What’s up: Moses Mayes, Summer Game Day, Window Radio, Paranormal Cirque, and more

Free Press staff recommend things to do this week

Advertisement

Advertise with us

Moses Mayes and the Funk Family Orchestra Blue Note Park, 220 Main St. Sunday, 3 p.m. Tickets $23 at Eventbrite After reuniting for a pair of sold-out shows at the Park Theatre in May, Moses Mayes and the Funk Family Orchestra are back with their high-energy blend of funk, house, jazz and hip hop for a show for the whole family.

Read this article for free:


or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Subscribe and receive a limited-edition Free Press branded hat or tote.

Digital Subscription

One year of digital access for only $205*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles
Start now

*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/07/2025 (441 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Moses Mayes and the Funk Family Orchestra

  • Blue Note Park, 220 Main St.
  • Sunday, 3 p.m.
  • Tickets $23 at Eventbrite

After reuniting for a pair of sold-out shows at the Park Theatre in May, Moses Mayes and the Funk Family Orchestra are back with their high-energy blend of funk, house, jazz and hip hop for a show for the whole family.

BORIS MINKEVICH / Free Press files
                                Moses Mayes is back in action Sunday at Blue Note Park.

BORIS MINKEVICH / Free Press files

Moses Mayes is back in action Sunday at Blue Note Park.

The long-running septet (plus guests) packed the Park for their first Winnipeg shows since 2012. They bring the funk outdoors Sunday afternoon at Blue Note Park, calling the show (via social media) “a tune-up before we hit the summer festival circuit.” That circuit includes British Columbia dates in Golden, Salmon Arm and Kaslo.

While the Blue Note Park show is all ages, guests under 18 years of age must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian. Tickets are $23 at wfp.to/iTf.

Ben Sigurdson


Summer Game Day

  • Assiniboine Park, Lyric Field
  • Saturday, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
  • Free

If you’ve ever wanted to try your hand at baseball, wondered what it feel like to wrestle or been inspired by the gymnastic prowess of cheer squads, get yourself to Assiniboine Park for Sport Manitoba’s summer game day event, where bats, balls and pom-poms await.

With more than 20 different sport stations on offer, from baton twirling and boxing to table tennis, water polo and judo, there’s sure to be something to ignite your interest.

Supplied
                                Summer Game Day at Assiniboine Park allows people to try their hands at numerous sports and games.

Supplied

Summer Game Day at Assiniboine Park allows people to try their hands at numerous sports and games.

There are no registration requirements — all you need to do is stop by for a try.

And don’t worry if you’ve never tried playing before; everyone is encouraged to join in the fun. Just make sure to bring a pair of athletic shoes, a water bottle and a good attitude. Organizers also recommend wearing comfortable clothing and lots of sunscreen.

— AV Kitching


Window Radio #12

  • Winnipeg Art Gallery rooftop, 300 Memorial Blved.
  • Thursday, 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. after party
  • Admission $20

Supplied
                                Dray Unger performs at the WAG tonight at the after-party.

Supplied

Dray Unger performs at the WAG tonight at the after-party.

Window Radio, the brainchild of local DJ and musician Hayden Mekai, has emerged over the last year or so as Winnipeg’s closest thing to Boiler Room — a monthly-ish night of house, dancehall and EDM exploring underground sounds you won’t hear at a Canad Inns nightclub.

Window Radio #12 unfolds on the WAG’s rooftop — trading in the event’s usual gritty, secretive venues for the elegant sculpture garden overlooking downtown.

Featured DJs include Rey Abstract, Sie Sie, Ma Bwe, Hayden Mekai while Dray, Sara St. Cyr and the Kaptain play the after-party.

If you really want to make a night of it, head for the Beer Can beside the Granite Club first, amble down the street to the WAG, then stumble over to Window Radio’s afterparty at Public Domain on Portage Avenue. Then don’t drive home.

Conrad Sweatman


Paranormal Cirque IV

  • St. Vital Centre, 1225 St Mary’s Rd.
  • Starts Friday, runs to July 14, various showtimes
  • Tickets $35-$80 available online
  • It’s Halloween in July.

Joshua Davis photo
                                Paranormal Cirque contortionist Nikki Hernandez is back with her troupe.

Joshua Davis photo

Paranormal Cirque contortionist Nikki Hernandez is back with her troupe.

Paranormal Cirque returns to Winnipeg this week, setting up its freaky bigtop in St. Vital Centre’s parking lot. Presented by Cirque Italia, the show made its Canadian debut last summer and offers a mix of theatre, circus arts and cabaret — all with a horror twist. As if the death-defying feats of the acrobats weren’t scary enough.

Paranormal Cirque is aimed at a mature audience, so note that this is a 13+ show. Guests between the ages of 13 and 17 must be accompanied by an adult 21 or over.

Jen Zoratti


Prairie, Our Friend, Oscar

  • The Handsome Daughter, 61 Sherbrook St.
  • Friday, 9 p.m.
  • Admission $20

After joining forces as opening acts last November at the latest album release for Isiah Schellenberg’s recording project Meadows, up-and-coming indie stalwarts Prairie and Our Friend, Oscar share top billing this time around at the Handsome Daughter.

From both acts, listeners can expect a steady stream of shoegaze and cathartic slowcore. Featuring members of Guilty Sleep, Leon’s Getting Larger and Sweeping, Our Friend, Oscar — dubbed “somewhat of a Winnipeg emo supergroup” by The Uniter’s Mack Martens — will play a Saturday afternoon set at the final edition of Real Love Summer Fest later this month in Teulon.

Also on the bill is Elio Ugrin, a local singer-songwriter who’s been plying his acoustic stylings throughout the year with Friday-night sets at the Daily Grind coffee shop on Portage Avenue.

Ben Waldman

If you value coverage of Manitoba’s arts scene, help us do more.
Your contribution of $10, $25 or more will allow the Free Press to deepen our reporting on theatre, dance, music and galleries while also ensuring the broadest possible audience can access our arts journalism.
BECOME AN ARTS JOURNALISM SUPPORTER Click here to learn more about the project.

History

Updated on Thursday, July 3, 2025 8:31 AM CDT: Formats text, rearranges images, adds link

Updated on Thursday, July 3, 2025 12:34 PM CDT: Updates DJ lineup and start time for Window Radio #12

Report Error Submit a Tip

More Stories

A community brought the Trident Press home

Stephen Borys 6 minute read Preview

A community brought the Trident Press home

Stephen Borys 6 minute read 2:00 AM CDT

A truck pulled up outside Oseredok a few weeks ago carrying more than an exhibition.

Inside were the panels of Ukrainian Voice: A Legacy Mosaic, a monumental artwork built from the printing blocks once used to reproduce the photographs and illustrations in one of Canada’s longest-running Ukrainian newspapers.

A dozen people gathered to unload it. Some were longtime members of Winnipeg’s Ukrainian community; others were newcomers who had arrived since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Together, they lifted, unpacked and carried the panels through Oseredok’s doors.

It was an ordinary act of volunteer labour, but also a fitting final stage in an extraordinary journey. More than a century ago, Ukrainian newcomers created the newspaper whose printing blocks form the mosaic. Now another generation of newcomers was helping bring that history home.

Read
2:00 AM CDT

Sean Burns and company head to Sidestage to celebrate album

Sheldon Birnie 6 minute read Preview

Sean Burns and company head to Sidestage to celebrate album

Sheldon Birnie 6 minute read 2:00 AM CDT

Like so many country musicians before him, local troubadour Sean Burns just can’t wait to get on the road again, playing to listeners far and wide.

But for now, hot off 10 dates out west, Burns and his band Lost Country will celebrate the official release of the group’s latest record, Better Off in Time & Other Songs for the Dance Floor, with a gig at Sidestage Friday.

“I like to work with the band as much as I can,” Burns says. “There aren’t many bands that play the kind of country music we play. It’s the most rewarding gig.”

Burns, who sings and plays upright bass, tic-tac and acoustic guitars on the new record, laid down the tracks last October at Winnipeg’s No Fun Club, mostly live off the floor with Lost Country.

Read
2:00 AM CDT

Rain causing poor harvest conditions for farmers

Connor McDowell 5 minute read Preview

Rain causing poor harvest conditions for farmers

Connor McDowell 5 minute read 2:00 AM CDT

BRANDON — Farmers are dealing with poor harvest conditions owing to the high amount of rain this month.

Brandon had received 74.7 millimetres of rain by Sept. 15, a spokesperson for Environment and Climate Change Canada said Wednesday. The amount is equal to 173 per cent of average rainfall for Brandon.

The wet conditions are causing crop loss and delays in harvesting, several Westman farmers said this week.

“At this point, it (could be) six figures of loss. And that all happens in days,” Cassandra Lepp, a Rivers-area wheat and canola farmer, said. “We have good crops out there, and they are disappearing.”

Read
2:00 AM CDT

Storied photojournalist inducted into Media Roll of Honour

Taylor Allen 5 minute read Preview

Storied photojournalist inducted into Media Roll of Honour

Taylor Allen 5 minute read Tuesday, Sep. 15, 2026

If you’re a longtime hockey fan from around these parts, chances are you’ve seen the photo.

It’s an iconic snapshot of Ulf Nilsson and Anders Hedberg carrying the Avco Cup together on the ice after helping the Winnipeg Jets win the World Hockey Association’s top prize in 1978.

The person behind the camera was the late, great Jon Thordarson, who was inducted into the Manitoba Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association’s Media Roll of Honour on Tuesday inside the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame.

And while they say every picture tells a story, there’s also a darn good story about what happened after Thordarson hit the shutter button.

Read
Tuesday, Sep. 15, 2026

Gas turbine peaker plants are a mistake

Don Scott 7 minute read 2:00 AM CDT

Technology respecting electricity generation, storage and grid management is rapidly advancing and displacing gas-fired peaker plants. New battery storage systems are more efficient and less costly, smooth grid flow and are non-polluting. Texas, California and Australia are replacing gas turbine peaker plants with more effective storage batteries.

Solar and wind energy generation combined with battery storage at both the grid and home/business level is the most efficient way to meet peak demand. Building expensive, outdated, polluting American gas turbines, as Manitoba Hydro is proposing, is not in Manitoba’s interest.

Premier Wab Kinew noted that a final decision to build a new turbine power plant in Brandon has not been made. I hope he’s correct, for if Manitoba Hydro already made the decision and entered binding financial obligations with GE Vernova, the PUB’s role was superfluous.

In 2025/26 Nova Scotia Power installed 3 x 50 MW Lithium-ion grid batteries with the storage capacity of over 600 MWh. Installed by Kitchener/Waterloo based Canadian Solar’s subsidiary e-Storage who have operations around the world, they accomplished this in less than two years from the approval date in June 2024. Two were operational within 18 months, the third in 24. The cost was $237 million. At Nova Scotia’s cost per MW, a 750 MW battery peaker facility would cost Hydro $1.185 billion, just 40 per cent of the proposed $3 billion gas peaker plant.

Arkells, Air Supply, JD Fortune, Streetheart announce local shows

3 minute read Preview

Arkells, Air Supply, JD Fortune, Streetheart announce local shows

3 minute read 2:00 AM CDT

Hamilton’s Arkells are bringing their Between Us City Takeover tour to Winnipeg Nov. 10-12, playing three shows at three different venues.

The unique tour sees the Juno-winning rock band, known for his including Leather Jacket and Knocking at the Door, playing extended stands in cities across Canada in intimate clubs and theatres instead of arenas.

In Winnipeg, Arkells play South Osborne venues Sidestage (Nov. 10) and the Park Theatre (Nov. 11), and the downtown Burton Cummings Theatre (Nov. 12).

Tickets (prices TBA) go on sale Friday at 10 a.m., with fan pre-sales on now. Fans can sign up for pre-sale access at arkellsmusic.com.

Read
2:00 AM CDT