The coffee? It’ll have customers climbing the walls Exchange District café, bar, event space about to get things rocking, literally By: Gabrielle Piché Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Friday, Apr. 28, 2023

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This article was published 28/04/2023 (886 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s not the Andes, it’s the Exchange District — and yet, climbing is still an option.

Dylan Pereira poured a drink at the bar below his new café and future rock climbing wall.

“The bar aspect… was not necessarily part of the plan,” Pereira said, surrounded by bottles of gin, rum and tequila.

The space in question had been empty — of drinks, of people — for more than a year. Pereira wondered about the building, which formerly housed Forth Café and Forth Bar, as he’d pass 171 McDermot Ave.

Both closed in 2021, but Pereira didn’t see a “for lease” sign anywhere.

“I kept thinking, ‘This would be a great place to have a gym,’” he said.

Gyms are his thing — he owns Vertical Adventures, one of the few commercial rock climbing facilities in Winnipeg.

A message on Instagram led Pereira down a path to the McDermot Avenue site’s owners. Now, he’s got a sign on the street announcing “Climbing coming soon!” at VA Cafe and another informing the public Darling Bar is open ’til late.

He bought Vertical Adventures during the pandemic after managing the north Winnipeg facility for its previous owner.

“Moving forward with the brand and with climbing and everything, we wanted to make it accessible to people all around Winnipeg,” said the 29-year-old entrepreneur.

It meant scouting out a smaller, central location rather than a sprawling, near-6,000-square-foot building again.

“Climbing and coffee… works together,” Pereira said. “It just made sense to have our community and the community that was already here (in the Exchange)… in one space where people can feel welcome.”

Signs from the former Forth Café were still on the door last week. However, the board outside clearly stated VA Cafe was open for business.

Chef Chris Boyko oversees the kitchen, preparing pastries for the café and baked brie for the bar below. The café looks similar to when Forth called it home.

One major difference: shelves blockade a 1,000-square-foot section of the floor beyond the coffee bar. It’s reserved for a planned climbing wall.

“If we can convert people to rock climbers, that’s great, but if you just want a coffee or cocktail… that’s good, too,” said Boyko, who met Pereira through climbing.

There isn’t a set date to open the wall, which will be used for bouldering (climbing without a harness). The café’s ceiling is 3.6 metres (12 feet) high.

Pereira said architectural designs of the wall are currently being drawn. The architects are taking care of building permits and other legalities, he added.

“(The café) almost like dinner and a show,” said Mario Ferreira, president of the Climbing Association of Manitoba.

Customers will be able to sip coffee and watch climbers take on the wall, which will be surrounded by mats and have staff giving climbers safety tips.

“(This is an) opportunity to expose climbing to more people,” Ferreira said. “If you think about the size of community that drinks coffee, it’s much larger than the climbing community.”

Even so, the latter group is growing, he said. Rock climbing debuted in the 2020 Olympics.

“We need more gyms in the city,” he added.

Winnipeg’s major rock-climbing sites are found within industrial areas — largely due to city permit requirements — and aren’t easily reachable by bus or bike, Ferreira said.

“We’re just trying to make climbing more accessible to people, and I think Vertical Adventures is doing a great job at doing that, especially with the location they’ve chosen,” he said, adding coffee draws newbies in.

Coffee, and alcohol, are ingrained in many rock-climbers’ lives, he said.

“We go… climbing outdoors on rock. We wake up, we have coffee (and) make it over a fire,” he said. “At the end of the night, we have a beer to celebrate our climb — sore hands, sore muscles — and do it all over again the next day.”

It’s one reason Darling Bar made sense, he said. Another is his brother Gabriel, who died a few years ago.

“That’s him and I,” Pereira said, pointing at two photos tacked behind the bar. “I don’t even remember how many years ago this was.”

Gabriel dreamed of owning a bar, his brother said. The downstairs business is a tribute — the name Darling Bar is meant to evoke memories of a loved one.

“If he was here right now, today, he’d be sitting here at the bar. He’d be behind the bar with us,” Pereira said.

Pereira left the bar, walking past tables to a corner bookshelf. Then, he pulled a novel out and opened a secret door, revealing an art gallery-turned-event centre.

He built the hidden entryway with his dad.

Brenden Gali is responsible for booking events in the new space. There has already been live music in the former gallery, but the options — including pop-up shows, climbing tutorials, yoga sessions on the rooftop patio — are unlimited, he said.

“(The) sky is really the limit,” said Gali, 29. “(I’m) hoping that having us here… can encourage folks from outside Winnipeg’s centre to come back downtown and enjoy the experience.”

Options for eating and drinking in the city’s core have dwindled, especially during the pandemic, Gali noted. He envisions a “cultural shift,” with a thriving business and arts scene downtown.

Darling Bar opened over April long weekend. Events are posted on its Instagram page, darlingbarwpg; its website is currently being designed.

Vertical Adventures at 77 Paramount Rd. will continue to operate as usual.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com