Joy to January

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/01/2019 (2760 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There’s lots to complain about in January.

It’s dark. It’s cold. It’s all bills and broken resolutions. The air stings your eyeballs.

But we’re Winnipeggers. We’re made of tougher stuff. To survive a Winnipeg winter, one must accept the fact this is a winter city. To enjoy a Winnipeg winter, however, one must embrace the fact this is a winter city.

The Free Press offers five winter-city ways to make the most of January. Or at least get through it.

 

The Forks

The most popular photos on The Forks’ Instagram feed are wintertime shots, which isn’t surprising considering that, over the past several years, the confluence between the Assiniboine and Red rivers has become one of the city’s hottest spots during the coldest part of the year.

There’s no shortage of outdoorsy stuff to do at Arctic Glacier Winter Park, from dance parties on the ice rink under the canopy to spirited games of Crokicurl — a curling and crokinole hybrid played on ice — to romantic strolls under the lighted canopy.

The first section of the Red River Mutual Trail is open for skating, with the winning designs from the 10th annual international Warming Huts: An Arts + Architecture Competition on Ice expected to arrive on the trail during the third week of January. And, of course, the Common is a great place to meet for post-skate/run/toboggan bevvies.

 

 

RAW: almond

RAW: almond, the brainchild of chef Mandel Hitzer of deer + almond and architect Joe Kalturnyk, is one of those “only in Manitoba” events.

Every January since 2013, an outdoor pop-up restaurant — itself a design marvel — is built on the frozen river near The Forks, attracting high-profile guest chefs from all over the world, eager to create inspired multi-course meals for adventurous diners who relish the opportunity to enjoy their foie gras in their parkas.

Indeed, it’s a fine-dining experience quite unlike any other, which is why the event sells out every year — including this year. RAW: almond 2019 runs from Thursday Jan. 24 to Sunday, Feb. 17. And hey, even if you didn’t snag a ticket to the nightly seatings or the weekend brunches, the second-hand civic pride RAW: almond generates is available to everyone.

 

FortWhyte Alive

Of course, The Forks isn’t the only winter wonderland in which one reconnect with the great, frosty outdoors. There are a ton of things to do at FortWhyte Alive, our own wilderness escape right here in the city.

Open-fire brewing, Saturday snowshoeing, ice fishing, and ‘hygge’ yoga — inspired by the cosy Scandinavian lifestyle trend — are among the offerings during the month of January. On Sunday, Jan. 20, bundle up for Winterfest, a free, family-friendly event with skiing, skating, tobogganing, voyageur games and bannock roasting.

For those who prefer a less structured approach to outside time, there are more than seven kilometres of trails for hiking.

 

Big Fun

When you think music festival season, you think summer — but a surprising number of music festivals (i.e. more than zero) also happen in January.

Heading into it’s ninth season, the Big Fun Music Festival has cemented its reputation as a tastemaker, showcasing a mix of emerging and established acts from Winnipeg and beyond. Two 2018 Polaris Music Prize shortlisters — Partner, of Sackville, N.B., and B.C.’s Snotty Nose Rez Kids — are on this year’s lineup, along with a ton of local acts, including Leaf Rapids, Yes We Mystic, Mulligrub and more.

The festival runs from Wednesday, Jan. 23 to Sunday, Jan. 27 at various venues around the city; individual tickets and full festival passes are available at bigfunfestival.com.

 

Winnipeg New Music Festival

The Winnipeg New Music Festival, presented by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, can be counted on to bring world-renowned, boundary-pushing artists to the city, and the lineup for the 2019 edition, which runs from Saturday, Jan. 26 to Friday, Feb. 1, is no exception.

Grammy-winning vocal octet Roomful of Teeth (making its Winnipeg debut), Washington, D.C.’s progressive instrumental metal titans Animals as Leaders, and a pair of buzzy Montreal ensembles — classical string band collectif9 and percussion quartet Architek — are among those performing concerts at the Centennial Concert Hall.

Former WSO music director Bramwell Tovey and the WSO’s new music director, Daniel Raiskin, will both take the conductor’s podium for concerts; Tovey will lead a program titled Legacy on Saturday, Jan. 26 and Raiskin will lead a program titled New Visions on Wednesday, Jan. 30.

Other events will be held outside of the Centennial Concert Hall as part of the festival — quite literally, outside. On Jan. 25 at 7:30 p.m., Norweigan artist Terje Isungset will perform a concert on ice instruments freshly carved from Red River ice. This performance will be held at Pavilion Sub-Zero, a custom outdoor ice amphitheatre on the frozen Assiniboine River at the Forks, created as part of Warming Huts: An Arts + Architecture Competition on Ice.

Tickets to this show are $25 and are only available to WNMF pass holders. Tickets are available at wnmf.ca.

 

jen.zoratti@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @JenZoratti