What’s up: Craft sale, grocery dance party, winter wine, paddling films and more

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/11/2025 (323 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Crafted: Show + Sale

• Winnipeg Art Gallery-Qaumajuq, 300 Memorial Blvd.
• Friday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
• Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Admission $10

Support artists while being surrounded by art at this immersive take on the traditional seasonal market.

Now in its 11th year, Crafted features over 100 artists from more than 30 communities across Manitoba, Nunavut, Northwest Territories, Nunatsiavut and Nunavik whose works include textiles, glass, wood, metal and clay.

On Friday at 2 p.m., the gallery will host a screening of the hit CBC comedy North of North, followed by a Q&A and a meet-and-greet with series actors Zorga Qaunaq and Jennifer Kilabuk. Several designers tabling at Crafted have had pieces featured on the show.

Admission to the show and sale includes access to the exhibition galleries, including the locally focused permanent-collection show Staycation: The Art of Being Here, which opened last week, and Celebrating Aganetha Dyck, which showcases the work of the late Manitoba artist famous for her work with honeybees.

Indigenous peoples and youth under 12 are free.

— Jen Zoratti

---

Late Night Madness

• Seafood City, 2311 McPhillips St.
• Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m. to midnight
• Free

Who needs dimly lit nightclubs and hedonistic raves when there’s supermarket aisle dancing to be had?

The Winnipeg branch of North American supermarket chain Seafood City is hosting its first ever late-night grocery-shopping dance party this weekend, featuring four local DJs across two nights.

Allan Pineda, the co-founder of Kultivation Festival, reached out to the Garden City supermarket after hearing about similar parties in the U.S.

“I thought we should do it here. We just started posting about the event on our socials on Monday and have already had a good response. I don’t know if people are going to come to a dance party in a supermarket, but I hope they do. It’s either going to be just OK or it’s going to be madness,” Pineda says.

The family-friendly event will feature a street food market, promotional giveaways and a photo booth, as well as competition to win a free bag of rice.

Customers are welcome to continue to shop as they bop. Just don’t forget to pack your list, reusable bags and, yes, fancy dancing shoes.

The Friday-night grocery run will never feel the same again.

For more information visit Kultivation Festival’s Instagram @kultivationfestival.

— AV Kitching

---

Fall Into Winter Wine Festival

• Piazza De Nardi, 1360 Taylor Ave.
• Saturday, 7 p.m.-midnight
• Tickets $75 available online

After the success of the Spring Into Summer event in May, on Saturday De Nardi Wines will celebrate the return of cooler temps with an evening of wine stations, music and cocktails.

The Fall Into Winter Wine Festival will feature more than 40 wines being poured at five wine stations throughout the second-floor events space from 7 to 10 p.m., with snacks and charcuterie available for purchase and music courtesy of DJ Yeaboi.

After the stations shut down at 10 p.m., there will be beer, cocktails and wine by the glass available for purchase until midnight.

Tickets are $75 and include a $25 voucher redeemable in the wine store Saturday night only, so you can take your new favourite white, red, sparkling or rosé home with you.

— Ben Sigurdson

---

Waterwalker Film Festival

• Centre culturel franco-manitobain, 340 Provencher Blvd.
• Friday, 7-9:30 p.m.
• Admission $25

Many of us know of Canada’s big mountain film festivals in Banff and Vancouver, but did you know Canada has a paddling film festival right here in Winnipeg?

It sounds pretty niche, but it draws on a rich culture. The festival is a tribute to the late Bill Mason, the Canadian naturalist, author and filmmaker known primarily for his work on canoeing.

Born in Winnipeg, he became a “wilderness artist,” noted for refining canoeing and river-running techniques and adventures in films such as Waterwalker.

That film, which is this festival’s namesake, documented his journey on Lake Superior when he was already almost 60, two years before he died of cancer.

The festival — which raises funds for Paddle Canada’s Bill Mason Scholarship, which supports educating tomorrow’s environmental stewards — features an evening of scenic, dramatic films.

Paddling upstream on the Zambei Rivers’ fabled rapids, climate scientists kayaking in the north, the art of wood canvas canoe building: these are some of themes of this year’s film selections, which include The Smoke That Thunders, Something in the Water and The Shape of Cedar.

— Conrad Sweatman

---

Big Sociable

• Park Theatre, 698 Osborne St.
• Saturday, 7 p.m.
• Tickets $22 available online

You (probably) won’t find salami shoulders or cheese cubes at the Park Theatre this weekend, but you will find a cast of local musicians throwing a double-header anniversary party.

Saturday marks the 10th edition of the Big Sociable, an annual concert hosted by Winnipeg Celtic rock band the Dust Rhinos — made up of Blair McEvoy, Dan Cannon, Darren Wittmann, Ryan Spraklin and Ivanka Watkin. It also happens to be the 20th anniversary of the Park Theatre.

The event is styled like an East Coast kitchen party, with the Dust Rhinos sharing the stage and passing the mic to several musical friends. This year’s special guests include Greg Rekus, the Spectacles and Cara Luft.

Attendees can expect a mix of originals, covers and, potentially, show tunes. Anything goes at the Big Sociable.

— Eva Wasney

---

The Pink Panther Strikes Again

• Université de St. Boniface, Martial-Caron Auditorium
• Friday, 7:35 p.m., Saturday, 2:35 and 7:35 p.m.; Sunday, 2:35 p.m.
• Tickets: $25 available online

Director Connor Hopper swears the Winnipeg Mennonite Theatre didn’t co-ordinate last week’s Louvre heist as an elaborate marketing scheme for its upcoming run of The Pink Panther Strikes Again.

In fact, this stage adaptation of the 1976 Peter Sellers vehicle doesn’t find Clouseau (played by Tim Webster) searching for any pilfered jewels. Instead, the bumbling inspector is hot on the trail of his maniacal former boss, Dreyfus (Kevin Birkholz — excellent as the senator in Crosswalk Production’s fringe staging of The Bird Cage) after his escape from an insane asylum.

“As a community theatre we always want to try and find plays that can get as many interested people involved as possible,” says Hopper.

That was definitely the case with Pink Panther, which boasts a cast and crew exceeding 50, with 42 roles split among 27 performers.

While this play, written by William Gleason, is the company’s annual tentpole production, the Mennonite theatre has more planned for the season: the company is enlisted to participate in the inaugural Little Theatre Festival in February at the Irish Association of Manitoba’s Erin Street theatre, hosted by An Seanchai Theatre Co.

Each weekend will feature one-act plays from companies including R-G Players, Dark Horse Theatre, Theatre & Play, the Cactus Theatre Co., and the Irish Association’s Tara Players. The Mennonite Theatre — following the slapstick lead of Pink Panther — will mount For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls, a Tennesee Williams parody.

— 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.