New Pride collective to unite groups across province

Pride season kicked off in Winnipeg this week with a slate of community events, a flag raising at city hall and a funding announcement that supporters hope will help create a more cohesive platform for LGBTTQ+ advocacy across the province.

“There needs to be a stronger voice,” Pride Winnipeg president Barry Karlenzig says of the $250,000 provincial grant received by the organization to spearhead a new Manitoba Pride Collective. “We have the most Prides per capita than any other province in Canada — that’s something to be proud about.”

The collective will provide core funding and operational resources for the 20 Pride organizations that operate throughout Manitoba. It will also offer the groups a chance to address shared issues as a united front.

“When something like this happens, there’s a collective of twenty Prides that can come together and make a statement and show support and solidarity,” Karlenzig says, referring to a recently rejected call to ban books with LGBTTQ+ themes in Brandon schools.

Made-in-Manitoba series examines painful history of flawed government program

Little Bird is no small feat.

Not only because it took seven years to get from concept to release, or because filming for the six-part television series was plagued by floods, ice storms, insect infestations and pandemic delays.

Little Bird is a groundbreaking accomplishment for the story it tells.

The made-in-Manitoba miniseries — which debuts on Crave and APTN Lumi today — stars Winnipeg’s Darla Contois as Bezhig Little Bird, a young Indigenous woman searching for her birth parents after being adopted into a Jewish family in Montreal as a child during the ’60s Scoop.

Makeup artist to represent Canada in world’s largest transgender beauty pageant

Glitz and glam comes naturally to Adrian Reyes.

“I’ve always been into pageantry,” she says. “I think that’s like the (LGBTTQ+) community’s version of watching sports.”

Next month, the 28-year-old Winnipeg makeup artist is packing up her most glamorous gowns and heading to Thailand to compete in Miss International Queen, the world’s largest beauty pageant for transgender women.

It’s a stage Reyes has been preparing for since she was a teenager.

Foraging ingredients, dreams and family legacy

In elementary school, Jay Lekopoy made himself a promise: by the time he turned 30, he would be running his own restaurant.

With the opening of Promenade Brasserie in St. Boniface last month, the 32-year-old fulfilled that long-held goal — albeit a couple years later than anticipated and with some unexpected challenges along the way.

Lekopoy grew up in Stonewall and got his first job flipping burgers at the Kiln Drive-In before moving into banquet service at Bel Acres Golf and Country Club, “which was, you know, almost 10 minutes away from home,” he says with a laugh.

The latter gave him an education in finer dining and paved the way for an apprenticeship at The Gates on Roblin through Red River College Polytechnic’s culinary program.

Surprisingly little drama and unexpected upsides when flying pets to their new forever homes

Looking for instant popularity? Craving adoration from strangers? Try walking through an airport with a puppy in tow.

Fellow travellers will pause their journeys to marvel, children will be mesmerized and security personnel will wave you through the metal detector while joking that said puppy definitely needs to be confiscated.

If you’re lucky, on-shift restaurant servers will sit down at your table to trade stories about their own pets and wager guesses on pedigree — “She’s gotta be part Labrador; she looks just like my so-and-so.”

I was indeed so lucky on a recent trip to Toronto.

Boy wonder in the kitchen

Jack Taylor has spent half his life in the kitchen.

The 10-year-old estimates he was five when first got interested in the family pastime. His parents, Meghan and Matthew, are avid cooks who were keen to get their son involved in making meals.

“My mom and dad always used to make cookies for me and I wanted to do it all by myself,” Jack says. “That appealed to me.”

It started with chocolate chip cookies and soon progressed to scrambling his own eggs for breakfast, making tuna sandwiches for lunch and chopping veggies for snacks.

Winnipeg hosted final concert for Canadian musical giant

A Winnipeg concert venue will go down in Canadian music history as the site of the final live performance of Canadian balladeer Gordon Lightfoot.

The iconic singer-songwriter had recently cancelled a series of planned tour dates due to ongoing health issues, making his October 2022 concert at Club Regent Event Centre his last ever appearance in front of an audience.

“Wow,” local music teacher Robert Hrabluk said upon hearing the concert he attended was Lightfoot’s swan song. “He was a Canadian legend and it’s so fitting that his last show would be in the heart… of the country.”

Hrabluk bought tickets for the Club Regent show in 2019 and was glad to finally see Lightfoot onstage after pandemic-related postponements. He described the evening’s atmosphere as calm and filled with reverence, despite some shortcomings with the aging musician’s vocal performance.

Laughs galore as performers from all backgrounds hit city stages

It’s possible there’s never been a better time to be funny in Winnipeg.

New comedy nights and venues keep popping up in settings old and new, with open-mic nights and showcases featuring comics in all genres and of all ages and backgrounds.

Free Press arts and life writers talked to a cross-section of those involved in our city’s diverse comedy scene — from old-school orators to fresh-faced folks plying their jokes in both English and French, from the city’s Indigenous comedians to those playing host to this cavalcade of comics — to find out just what is tickling the city’s proverbial funny bone.

Adding to the abundance of local laughs is the return of the Winnipeg Comedy Festival, which starts Tuesday and runs through May 7. It seems Winnipeggers truly will, for once, get the last laugh.

Friskee Pearl offers ‘fresh-caught seafood served in the middle of the Prairies’

As is maritime tradition, the Friskee Pearl Bar & Eatery was christened with bubbles last week in front of a raucous crowd.

The soft launch of the new Main Street restaurant was marked with prosecco, not Champagne and, sans ship’s bow, the bottle was sabred with a cleaver from the lounge stage. The approximated ceremony was as good a metaphor as any for a business aiming to bring East Coast culture to the landlocked centre of the country. Without the Atlantic Ocean at your doorstep, concessions are mandatory.

The atmosphere of a kitchen party, however, is easy to replicate.

“I don’t even care if anyone’s listening,” owner Chris Graves hollered into a microphone, while wearing a shirt as loud as the partygoers downing complimentary drinks around him. “I don’t want you to be quiet because that’s not what this is. It’s supposed to be loud, it’s supposed to be fun and you’re supposed to have a great time.”

New South Osborne bakery & pizza shop has rapidly gained a loyal following

Every day is a “camp day” at Friend Bakery &Pizza.

Easter treat is a manual labour of love

Glumz is not for the faint of heart. Intrepid cooks can expect hand cramps, blisters and a sweaty brow while making the sweet cheese spread — plus a healthy dose of ribbing if you’re a member of the Kirk family. Cooking together and heckling one another are equal acts of love within the small clan.

New fold for a family tradition

As an interior designer and entrepreneur in Hong Kong, Louie Lui used to make aesthetically pleasing spaces; now he makes emotionally pleasing food.

Ramadan a time to celebrate with good, nutritious food

For Nida Ghazanfar, Ramadan is as much about eating as it is about fasting.

Misfit Music founder named top entrepreneur

Elise Roller doesn’t mind being a squeaky wheel in the Canadian music scene — and she has a stack of strongly worded letters to prove it.

“People say you need to be diplomatic,” says the founder of Winnipeg’s Misfit Music Management. “But I think it’s more important to be transparent about what’s really going on and hold people accountable than it is to be diplomatic.”

Colcannon for St. Patrick's Day: Pile of spuds, heaps of tradition

St. Patrick’s Day is all about potatoes for Iain Graham.

Children’s matinée series welcomes Buzz, Woody and Andy to Celebrations’ A Birthday Toy’s Story

Hot dogs, chicken fingers and kid-friendly matinées are on the menu at Celebrations Dinner Theatre.

Kinder, gentler (funner) dance class

The dance class begins not with stretching or movements at the barre, but with a check-in.

Second generation of family affair has a cosy new spot at Buvette in the Village

There’s a “secret” menu board that settles into a new hiding spot every day. The fridges are organized by name — Fridgey McFridgeface on the left and Lord Fridgerton of Fridgerton Manor to the right — and the listed number connects to a recording of Tommy Tutone’s 1981 hit, 867-5309/Jenny.

Females have stage and leadership roles for the first time at Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre

For the first time in its 65-year history, women are playing a lead role in every executive position at the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre.

Cilantro’s eatery charms neighbours and challenges boundaries of modern Indian cuisine

It’s shortly after opening and the small dining room of Cilantro’s Modern Indian Cuisine is quickly filling up for the weekday lunch rush. It also happens to be Valentine’s Day.

Sugar pie is central to the Duguays’ honouring of family, Festival du Voyageur, Métis heritage… and sugar cravings

Paulette Duguay’s home is warm, welcoming and brimming with personality — the spatial embodiment of the host herself.

Michelin-star chef is thrilled to be in the kitchen at RAW:almond

RAW:almond is a homecoming within a homecoming for Gus Stieffenhofer-Brandson.

Secret love lives of chocolatiers

Roses are red and soon to be dead,

Owners behind world’s largest snow maze launch sub-zero fine dining experience

A business known for seasonal family fun is adding frosty fine dining — or, more accurately, “adventure dining” — to the menu.

Go beyond Hallmark moments to celebrate Valentine’s Day with flair

Ah, Valentine’s Day. A holiday full of expectations and manufactured romance.

Chef Mike de Groot brings ‘world class’ compassion to the Leaf’s craft kitchen and bar

What if? That question is the driving force behind Gather Craft Kitchen & Bar. It’s so central to the restaurant overlooking the lush greenery of The Leaf at Assiniboine Park that chef Mike de Groot keeps a whiteboard in the prep kitchen reserved for all the possible what-ifs.

Women Talking evokes rage, humour and hope with its powerful script, brilliant acting

Difficult, harrowing, poignant, enraging, sometimes funny, maybe even hopeful: Women Talking, Sarah Polley’s Oscar-nominated adaptation of Miriam Toews’ 2018 novel of the same name, stirs a variety of emotions.

Bowl of Korean tteokguk, a new year tradition, marks passage of time

The sound of an egg cracking brings Yena running into the living room. The three-year-old is eager to help and beating eggs is her specialty.

Bella, Charlie, Luna top lists of most popular names for cats and dogs in Winnipeg

Charlie is calm, smart and incredibly food motivated. He knows how to sit, shake a paw and play fetch. He’s great with kids and friendly with neighbours. By all accounts, Charlie is a pretty typical Labrador retriever.

Festival du Voyageur is back with more music, more sculptures and more Métis representation

Hé Ho! And full steam ahead. The mood inside Fort Gibraltar was positively giddy on Tuesday morning as Festival du Voyageur organizers unveiled the program for the first full-scale event in three years.

Comedy fans have been talking up a speakeasy-style club sneakily hidden in a hotel

The west end of Portage Avenue is peppered with hotels — basic, budget-conscious accommodations catering to travellers making their way along the Trans-Canada Highway. One such hotel, however, is hiding a not-so-basic secret.

CancerCare therapy program encourages participants to use art to explore feelings

Art has given Maggie Hodson a lot in the last five years.

Christmas playlist has highs and Lows

No one would dispute that Mariah Carey’s juggernaut All I Want For Christmas Is You is at the zenith of holiday jams, but there are many other seasonal songs worthy of a place in heavy rotation.

Day 1: Fruitcake recipe fit for a queen

Have you heard the one about monkey soup? How about sailing through the Canary Islands? Or the time a family member swiped the recipe for Queen Victoria’s wedding cake from the castle kitchen?

Manoomin Restaurant an opportunity for chef to bring Indigenous traditions, ingredients to the table

From the moment she saw the job posting, Jennifer Ballantyne knew this was an opportunity to fulfil a long-held dream.

Hurry hard to Elmwood rink for Curl-O-Ramen

Curling and ramen, together at last.

Christine Fellows finds animated videos keep the creative process moving

‘What if they moved?” It was a simple idea posed by a creative collaborator that sent Christine Fellows into a years-long rabbit hole of photo clippings, minute movements and beginner videography.

Ex-Segovia chef, partner flex their creativity with small space, big ambience

Petit Socco is designed with a dinner party in mind. The hosts, owners Adam Donnelly and Courtney Molaro, are constantly within reach while cooking and mixing drinks in a small open concept kitchen. Guests — 10 at a time, situated in a cozy dining nook — are served a curated meal of chef favourites.

Anishinaabe artist Jordan Stranger focuses on telling Indigenous stories

Jordan Stranger’s art looms large — physically and ideologically — but it doesn’t start out that way.

NAfro celebrates 20 years of multicultural movement

Casimiro Nhussi was never interested in dance. Dance just was.

Sweet, sweet verdicts

Testers dig in to classic and new-school Halloween goodies to pass ultimate judgment: trick or treat?

Spooky tunes for boys and ghouls

Halloween dominates October like Christmas dominates November and December, but while the yuletide soundtrack is vast and never-ending, with songs in every genre imaginable, All Hallow’s Eve is sorely lacking in musical accompaniment.

Stepping beyond sound

Nicole Kepp has been teaching dance for more than 20 years. She has plenty of methods for correcting missteps and perfecting form and, as principal of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School’s recreational division, she’s coached students of all ages and skill levels.

Contestants on The Great Canadian Baking Show more supportive than competitive

What happens when Winnipeggers meet abroad? They become fast friends — even when meeting as competitors on a national baking show.

For Glassreel, even the pandemic couldn’t make music lose its Lustre

Some songs need substantial coaxing and some songs are formed effortlessly. For Winnipeg pop band Glassreel, Up for It — an upbeat, shimmering duet from its first full-length album, Lustre — fell into the latter category.

Andruly Alpala is having her cornmeal cake and eating it too

Product development, sales, marketing, financing, networking. Rarely does a new venture allow for more time spent with family.

Bonsai enthusiasts find balance between art and nature

NEAR STE. GENEVIEVE — Twice a day, Joe Grande hops on his bicycle and pedals down to the wooded alcove near the entrance of his long driveway. He could walk, but cycling is the best way to “beat the mosquitoes.”

New vegan food truck rolls with Le Burger Week’s focus on meat-free fare

What better time to launch a vegan food truck than during a national showcase of inventive plant-based burgers?

Awards show boosts profile of Indigenous hip-hop acts

It’s hard to network through a computer screen. This weekend, artists and entrepreneurs from around the world will finally be able to connect in person during the second annual International Indigenous Hip Hop Awards Show hosted in Winnipeg’s Exchange District.

Harvesting grape leaves for Kurdish dolma connects past, present

Dappled evening light filters through the branches above while Suzan Palani inspects an overgrown section of bush. The grape leaves she’s looking for are mingling haphazardly with other species of greenery. She wants to be certain before picking.

Hoagie Boyz brings Italian-style sandwiches to South Osborne

It all started with a curious vignette. Two chefs with a giant submarine sandwich hoisted atop their shoulders en route to, presumably, devour their cargo in some undisclosed location. They look hungry. One is sporting a wide grin and the other is licking his lips.

Free Press Folklorama Bingo card invites Winnipeggers to take in two-week cultural festival one square at a time

There are exactly 24 pavilions taking part in this year’s Folklorama, which kicks off Sunday and runs until Aug. 13.

Islendingadagurinn returns to Gimli this weekend

The spirit of Iceland returns to Gimli in full force this weekend.

From Brittany to West Broadway

Swap the steady flow of traffic on Sherbrook Street for the cool blue waters of the Bay of Biscay and La Crêperie Ker Breizh is a convincing replica of a seaside café in Brittany, France.

At Rainbow Community Garden, newcomers to Canada grow food and forge relationships

Black beans, hot peppers, tomatoes and cabbage. Like many other Winnipeg gardeners, Henriette Mukesa’s seedlings are off to a slow start thanks to a waterlogged spring. Still, there’s plenty to eat in the shoulder season.

“Before the beans, we eat this,” she says, pointing to the legume’s bright green leaves, which she’ll fry up at home and add to her dinner of fufu, a starchy dough, and vegetables or meat.

It’s the same story with the okra and zucchini sprouting in the shared bed of the Rainbow Community Garden at the University of Manitoba. In fact, Mukesa prefers the leaves of the zucchini plant to the squash itself.

She bends over to pinch off a shoot, demonstrating how to peel the spiky outer skin before softening the greens in water and salt — a method of preparation used in her birthplace, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and adapted to vegetables that flourish in the Canadian Prairies.

Your guide to getting the best out of the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival

Artists and audience members alike are getting back into the swing of live performances during the triumphant return of the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival this week.

With 113 shows and myriad Exchange District activities to navigate, the Free Press reached out to fringe volunteer co-ordinator Joseph Abetria for some tips on making the most of this year’s busy event.

Abetria is a costume designer by trade who has been organizing the fringe’s hundreds of volunteers for the last six years. His favourite part of the summer festival is the way it brings Winnipeg’s theatre scene together during the off-season.

“Working in the theatre industry, it’s just really lovely to see everyone together,” he says. “Especially in the summer, when all the big theatres are closed, except for Rainbow Stage and (Shakespeare in the Ruins).”

Music will sound as sweet, but folk fest fans should be ready for changes

It’s been a minute — more than 1.5 million minutes, actually — since throngs of people gathered in Birds Hill Park to celebrate music and community under a wide summer sky filled with dragonflies. The Winnipeg Folk Festival is back for the first time since 2019 and you’d be forgiven for feeling a little rusty.

While the core experience remains unchanged, there are a number of new initiatives and necessary adjustments that have happened amid the pandemic. Managing resources — of both the human and supply variety — has been top of mind for organizers.

“We’ve had to make some changes due to having a bit of a volunteer shortage,” folk fest executive producer Lynne Skromeda says. “We’re making it work and we’re doing the best we can.”

The festival has secured more than 2,000 volunteers, but is still shy of its usual targets. To keep essential services running smoothly, non-essential operations in the box office, parking lot, campground, audience-services tent and elsewhere have been pared down.

Fringe festival is back after two-year absence

Eclectic, experimental and oddball performance art returns to centre stage this summer during the first live Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival in two years.

On Tuesday, the organization announced its lineup for the 12-day festival, which begins July 13 and includes 113 different shows of every imaginable genre.

“It allows the creativity of the indie artists to shine,” executive producer Chuck McEwen says of the festival’s non-prescriptive format. “Fringers have to sort of take a chance with a lot of new work and artists they’ve never heard of and that’s what makes it unique in the performance world.”

This year’s pared-down roster — Fringe usually hosts upwards of 170 shows — is due to space constraints and artist availability. Several of the festival’s usual venues were undergoing construction and others, like the University of Winnipeg and Red River College, weren’t open to outside bookings owing to pandemic restrictions while the groundwork was being laid in January. While artists who were accepted into the 2020 festival have had their spot deferred until this year, travelling still presents a risk for out-of-town performers.

The taste of Manitoba walleye by way of the Philippines

WINNIPEG BEACH — The rod twitches lightly and Eric Labaupa jumps out of his seat. The telltale sign of a nibble. He pulls up to set the hook and starts reeling.

“Ah, it’s just a small one,” he says, the excitement dropping from his voice before the fish breaks the surface. When you’ve been fishing as long as Labaupa, it’s easy to tell when you’ve got a keeper on the line.

After a photo and a quick inspection, he tosses the young sauger back into the murky brown water. Today, he’s on the hunt for walleye — or pickerel, as the mild freshwater fish is often marketed.

Walleye is the ideal local substitute for one of his favourite meals: Ginataan na Isda. In the Philippines, the dish, which means “done with coconut milk” in Tagalog, is typically made with milkfish or tilapia poached in coconut milk and aromatics.

Women’s traditional drum group a welcoming force of healing

A group of women in colourful ribbon skirts sit in the middle of a grassy field at Kildonan Park. Families are strolling through the warm evening air. A volleyball game is underway on the nearby court.

After some joking and chatting, the women pick up their drumsticks and launch into song. Their piercing harmony and tandem drumming carries across the park, causing passersby to change course and approach the circle to listen.

“This is my favourite thing to do,” Meagan Salwan says. “It’s the energy I get from it, the energy it gives off. If I’m having a crap day and I go drum, I’m fine after, it’s my self care. The drum always brings healing — we’re healing others and we’re healing ourselves.”

But the Southern Thunderbird Medicine Drum group hasn’t always been received as a healing force.

Fête accompli: Francophone fest throwing summer bash

Sam Roberts and his bandmates have forgotten how to pace themselves.

“It literally feels like we’ve been shot out of a cannon right now,” the alt-rocker says with a laugh during a break from his first tour in two years. “Part of being on the road all these years is (knowing) how to curb that over-enthusiasm and now we don’t have that self-control anymore — we’re just so excited to be back onstage.”

First he has to “mow the lawn and change up the clothes,” but Roberts will be hitting the road again this week to perform in Winnipeg at an outdoor event hosted by Festival du Voyageur. The annual cultural festival is wading into summer programming with a live music party at Fort Gibraltar this Friday featuring the Sam Roberts Band and a bevy of local talent.

Roberts, an anglophone who grew up in the French-speaking city of Montreal, says he feels a kinship with Manitoba’s francophone community.

Parcel Pizza delivers familiar favourite wrapped up with a saucy twist

Good ideas come to those who wait (for the right location).

Parcel Pizza, a new restaurant from the owners of the Roost and Oxbow, is a case of food inspired by its surroundings. The pizzeria, located on the main floor of a new residential building on Stradbrook Avenue — although it’s equidistant from Osborne Village, downtown and The Forks — is one of the only eateries in the neighbourhood. Choosing a cuisine that would draw people in was the first order of business.

“We thought that something that is universally beloved, like pizza, would be really beneficial for the area,” says co-owner Elsa Taylor. “Another reason, what with the plague and all, is that we wanted something that would be conducive to takeout and delivery.”

In addition to the location, Parcel represents several firsts for Taylor and business partners Caiden Bircham and Isaac Hedenstierna, who make up the Oddlot Collective restaurant group.

Bursting with Pride plans

Pride Winnipeg is making up for lost time.

The local organization has invited the whole country to take part in the festivities during its first in-person Pride celebration since the beginning of the pandemic. This year, Winnipeg is the host city for the second ever Fierté Canada Pride, a collective of Canadian Pride associations which awarded the first national title to Montreal in 2017.

“It’s been five years of planning that I’m very happy is finally happening,” says Barry Karlenzig, president of Pride Winnipeg. “Our goal is to put on as big a party, as big a festival and as big a parade as Montreal can do, but Winnipeg-style.”

The festival kicks off on Friday with a flag raising at city hall and includes a national human rights conference alongside the annual rally, parade and two-day celebration at The Forks. This year’s festival grounds have doubled in size, with three stages, two beer gardens, food trucks, children’s programming, an Indigenous Two-Spirit zone, a new community area featuring local groups that support the LGBTTQ+ community, and an expanded Pride Mart with a hiring fair.

Handmade family cookbook holds more than recipes

At one point in time, Michelle Trudeau was the proud owner of more than 500 cookbooks.

“I’d rather read a cookbook than a novel,” says the avid home cook.

The collection has been whittled down recently through downsizing and decluttering, but she’s kept a handful of her favourites — mostly of the rare and vintage variety.

One such publication, a slim, dog-eared number with a hand-lettered title, is so rare, in fact, that there are only a dozen or so copies in existence. That’s because it’s a Trudeau family original.

CrusTop Pizza’s rectangular pies a square meal with outside-the-box toppings

Of all the colours in the rainbow, yellow is far and away the happiest. It’s why Wendy Xu’s bright new Corydon Avenue pizza joint is awash with sunshine-yellow accents — everything from the floor to the logo to the glowing neon pizza slice in the front window.

Xu, 30, started CrusTop Pizza Project with joy in mind. The space is whimsical, the toppings are novel and the pies are rectangular.

“I want the food to make people more happy,” she says of her non-standard pizza shape, adding with a laugh: “It’s longer, so they will have a longer time (to be) happy.”

Getting to this point, however, wasn’t entirely joyful.

Maryland Street greenhouse rooted in community and culinary spirit

There’s a new house in the West End with a small footprint and big ambitions. The four-season community greenhouse is a project of the Spence Neighbourhood Association (SNA) and, on this particular Thursday evening, it’s full of happy seedlings and busy volunteers.

Chance find of ceramic shard led artist to create clay cookware

There was no hunting or searching. All she had to do was look down. The jagged earth-toned pottery shard was resting in the rocky shallows waiting to be found, as if some unseen being had laid the artifact in her path.

The sight sent tears rolling down her cheeks — the weight of history, blood memory and personal journey colliding on the banks of the Whiteshell River.

“It was a profound moment for me because for the first time I really felt connected to the land,” says KC Adams, standing in the colourful kitchen of her Winnipeg home. “I knew that I was on the right path.

“I also felt connected to the ancestors because I picked it up and realized that a woman had made this 300, 400 years ago, maybe even more, and I’m the first one to touch it again since it disappeared.”

Making maple syrup a hobby that rewards in its own sweet time

It’s the first weekend of April and the city is dotted with icy puddles and shrinking snowbanks. For most Winnipeggers, spring feels imminent. For Jordan Campbell, the season is already in full swing.

“This is the first sign of spring,” he says while standing in his backyard, stoking the fire under a blackened pot of bubbling liquid — “liquid gold,” to be specific.

Campbell has been making homemade maple syrup for three years. It’s a hobby that started on a whim when he realized the large tree behind his new house in Fort Rouge was a Manitoba maple. All it took to get started was some YouTube research and a few galvanized steel taps and buckets.

“I figured I would just give it a try,” he says. “It worked super well, so we just kept doing it.”

Perogy hotline raises funds for Ukraine, nourishes the soul

A jangly ringtone breaks through the din of conversation in the basement hall. Shirley Kowalchuk, wearing a white apron and a hairnet, leaves her post at the packing table and hustles over to the landline on the opposite wall.

“Yes, how many dozen?” she asks, while jotting notes on a piece of scrap paper. A black and white framed photo of Maxim Hermaniuk, the former Ukrainian Catholic Archbishop of Winnipeg, looms over the makeshift call centre.

The perogy hotline at Holy Eucharist Ukrainian Catholic Church is one of many Winnipeg institutions that has been satisfying cravings for handmade potato dumplings — the kind baba used to make — for decades. Today, the 104-year-old church founded by Ukrainian immigrants is using its hotline to raise money for refugees of Russia’s war in Ukraine. It’s a small gesture, but, right now, dough-pinching feels better than hand-wringing.

Fundraising through comfort food has always been a core tenet of the club. Parishioners started making and selling perogies to support church programs after moving into the new domed chapel built on the corner of Watt and Munroe in 1954. Elaine Bowman’s parents were founding members.

New book takes readers on architectural tour of Osborne Village

Osborne Village has lived many lives — many of which are still visible today.

Before it became a densely populated neighbourhood filled with boutique shops and restaurants, it was Winnipeg’s first suburb — created from the annexation of Métis farmland along the Assiniboine River — and home to the city’s wealthy elite. Vestiges of their estates live on in the repurposed character apartments that have housed many a modern-day Winnipegger.

“Almost everybody we’ve talked to, they’ll say, ‘Oh I lived in that building once,” says James Wagner, who has co-authored a book on the area with his wife, Susan Algie. “It seems like anyone who’s grown up here, it’s a place that’s been part of their life at some point.”

Osborne Village: An Architectural Tour is a publication of the Winnipeg Architecture Foundation, of which Wagner and Algie are founding volunteers.

After two years, St. Patrick will finally get his due

For purveyors of and participants in St. Patrick’s Day festivities, it’s been a couple of years since Irish eyes have been smiling.

Just a day before festivities were set to take place in March 2020, fast-changing developments regarding COVID-19 — which had just been declared a pandemic on March 11 — saw pubs close their doors, artists cancel gigs and folks hunkering down and staying home.

When St. Patrick’s Day 2021 came around, restrictions on gatherings, households and the like meant there still weren’t many opportunities to hoist a pint with pals.

With restrictions on masking, vaccinations and gathering sizes all shed in the past weeks and COVID-related numbers looking somewhat promising — for now — St. Patrick’s Day 2022 could be the cèilidh to end all cèilidhs and there may yet be a wee bit of gold to be found at the end of the proverbial rainbow.

Home-concert organizer celebrating 15 years of creating community

Like the Mary Ellen Carter, Home Routes will rise again — but first, the cross-country home concert series is hosting a virtual celebration of its roots.

Home Routes / Chemin Chez Nous was created 15 years ago by Winnipeg Folk Festival founders Mitch Podolak and Ava Kobrinsky as a way to connect musicians with communities.

The organization’s framework was inspired by a tour the pair mounted in 1980 called the Travelling Goodtime Medicine Show, which saw artists such as Stan Rogers, Sylvia Tyson and Connie Kaldor hit the road in a school bus to play one-day mini-festivals in towns across Canada.

In a pandemic-era homage to its beginnings, Home Routes is presenting a virtual concert series of the same name next month.

Chef Wendy Murray brings iconic menu to new Exchange District café

The sunburger is back, but this time it’s being served above ground.

Wendy Murray, owner of the former Underground Café, has returned to the Exchange District and is now slinging her iconic veggie burgers out of the kitchen at the Royal Albert Arms. The live music venue is a stone’s throw from her previous location on Arthur Street.

To say she’s glad to be back is an understatement.

“I love this neighbourhood,” says Murray, sitting in the sunlit atrium of her new dining room. “After I closed the restaurant, I was too depressed to come down here.”

Looking back at Recipe Swap: Call-and-answer format created a community of cooks

Basement floods, international moves and at least one husband who “tidied up too much” — recipes go missing for all kinds of reasons. For nearly 25 years, Free Press readers turned to the paper’s Recipe Swap column to track down long-lost and elusive dishes.

The crowd-sourced articles ran every Wednesday from 1992 to 2016 as a kind of classified section for local food lovers. It was a place to glean information and build community around the hunt for a memorable morsel.

“Alf Brooks can get on with making his steak and kidney pie, now that readers have found a recipe for him,” reads an early edition of the column. “Thanks to Shirley Hall of Dunrobin Avenue for sending it along.”

Though it spanned the whole province, the section read like a small-town newspaper, where names and co-ordinates are published with abandon.

Audit aims to help arts venues improve service for broad scope of disabled patrons and artists

The music has ended, the house lights have risen, but Peter Tonge isn’t ready to leave. It’s not because he wants to meet the band or watch the musicians load out their gear. He would rather head out with the post-concert crush, but his accessible taxi hasn’t arrived yet.

“There’s nothing worse than everybody in the venue standing around wanting to go home and your ride isn’t coming for another hour,” says Tonge, a community consultant, wheelchair user and an avid concertgoer.

It’s an anxiety-inducing experience that could easily be remedied with a little more information from the concert venue.

“One of the small things that really helps is, for example, publishing ahead of time how long the show is, because people with disabilities often have to pre-arrange transportation,” he says. “It seems like a small thing, but it can really impact your experience.”

Sunshine House’s drop-in centre keeps a curbside fire burning

The smell of smoke wafts over the intersection, beckoning passersby to round the corner of the red brick building. Next to the back lane, a handful of logs are smouldering in a small fire pit. Joey Hunter turns a metal skewer over the flames, taking care not to burn the pearly white marshmallows on the end. He pops the sugary treats into his mouth one-by-one and heads off on his way, waving goodbye to Levi Foy, Sunshine House’s executive director, who is tending the fire in a parka.

Over the last two months, the fire burning at the corner of Logan and Sherbrook has become a place to find warmth, connection and ceremony — and, of course, marshmallows.

“Having to wait outside in this weather is just inhumane,” says Foy, explaining that while roughly 100 people stop by Sunshine House each day, only 12 can be in the two-storey building at a time due to pandemic capacity restrictions. “If nothing else, we can offer them a spot by a very windy, loud fire and maybe some cold coffee and a marshmallow while they wait to come inside.”

The warming fire project was spearheaded by Davey Cole, a director of the centre’s Gizhiwenimin program for newcomer families and refugee claimants. The goal was to create a practical place for folks to warm up, while extending the organization’s “auntie’s house” vibes out onto the boulevard. It’s been a hit with community members and staff alike.

Go with the snow

Wearing a dusty pink snowsuit and a face mask emblazoned with colourful Dala horses, Sonja Lundstrom is excited.

“This is going to be my 80th birthday present to myself,” she says, pointing to a nearby wooden kicksled poised for takeoff. “My grandma had one of these and my dad made me one out of hockey sticks for all my children… but these are the new modern ones and I haven’t had one of those.”

But today’s frosty jaunt is less of a test drive and more of a diplomatic adventure. Lundstrom is the president of the Swedish Cultural Association of Manitoba and is at The Forks to give Urban Ahlin, the Swedish Ambassador to Canada, a little taste of home.

“In my part of Sweden we use the (kicksleds) when we go out on the ice for ice fishing,” says Ahlin, who was in town recently with several other Nordic ambassadors to meet with the premier. “This is a very climate-friendly means of transportation and you can use it for lots of different reasons… it’s actually pretty fun to ride as well.”

Venture brings together chefs, brewers, builders for new restaurant, taproom

If two heads are better than one, six heads must be downright revolutionary.

At least that’s the thinking behind One Sixteen, a new West Broadway taproom, wine bar and restaurant that brings three nomadic businesses together under one fixed address.

The venture at 116 Sherbrook St. is a collaboration among the founders of the Beer Can, Good Neighbour Brewing and Two Hands Catering.

“A lot of people have asked why we’d put our taproom in a space that houses two or three other brands or businesses. I think that’s a big part of what Good Neighbour is about: collaboration, supporting other people,” says Amber Sarraillon, who runs the brewery with partner Morgan Wielgosz. “It’s something we’re really passionate about.”

The fascinating story of Madeline Day, the divorcée who became Winnipeg's homemaking idol in the 1930s

The dining room was set with fine china, gleaming silverware and crystal glasses. A lush bouquet bloomed at the centre of the table, while a canary chirped merrily in a nearby cage.

Ingredients for the afternoon’s feast were chilling in the kitchen’s electric refrigerator and a wealth of cookware was poised for action next to the state-of-the-art range.

Mrs. Madeline Day was ready to entertain and soon, her guests would arrive. All 4,100 of them.

On April 2, 1935, droves of local women flocked to the Winnipeg Civic Auditorium to hear Day lecture on the proper way to roll a pie crust and the virtues of washing with Lux brand soap.

Local coffee outfit gets awards-show invite

It’s not every day that a seven-month-old Winnipeg business gets featured at a red carpet award show. So, it’s understandable that Robert Young assumed an email invitation to attend the MTV Movie & TV Awards was a scam.

“I was just about to reply that the Nigerian prince already has my money,” says the local author and owner of Writers & Rockers Coffee Company. “But I didn’t, I just kind of left it.”

Turns out, the offer was legitimate — and then some. Young’s coffee beans will be included in the gift bags and brewed for the celebrity lounge at both the MTV awards, set to take place in May, and the Grammy Awards, scheduled for later this month. The latter was a last-minute ask.

“Late Thursday, they called in a panic that their coffee supplier for the Grammys had backed out,” Young says. “So, we’re going to be providing coffee for that, too.”

New app offers an immersive audio tour of architectural highlights on the No. 10 bus

It’s a Friday afternoon and the No. 10 bus is nearly empty as it ambles out of the loop on Aubrey Street. It’s a tad early for after-work commuters and a tad late for the after-school crowd. I’m far from alone, though.

As the bus — a dated thing with lumpy blue vinyl seats and a bone-rattling idle — rolls east down Wolseley, John K. Samson directs my attention to the brick walls and limestone trim of Laura Secord School, which, I learn, was designed by architect J.B. Mitchell and opened in December 1913.

No, the Weakerthans frontman isn’t spending his days on the bus, pointing out local landmarks to fellow riders in a soft monotone. Not exactly. Samson is one of the narrators of the Winnipeg Architecture Foundation’s new smartphone app, Archi10, which offers a very specific audio tour of some of the city’s most important buildings.

“I live in Wolseley and have taken the No. 10 bus many times and always thought it was one of the neatest routes in the city,” says the foundation’s executive director, Susan Algie. “It got me thinking about how we can celebrate that.”

How the arts community is rebounding, adapting as the pandemic drags on

Call it a window of entertainment opportunity.

Earlier in December, before the Omicron variant of COVID-19 became the latest hot topic during the pandemic, Free Press entertainment journalists, armed with vaccination cards and curiosity, ventured out to nightclubs, theatres and concert venues to learn, and to learn again, what a night on the town was like.

For many, an evening of music, acting, comedy or dance proved to be an escape — for a couple of hours, at least — from the pandemic that has affected every part of our lives since its appearance in Manitoba in March 2020.

Vaccination cards and IDs were shown at the doors, but mask use was as varied as the entertainment on offer. For some, letting their hair down meant taking their masks off too, while for others, the masks stayed on until they walked outside again.

Traditional Mexican treat: Raw Sugar Piggies

The Free Press is once again celebrating the sweetest time of the year with its annual 12 Days of Christmas Cookies feature. Beginning today and running every day (expect Sundays) until Dec. 23, we will be sharing cookie recipes from local bakers, bloggers and home cooks.

If you would like to take part in this series, please send an email to arts@freepress.mb.ca with your favourite cookie recipe and a short description of the story behind it.

As a kid, Gina Navarro had images of raw sugar piggies dancing in her head — and not just during the holidays. The pig-shaped, spiced cookies were a year-round staple.

“Probably most Mexicans grew up with these,” she says. “My mom is not a baker, but she loves bread, so we always had bread at home and she would pick up some piggies as well.”

APTN celebrates ‘mother of Indigenous filmmaking’

Education has always been the goal for filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin.

In her experience, however, a proper education requires a revised curriculum.

“I was really in a big war against the educational system,” says the 89-year-old Abenaki director over the phone from her home in Quebec. “I felt that children had to hear a different story, because the books that they were using to teach were designed and, really, programmed to create hate towards Indigenous nations in Canada.”

Originally a singer, Obomsawin has been making documentaries about Indigenous perspectives, realities and issues with the National Film Board of Canada for the last 54 years.

Holiday cheer doesn’t have to come with a hangover

Nicole Murdock hasn’t had a hangover in 10 years.

“It’s so nice to never have to worry about that,” the Winnipeg writer and university student says with a laugh. “Other than that, I don’t think my life has changed very much — I’m still an incredibly social person; I still get invited places.”

It was a hangover (a particularly bad one) and a night of missing memories that prompted her to get sober in the first place. She was 22 years old at the time and remembers thinking, “If I don’t get a handle on this, it’s going to affect the relationships that are very near and dear to me in a negative way.” It was a risk she wasn’t willing to take.

In the decade since, Murdock has made a point of talking openly about abstaining from alcohol — in private conversations and public forums, such as social media. Sharing is part accountability and part outreach.

Popular Wolseley resto changes hands, ups cosy factor

The faces are familiar and the concept is comfortable.

“It’s a passing of the torch,” says Rachael King, co-owner of Bonnie Day, a new restaurant set to open Wednesday in the former home of Ruby West. “We are so thankful that the original owners had the forethought to turn the building into a fully licensed restaurant for the community.”

King and her partner, Brian Johnson, have taken over the small eatery in the heart of Wolseley from previous owners (and neighbours) Jamie and Laura Hilland and Pete and Erin Keating with plans to ramp up the cosiness and elevate the menu.

“Laura and I are very pleased to see the restaurant remain in the hands of another Wolseley family with similar values in wanting to create a community gathering space,” Jamie says via email.

Fairmont Winnipeg hotel celebrates its golden anniversary with special events

Teddy Pagtalunan likes being in the middle of the action. It’s one of his favourite things about working as a bellhop at the corner of Portage and Main.

“This hotel is connected to everything and people are coming from everywhere,” says Pagtalunan, who has been greeting guests at what is now known as the Fairmont Winnipeg for the last 41 years. “It keeps us busy and keeps my brain busy.”

The 21-storey hotel opened in 1970 as the Winnipeg Inn and has been through several name changes — The Westin Winnipeg and The Lombard — before becoming The Fairmont in the late ’90s. This year, the company is celebrating a belated (owing to the pandemic) 50th anniversary with a series of special events.

For Pagtalunan, the anniversary is another milestone in long career. He arrived in Winnipeg from the Philippines in 1980 and started working at the hotel the same year. While he never expected to stay in the job for four decades, his longevity and uncanny ability to remember names has made him something of a folk hero among guests.

Carrying a torch for tiki

A paper tiki mask is the only indication that the door it’s affixed to leads somewhere other than a dive bar. Ring the doorbell and walk through the kitchen, however, and you’ll be transported to an island-themed lounge that’s equal parts kitschy and comfortable.

“This is just from people’s houses, like my mom’s,” says Allan Pineda, pointing to the wood carvings, water-buffalo horns and rattan furniture decorating the room. “A lot of the stuff you see in here, you’d see in a Filipino’s house back in the day — like second-wave immigrants in the ‘60s and ‘70s, they’d bring this stuff home (from the Philippines).”

Pineda is a local chef and part of the team behind the Bahay Kubo Tiki Bar, a pop-up Filipino drinking and dining experience hosted weekly at an undisclosed Winnipeg establishment.

The details are hush-hush because the temporary eatery is meant to operate like a speakeasy. The dinners are an offshoot of Baon Manila Nights, which Pineda started as a way to highlight Winnipeg’s Filipino culinary scene.

Black bear rescue operation a labour-intensive one for Stonewall couple and support team

SOMEWHERE NORTH OF THE 53RD PARALLEL — Four large steel boxes gleam in the hinting sun and rock occasionally as their contents shift about. The crates sit side-by-side on mossy ground facing a nearby stand of trees; a single name is scrawled on each in black permanent marker.

Vinny, Wrigley, Xena and Xaria.

It’s been raining off and on all morning and the sky is holding on to its moodiness. Even though it’s above zero, the people milling about the shoreline are clad in winter boots, snow pants and heavy jackets. Those who have been on this journey before know to overdress.

“When you come to the North and you’re in October, expect the snow and rain,” Bernard Jonasson says with a hearty laugh. “I’m always dressed for it and sometimes you let the other people learn the hard way.”

Biting down on the hard reality of the food business

The restaurant industry is beginning to find its footing again after months of upheaval, but should we be celebrating a return to normal? Corey Mintz doesn’t think so.

The Toronto-born food reporter has penned a new book on the pitfalls of the business for those who sell, make, pick, deliver and eat food. The Next Supper: The End of Restaurants as We Knew Them, and What Comes After is the culmination of all the unsavoury things Mintz has learned while working in and writing about restaurants.

“I kind of got to a level of conspiracy theory where the inside of your head… looks like there’s a bunch of red strings and you’re constantly telling people, ‘All these things are related, man, they’re all connected,” Mintz says while sitting in the living room of his Wolseley bungalow. “I felt like, there’s all these things wrong in the restaurant industry and I can’t do it piecemeal — I kind of want to talk about the whole thing, all at once.”

The author moved from Toronto to Winnipeg last summer with his wife and young daughter. It was a long simmering decision spurred on by the realities of pandemic life in a big city.

Youth troupe’s play tackles prejudice, bullying against LGBTTQ+ students

Sometimes make-believe is the best way to make a real-life difference.

That’s what a troupe of young actors are hoping to accomplish with their production of She Kills Monsters, a fantastical play featuring queer characters, nerd culture and meaningful conversations about sexuality. The show — which is being presented by the Young Company at Manitoba Theatre for Young People in the new year — follows the story of Agnes as she gets to know her late sister Tilly by playing through a Dungeons and Dragons game she designed.

“It really does talk about a lot of important issues,” says 16-year-old company member Andrew Riley. “Whether it’s Tilly’s struggles or even how Agnes deals with the grief of her sister’s passing — it has a lot of things that are happening in teens’ lives that are not always talked about.”

The character of Tilly is gay and she finds a sense of belonging in the world of D & D that’s often lacking elsewhere. For Riley and fellow performer Al Gilbert — both of whom are members of the LGBTTQ+ community — those kinds of experiences hit home.

Maury family launches Tuco to add pasta to Argentinian culinary dynasty

While employees fill and pinch dozens of empanadas in the prep kitchen at La Pampa’s St. Vital location, Alfonso Maury is hovering over a large pasta maker with a knife, waiting patiently for the tendrils of fresh spaghetti to reach the ideal length.

The Maury family has cornered the local market on Argentinian pizza with their Exchange District restaurant, Corrientes, and have been serving gourmet empanadas at their La Pampa locations for the last several years. Pasta is the next frontier.

“In Argentina, there is a fresh pasta shop in every neighbourhood,” Alfonso says. “And Sunday is a pasta day in Argentina. You can see a line of people just waiting outside to buy fresh pasta.”

The new venture is called Tuco — named after a traditional Argentinian tomato sauce — and offerings include a selection of fresh, frozen and pre-made pasta dishes. Menu items are either served hot and ready to eat or packaged for assembly and reheating at home.

Not a Donut takes the circular confection in an entirely different direction

Let’s get one thing straight: Not A Donut does indeed serve doughnuts, just not the kind most North American fried dough connoisseurs are familiar with. The small shop on Langside Street specializes in mochi doughnuts, cute flower-shaped rings with a soft, chewy texture thanks to the addition of glutinous rice flour.

It’s a nostalgic dessert for owner Echo Shen.

“I tried it when I was back in Shanghai when I was little,” says Shen, who moved to Canada from China for school. “I had it for the first time and couldn’t forget it — it’s so good, it’s not like the regular doughnuts.”

Mochi doughnuts were popularized in Japan by the Mister Donuts chain, which calls them “pon de ring,” and have recently gained a following elsewhere. Shen and her boyfriend Mumu Ma, who co-owns the business, saw an opportunity with the growing trend.

Playwright takes personal look at Indigenous people’s struggles, successes

Darla Contois’ first major theatre production is a deeply personal mediation on what it means to be Indigenous in this country.

“Being alive as an Indigenous person in Canada today is very complicated,” says the Cree-Saulteaux playwright from Winnipeg. “Every single day you have to wake up and ask, am I fighting for myself? Am I fighting for my family? Am I fighting for my people? Am I fighting for Canada?”

The War Being Waged takes stock of those dynamics through the story of three generations of Indigenous women: a grandmother who raises a child with love in community, a mother who becomes an activist and a granddaughter who finds her voice amid turmoil. The show is presented as part monologue, part poetry and part dance.

The play makes its world première at Prairie Theatre Exchange on Nov. 3 and is the first live production hosted at the downtown venue in 603 days, since the start of the pandemic. For Contois — who got her start at Manitoba Theatre for Young People as a teenager and is a graduate of the Centre for Indigenous Theatre in Toronto — returning to the stage is a precious homecoming.

Former Exchange District chefs open two physically linked but culinarily diverse restos in St. Boniface

A pair of Exchange District mainstays are venturing into new territory.

After years of working in neighbouring restaurants, Mike Del Buono, owner of King + Bannatyne, and chef Emily Butcher, formerly of Deer + Almond, have teamed up to open not one, but two new eateries in the middle of St. Boniface. And the neighbouring concepts couldn’t be more different.

On one side is Nola, a long dining room with dark walls, warm accents and a wide bank of windows looking out onto Marion Street. The space is designed to complement Butcher’s whimsical fine-dining menu and the name is an invention meant to capture the essence of the business.

“We had four words that were guiding us the whole way,” Del Buono says. “Fun, unique, simple and elegant.”

Activism, fight for medical rights drove creation of Women’s Health Clinic four decades ago

In September, Texas passed the most restrictive abortion law in America.

It bans abortions after six weeks, a point at which many women don’t know they are pregnant. It’s a preview of what America would look like if Roe v. Wade was struck down, a chilling reminder that these hard-won reproductive rights could be eroded at any time. (The law was temporarily blocked this week by a federal judge.)

Last week, a rally for reproductive justice assembled at the Manitoba Legislature here in Winnipeg, to both speak out against the regressive law passed south of the border as well as ensure that nothing like that ever happens here. One woman raised a sign that read: “my arms are tired from holding up the same f---ing sign since 1970.”

These renewed conversations about reproductive rights echo the ones that were taking place in the early 1980s when abortion was a crime in Canada — conversations that led to activism and action and, eventually, to a small, feminist, pro-choice clinic in the centre of Canada called Women’s Health Clinic.

Local venues ramping up excitement for return of indoor audiences

Erick Casselman looks a little dazed while standing next to the nearly finished bar at the Park Theatre. The venue owner is flanked by a tall bank of scaffolding on one side and a scissor lift on the other. There’s a half-dozen construction workers moving lumber, drywall and wiring to and fro. An electric drill drones on in the background.

“I’m always anxious and nervous. I mean, you saw it, there’s a lot to do,” Casselman says when asked how he’s feeling about the state of the venue the Friday before it’s set to reopen for indoor concerts. “They tell me we’ll be done.”

After 19 months of quiet — save for the constant sound of construction work — the Park is welcoming audiences back with a weekend of loud. Winnipeg punk group Propagandhi is playing three shows at the South Osborne venue Friday through Sunday. Tickets sold fast — a phenomenon Casselman believes is two-fold.

“Winnipeg loves Prop; we could probably do a month-long residency here,” he says. “It’s been too long. We’ve had some opportunities for live music (outdoors)… but it’s not the same as being in an actual live music venue and being in a room that’s built for live music.”

Kids' book aims to embrace broader concept of family

Brenlee Coates wants to be honest with her daughter.

Honest about how she came into the world. Honest about how much she loves her.

When Coates and her wife Amanda Karpinsky brought their daughter Lark home from the hospital 10 months ago, the intense emotions of motherhood hit hard.

“I was a blubbering mess at the beginning,” Coates says. “I know everybody feels differently about a newborn kid, but I really had that flood of emotions like I was falling in love for the first time.”

Jazz fest hopes to catch you in a Sting operation

This is gonna sting — but in a jazzy, rock ‘n’ roll kind of way.

Jazz Winnipeg is hosting a three-day fall festival from Oct. 1 to 3 with two special tribute concerts to the music of Sting and his former band, the Police.

“It just happens to be Sting’s 70th birthday on October 2,” says Zachary Rushing, Jazz Winnipeg’s programming manager. “It felt like a good occasion to get a collective going of Winnipeg musicians who are jazz or jazz-adjacent and just dive into that world. Sting is one of those artists who a lot of jazz musicians love.”

A Tribute to Sting takes place Friday and Saturday at the Rachel Browne Theatre featuring covers and interpretations by musicians Jennifer Hanson, Sol James, Onna Lou, Ben Tamana and Brandi Vezina backed by house band Ego Spank with special guest Larry Roy.

Nuit Blanche extends reach as artists light up the city

Nuit Blanche Winnipeg kicks off Friday and organizers have done their darndest to ensure the annual art party is virtually pandemic-proof.

Last year’s all-night event — which was set to take place in late September — was revamped at the 11th hour to meet public health guidelines.

“We didn’t want a repeat of that,” says Jennifer Cheslock, general manager of Culture Days Manitoba, which organizes Nuit Blanche. “So we thought early about how we could present an opportunity for artists to share their work and audiences to check out art installations in a way that would still be able to go forward, no matter the situation.”

Instead of cramming everything into one night, Nuit Blanche will again join Culture Days in a month-long celebration from Sept. 24 to Oct. 24. The majority of events will be presented outdoors, online or as window displays viewable from the street.

Annual mural, cultural festival returns with large-scale murals, concerts

This is the biggest canvas Bria Fernandes has ever worked on.

“It’s ginormous,” says the Winnipeg fine arts student while taking stock of how much wall is left to paint in the tunnel at McMicken Street and Ellice Avenue.

The artwork, called Dreamscape, is part of the eighth annual Wall-to-Wall Mural & Culture Festival and is a colourful return to live mural-making, which organizers put on hold last year owing to the pandemic.

Fernandes’ submission is one of two large-scale projects being painted in Winnipeg’s core this month — the second mural, coincidentally called Crane Dreamscape, is by Vancouver-based artist Priscilla Yu and is being installed behind the Dollarama at 295 Portage Ave.

Light, landscape, history interwoven in Métis filmmaker's TIFF debut

Rhayne Vermette’s first feature film is lush and sparse all at once. The Métis filmmaker, born and raised in Notre Dame de Lourdes, set out to try something new with Ste. Anne and, thus far, her efforts have been met with critical acclaim.

Ste. Anne was nominated for Best First Feature Film at the Berlinale festival in March and the project will be making its North American première at the Toronto International Film Festival on Monday and the New York Film Festival next month; with a full slate of international festival appearances scheduled for this fall.

“It’s pretty wild,” Vermette says of the reception. “It was a complete learning experience, I never anticipated the success that we got.”

Vermette fell into filmmaking while studying architecture and has been making experimental, artistic shorts and animations for the last decade. After releasing Domus, a stop-motion meditation on architect Carlo Mollino, in 2017 she decided to shift gears away from animation — which she describes as a “really isolating way to make a film” — and towards a bigger picture.

James Avenue heritage building restaurant poised to be a hot spot

By virtue of its location, James Avenue Pumphouse Food and Drink is part-restaurant and part-museum.

A pair of paint-chipped fire hose carts — donated by the Winnipeg Fire Museum — flank the front door and old copper extinguishers line a shelf above the long wooden bartop. Worn red fire hydrants have been resurrected as decor pieces dotting the interior and exterior of the grand brick building in the East Exchange District.

“I went to farms and made my kids break their backs to dig (the hydrants) out and load them up,” Pumphouse owner Darin Amies says with a chuckle.

The historic touches in the restaurant’s modern 100-seat dining room are intentionally subtle, leaving ample breathing room for the pièce de résistance: a bank of high glass walls that offer views of century-old machinery previously used to protect old downtown Winnipeg from fire.

Shoegaze band Living Hour first Winnipeg act to sign with Seattle's Sub Pop Publishing

Sometimes all it takes is a conversation over veggie dogs at a German music festival to get the ball rolling on a publishing deal with a well-known indie music label.

Winnipeg band Living Hour was performing at the 2019 Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg when they broke bread with an executive from Sub Pop Records — a Seattle label known for its early work with Nirvana, Mudhoney and Soundgarden.

One out-of-the-blue email exchange later and the band has become the first local group to sign with Sub Pop Publishing, an offshoot of the main label, for a two-album deal.

“The guy that runs the publishing wing basically cold-emailed us and said that he was a new fan and was wondering if we were signed to a publisher,” says guitarist Gil Carroll. “We were obviously pretty excited... because the label has been around for a long time and has done a lot of really influential releases.

Burger Week so big this year they couldn't fit it into one

Le Burger Week is a special time of year when Kevin Ramberran’s bread and butter becomes a mainstream fascination.

“Burgers we know, burgers we understand,” says the co-owner of St. James Burger and Chip Co. “Burger Week is absolutely the busiest period of time… we usually do over a month of sales in one week.”

Last September, the fast-casual diner on Ness Avenue flipped more than 4,200 burgers during the seven-day food festival. This year, the national event is running for two weeks, from Sept. 1 to 14, with more than 215 restaurants participating across Manitoba.

Ramberran is gearing up for another busy affair.

Veggie Van to bring fresh produce to inner city residents

A farmer’s market on wheels is hoping to put a dent into the problem of food deserts in Winnipeg’s inner city

Fireweed Food Co-op has launched its new Veggie Van pilot program, which brings subsidized local produce into Winnipeg’s inner city neighbourhoods through a mobile market on Thursday afternoons. The West Central Women’s Resource Centre was the first stop on the Veggie Van’s inaugural tour last week.

“We have zucchini, beets, yellow onion, carrots, sweet corn,” says Fireweed’s food hub delivery co-ordinator Janelle Wride, while standing behind a table piled high with colourful vegetables. “Those are most of the basic items that we have available from the producers right now and each week it’ll change a little bit.”

The goal of the program, she says, is to combat food insecurity by offering cheap, nutritious produce for sale in underserved communities.

With a host of new or renovated businesses, South Osborne is having a moment

Every neighbourhood goes through its ups and downs — longtime businesses shutter or move on, new names set up shop, old buildings come down, new buildings rise.

The South Osborne area of Winnipeg is no different, and if the wide range of new/newish businesses is any indication, particularly in the way of food and drink, the area is, to paraphrase the Friendly Giant, up — waaaaay up.

South Osborne BIZ chair Scott Tackaberry, owner of two South Osborne businesses — home brewing supply store Grape & Grain at 726 Osborne St. and tabletop game store GameKnight Games at 519 Osborne St. — sees the area’s evolution as one that’s been coming for some time. “It’s been a slow burn that’s been happening for 20 years,” says Tackaberry, who has lived in the neighbourhood for 20-plus years himself. “When we bought our house, we were probably the only younger people on the block. Now the older folks are retiring and moving out of the neighbourhood, and the younger families are moving in. And of course the younger families want to shop in the neighbourhood.”

According to census data, the bulk of residents are between 20 and 40 years old and the area’s population increased by 1.5 per cent between 2011 and 2016.

Food, music and community spirit come together at Lola D's special events

Inventive food and local music with a side of community boosterism is the eclectic business model at Lola D’s Eat, Grow and Think Creative.

The company is the brainchild of Paul Ormond, a fine dining chef, and Kerri Stephens, a touring musician, who were in desperate need of a creative distraction after their St. Malo home burned to the ground in February.

The couple — along with three dogs, a cat and her litter of kittens — has been living in a small RV in St. Malo Provincial Park for months while their house is being rebuilt.

“Living in this park, in this trailer with however many animals has just been chaos… we actually needed this for ourselves right now,” Stephens says of the venture. “It’s exciting because these (events) are things to work towards.”

Springhill Winter Park joins the pop-up patio craze

Picnic tables and fire pits are perched atop a ridge where, months ago, skiers and snowboarders were lined up ready to bomb down the hill. With one seasonal business well-in-hand, the owners of Springhill Winter Park have diversified with a summer patio nestled between the chair lift and the chalet.

“We always had planned on doing something in the summer to take advantage of what the venue can offer,” says Vivianne Julien, who purchased the recreation facility just outside the city with her son, Brayden Sosinkalo, in 2017. “(The hill) just sat empty for eight months of the year, so we wanted something that would draw people to the area.”

The goal was to open the patio last summer, but the pandemic threw a wrench in those plans. Public health restrictions put a damper on things yet again this year, but the family decided to follow through when the rules were relaxed in June. The following weeks were a blur of sawing, hammering and turning wood pallets into outdoor furniture.

The space has a full capacity of 750 and there are two bars — one built off the end of a shipping container and another situated in a retrofitted Westeel-Rosco grain bin — and a selection of yard games. With the municipal fire ban now lifted, the dozen large fire pits dotting the beer garden can finally be put to use — a welcome heat source for the often windy venue on the Red River Floodway.

Entrepreneur ensures your dog is the perfect wedding guest

Jamie Barber’s dogs, Indy and Carter, were high on her list of wedding invites, but she had a dilemma.

“I have two dogs, one of which has some behavioural concerns,” says the certified dog trainer and owner of Winnipeg’s Candor Canine Co. “And you don’t want to put a friend or family member on dog duty, so I was like, ‘OK, I’m sure somebody out there offers this service.’”

To her surprise, search results for “dog wedding date” came up empty. An entrepreneur with several dog-adjacent businesses — including a shop that sells second-hand pet gear and a canine-centric podcast — Barber decided to take matters into her own hands. Enter Bark, a first-of-its-kind wedding service designed to give couples and their dearly beloved pets peace of mind.

“I wanted to give pet owners a way to have their dog there as part of the big day, but also in a way that focuses on the dog’s emotional well-being,” Barber, 27, says. “Because it can be pretty scary for dogs — it’s a lot of people, it’s loud, there’s so much going on.”

Chef wants to keep on trucking while she puts down permanent restaurant roots

Tara Hall is just getting started.

The 40-year-old chef is the owner of Winnipeg’s Aboriginal Fusion food truck and she has her sights set on opening a restaurant — sans wheels — focused on the foods she grew up eating.

The elevator pitch is “traditional Aboriginal foods with a fine-dining twist,” Hall says. “We don’t have enough of that here.”

She was born in Vancouver and grew up with her great-grandparents and grandpa on Pinaymootang First Nation in the Interlake. Hall watched her elders and aunties closely in the kitchen and learned to make staples, such as bannock, fried pickerel and saskatoon berry jam, at a young age.

Drought, late frost filling ursine orphanage beyond capacity

A few choice morsels of fruit is all it takes to lure Vinny into his new home. Grapes work wonders.

The rough-and-tumble cub was the first orphan brought to Black Bear Rescue Manitoba this spring; he’s since been joined by 26 other young bears who have lost their mother for one reason or another. Space is at a premium and this season has been one long game of musical chairs for rescue operators Judy and Roger Stearns.

“The cubs were arriving so fast and furious,” Judy says. “Sometimes we were scrambling because we were having to shift bears around to make room for everyone.”

Like all new intakes, Vinny’s journey started in the nursery, where cubs feed on formula and bide their time in quarantine, before he was moved into a covered, open-air enclosure in the Bear Building — nicknamed the ‘Bob Barker Building’ after the former Price Is Right host who donated $50,000 to help the Stonewall-area rescue centre get started. Vinny has been living outside full-time since the end of June and recently graduated to a large new pen with 11 of his adoptive siblings.

Dairy-free cheese a gourmet alternative to supermarket offerings

Céline Land’s cutting board is stained red with the juice of cherries and strawberries. It’s a common problem this time of year, when the fruits are in season and it’s too hot to turn the oven on.

Land and her son Félix, 9, are standing side-by-side in the kitchen of their south Winnipeg home assembling a summer staple: bruschetta with cherries, strawberries, fresh basil, a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and a crumble of vegan feta.

“It reminds me of being young and picking berries — sometimes I think we ate so many berries that was our main diet,” the owner of Vegan Fromagerie says with a laugh. “You just knew that in a few weeks that was it, there wasn’t going to be anymore.”

“I just like the feta part,” Félix says, while garnishing the dish with a generous spoonful of the cheese made from organic soy milk.