What’s up: Dirty Catfish Brass Band, night market, Ballet in the Park, Angela’s Shadow, wildfire relief

NOLA Night with Dirty Catfish Brass Band

• Blue Note Park, 220 Main St.
• Tonight at 8:30 p.m.
• Tickets: $17 at highandlonesomeclub.ca

Laissez les bons temps rouler avec le Dirty Catfish Brass Band, an ensemble that’s been keeping Winnipeg dancing since its formation in 2011.

This outdoor show — open to fans younger than 18 so long as they’re with a parent or legal guardian — can serve as an introduction to the exciting world of New Orleans music, and might convince up-and-coming musicians to register for the brass band’s summer camp program next month at the Winnipeg Conservatory of Music.

From Aug. 18 to 22, students aged 13-19 with a minimum of one year’s playing experience, can hone their skills on brass (trumpet, trombone, mellophone, sousaphone and tuba), saxophones, clarinets and drums, with guidance from the Dirty Catfish members. Registration is $375 at dirtycatfishbrassband.com.

— Ben Waldman

 

 

Manitoba Night Market

• Assiniboia Downs, 3975 Portage Ave.
• Sunday, 3-11 p.m.
• Tickets $10 (kids 5 and under free)

Manitoba Night Market returns Sunday with fun for all ages kicking off at 3 p.m. and carrying on into twilight.

Over 140 vendors will be on hand peddling their wares, among them Hoovers’ Cards, Blush Stitch Studio, Farmstead on the Red, Jacked Up Jill Coffee, Flying Pig Patch bakery, All For Loaves and Little Resin Heaven.

There will be 20-plus food trucks on site serving up savoury and sweet treats, including Donut Forget Your Coffee, Tot Wheels, Wacky Waffles, Willy Dogs, The Churro Stop and Epic Street Grub. Wash down your street food with a cold one in the market’s beer gardens,

Manitoba Night Market will also feature live music stages as well as a kid zone full of all kinds of activities and games. For those looking for fresh ink, a tattoo pop-up will also be on site. Be sure to stick around after sunset to catch the fire show.

Tickets for the rain-or-shine event are $10 at Showpass; parking is an additional $5.

— Ben Sigurdson

 

 

Ballet in the Park

• Lyric Theatre at Assiniboine Park
• July 23 to 25, 7:30 p.m.
• Free; register at rwb.org

The Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s Ballet in the Park is to summer in Winnipeg what Nutcracker is to winter: a beloved annual tradition.

The annual al fresco performance is a once-a-season chance to watch the company and RWB School students perform for free, making it the perfect introduction to the art form.

The two-hour mixed-repetroire program also means audiences will see a wide cross-section of ballet, from classical to contemporary. Program highlights include a remounting of Cameron Fraser-Monroe’s groundbreaking T’əl: The Wild Man of the Woods, which made its world première at the Centennial Concert Hall in 2024.

This is the first edition of Ballet in the Park under new artistic director Christopher Stowell, who will host.

A suite of family-friendly activities are also on offer, including crafts and face painting, an interactive creative movement dance class led from the stage and food vendors.

Registering for your free ticket at the RWB website will allow you to receive updates about what’s happening before the show along with weather updates, since Ballet at the Park happens at the discretion of Mother Nature.

You’ll also be able to show your ticket at the information tent to receive a limited-edition button and be entered to win a full-season subscription.

And be sure to go early to grab your spot on the lawn; this event is a popular one.

— Jen Zoratti

 

 

Angela’s Shadow screening

• Dave Barber Cinematheque, 100 Arthur St.
• Saturday, 7 p.m.; Sunday, 5 p.m.
• Tickets $11.50 at davebarbercinematheque.com

Ghostly premonitions, family secrets and racism drive the narrative of Angela’s Shadow, an Indigenous thriller screening at Dave Barber Cinematheque.

Set in Canada in the 1930s, the film follows Angela and Henry, a pair of young socialites with a baby on the way.

Angela’s previously unknown Cree ancestry is revealed during a visit to her childhood nanny’s northern Ontario reserve. Supernatural encounters ensue and Henry’s racism leads to a psychosis-fuelled murder plot.

Angela’s Shadow is director Jules Koostachin’s second feature-length film.

“I wholeheartedly believe that Indigenous cinema is its own genre, a blend of comedy, sci-fi, drama, supernatural and thrillers. Our stories represent the strength of our diversity and our deep cultural connection to our communities,” Koostachin said in a media release.

The Cree filmmaker and member of Attawapiskat First Nation will be in attendance for a Q&A on Saturday.

— Eva Wasney

 

 

Manitoba Wildfires Fundraisers

• Online and various locations
• Ongoing

As most readers know, Manitoba is in the midst of record-breaking forest fires.

They’ve displaced more than 10,000 people. Lives have been lost, as have scores of homes as the fires have burned through over a million hectares so far.

“We need to get our people in hotels,” Garden Hill vice-chief Craig Munroe said last week; 4,000 people live in the remote First Nation, several hundred kilometers northeast of Winnipeg.

“It’s coming so close to our houses and it’s creeping into our community. I’m praying that it will not wrap around our whole community.”

Munroe is organizing a fundraiser, which can be found online on GoFundMe as “Garden Hill Anisininew Nation Fire Evacuation,” to help cover accommodations and essentials for displaced members of his community.

These are just some of the ways people can support victims of the 2025 Manitoba Wildfires.

The Canadian Red Cross and the Winnipeg Foundation also accept donations online, while the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, First Nations Family Advocate Office, Southern Chiefs’ Organization, Morgan’s Warriors accept non-perishable foods and other supplies at their sites.

Check their websites for more info.

— Conrad Sweatman