King Cob Market Pub got an offer he couldn’t refuse.

After a concert at the West End Cultural Centre had wound down, Gabi Ocejo took a look around the neighbourhood’s newest pub and asked Friesen whether he’d hosted a concert. Not yet, Friesen said.

Soon afterward, the wheels started turning on King Cob’s plans to serve as an adjacent, unofficial younger sibling to the WECC next door.

On Saturday, the intimate new venue will host its first evening of live music, with a fresh new trio leading the charge: guitarists Ocejo and Kyle Cobb, and the multi-instrumentalist Sam Fournier.

Back on the prairies for a solo set in her home province is singer-songwriter Dana Lee, who in recent years has enjoyed a consistent spot on stage at the Royal in Nelson, B.C.

If you don’t have it in you to brave the snow Saturday, Friesen and co-owner Bernard McLeod support local music on a daily basis, playing Manitoban artists on a continuous loop with an in-house playlist. This week, the King Cob playlist included KC is Lazy, Tinge, Holy Void and Son of Dave, who will spin 45s at the pub on Friday.

— Ben Waldman

Ring Out: Christmas Cheer Board Charity Concert

Chapel Lawn, 4000 Portage Avenue
Sunday, 2 p.m.
Entry by donation or ‘a tin for the bin’

“The Grinch stole Christmas for Morna-June Morrow earlier this week,” wrote Jason Bell for the Winnipeg Free Press two decades ago. “And then gave it back.”

Bell was talking handbells, $10,000 worth of them, lifted from Morrow in late 2004. A few days later, an anonymous tip to the police ended the hunt. The ringing instruments had been left safe and sound in the Brookside Cemetery.

It’s possible the Grinch in question had, in the final act, caught the season’s spirit. Or maybe they realized they had no feasible use for four cases of melody chimes and 12 handbells. After all, only a select few can play these oddly exotic instruments with anything like Morrow’s acrobatic skill.

The legendary bell ringer — who also happens to be the first person to graduate from the University of Manitoba’s Bachelor of Music program in 1967— is joined Sunday by such a select few: her three bandmates in the Ring Out Handbell Quartet. They perform a holiday concert for the Christmas Cheer Board and hope to bring in a festive helping of food and cash donations.

Songs such as The Little Drummer Boy, Jingle Bells and Away in a Manger will resonate as clear as handbells in Chapel Lawn. Thumb damps, singing bells and charming tremolo effects — all are likely to be showcased in a concert for the whole family. May your hearts grow three times.

—Conrad Sweatman

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