Santa, er… the mayor rescues cynical but beloved Winnipeg holiday tradition By: Kevin Rollason Posted: 1:08 PM CST Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023 Last Modified: 3:39 PM CST Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023 Updates

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It’s a move that might elicit a cry of, “Bah, humbug” from Ebenezer Scrooge himself.

A local craft brewery’s attempt to keep a quirky, long-standing Polo Park-area Christmas-season tradition alive has fa-la-la-len flat.

But, it looks like the Ghost of Christmas future has already stepped in to change this holiday story.

Earlier this week, One Great City in Madison Square off Ness Avenue stepped in to save the day, erecting a sign on its roof with red bulbs spelling “Humbug,” an homage to a 50-year fixture on an apartment balcony around the corner expressing the same sentiment.

The original, on one of the upper floors of the Ashbury Place block on Queen Street facing Route 90 traffic north of Portage Avenue, is in storage this year because the entire east side of the high-rise is shrouded in construction tarps as the exterior undergoes renovations.

Tradition intact? Just ho, ho, hold on a minute.

One Great City’s landlord pulled the plug, citing the sign’s religious overtones.

“They said they didn’t allow religious iconography,” Tim Hudek, the brewery’s general manager, who braved strong and frigid winds to install the sign, said when first contacted about the missing sign.

“They said it had to be taken down in respect of the other tenants who might not celebrate Christmas.”

But Hudek, after talking to a more senior property manager, now says the main reason was insurance liability concerns.

The holiday message of meh was removed Wednesday.

But all is not lost; it has found a temporary place inside the brewpub and restaurant — and will soon be on the move again.

“We’ve been contacted by a helpful neighbour who has offered to relocate the sign to their building,” One Great City posted on social media.

That helpful neighbour? Mayor Scott Gillingham.

Hudek said Gillingham reached out to him Thursday morning to say he had made arrangements for the sign to go up at the nearby Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service station on Portage Avenue at Route 90.

“The humbug sign is a fun Winnipeg tradition, and as a longtime St. James resident, the mayor is quite fond of it,” a spokesman for the mayor said.

“The mayor admired what One Great City Brewing was trying to do in keeping the tradition alive, so we reached out to see if there was a way the city could help.”

Sid Farmer, whose late father — also named Sid — created and proudly displayed the balcony sign, was disappointed when he found out about the ruling at One Great City, but was overjoyed to hear what the mayor was doing.

“You’ve got to be kidding,” he said, That’s wonderful, that’s just crazy. My dad had no idea what he was creating for the city 50 years ago.”

And, as for what should be done next year?

“My dad would have loved seeing two signs up,” Farmer said.

A spokesperson for Hama Management Group, which manages Madison Square, could not be reached for comment.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca