Whiteout street party ramps up

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This article was published 21/04/2024 (579 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The city’s downtown erupted with roars, chanting and cheers Sunday evening with the Winnipeg Jets’ first Whiteout party of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

As the team opened its best-of-seven first-round series against the Colorado Avalanche inside Canada Life Centre, thousands of fans were gathered outside in the streets for the post-season party that has become a Winnipeg tradition.

A sea of fans — nearly all dressed in white — clamoured amongst one another, growing so dense by the time the puck dropped at 6 p.m. that it was difficult to move through the press of bodies. Two CF-18 Hornet fighter jets from the Royal Canadian Air Force screamed over the arena and the outdoor crowd minutes before the game began, adding to the cacophony.

For Kerri Bennett, the moment — watching her hometown hockey club pursue the Stanley Cup alongside other rabid fans — was a dream come true.

“This is bucket-list material,” she said, shouting to be heard over the roaring crowd. “This game — this team — has meant so much to me.”

True North Sports & Entertainment hosts the street parties, which have now swept through the downtown core five times since the franchise moved to Winnipeg in 2011.

The 5,000-person event — hosted on Donald Street between Portage and Graham avenues, and inside the Metropolitan Entertainment Centre — requires a $10 entry fee and features drinks, food vendors and three massive screens to allow fans at street level to watch the game broadcast.

The celebration has become symbolic of Winnipeg’s inclusivity and passion, said Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham, who was all smiles as he took in the evening festivities from street level before puck drop.

“Our fans are the best fans in the NHL, you can see it here. Young and old alike are here enjoying it together,” he said. “We have one goal in mind: we are cheering on our Jets to victory, and we are going to be here behind our team the whole way through.”

The parties will be held before and during each Jets home game, with the next slated for Tuesday night. Tickets for Tuesday’s street party are sold out, as were Sunday’s. Half of the proceeds from every $10 ticket sold will be donated to United Way Winnipeg.

The Party in the Plaza returned to True North Square for a second consecutive year. Tickets there were priced at $20, and capacity was capped at 1,000. Roughly 100 spots are still available for Tuesday’s Party in the Plaza.

All 15,321 seats inside the Canada Life Centre were sold out. Tuesday’s game is also sold out.

“When you put 10,000 tickets on sale and they sell out within an hour, there is your answer about why we do this,” Kevin Donnelly, TNSE’s senior vice-president of venues and entertainment, said of the Whiteout parties.

“The fans, the community — they love this event. They love the opportunity to be a part of something that’s unique and special and kind of wild.”

Planning for the Whiteout parties began “in earnest” in February, Donnelly said.

The team behind the event has learned a few tricks about planning and preparation from the previous street parties. Support from the provincial and municipal governments, as well as from Winnipeg Transit and the city’s various emergency services, has made the process easier, Donnelly said.

“It’s a matter of taking the template we’ve got and making incremental changes to improve it for the patrons, organizers and collaborators,” he said. “The singular difference is everybody has seen it before … we are not having to convince people that this is something we should do. They come to the table ready and excited.”

About 150 people were slated to help staff the event, TNSE said previously, including the Winnipeg Police Service, emergency medical technicians and other security and service personnel.

WPS spokesperson Const. Claude Chancy noted officers were onsite and visible, supporting the home team with event-issued Whiteout WPS baseball caps.

“As held in previous years’ events, we do not anticipate any issues and hope fans enjoy the festivities safely,” Chancy said in an emailed statement.

The Whiteout was welcomed by businesses in and around the city’s core, who look forward to the surge of customers, said Luke Thiessen, manager at Devil May Care Brewing Company on Fort Street.

“For us, it’s a chance to give our staff more hours, do a bit more business and maybe introduce ourselves to new customers who otherwise wouldn’t have come through the doors,” Thiessen said, noting he started seeing Jets fans pour into the brewery as early as noon.

“We are hoping for a deep run. Every additional game we can get is a positive impact across downtown. We like to think of ourselves as part of the fabric of downtown and the Jets fandom, so when they do well, we do well.”

Down on Garry Street inside Local Public Eatery, it was all hands on deck, with every employee scheduled to work through Sunday afternoon and night, day manager Malay Pilz said.

“It’s exciting,” Pilz said, speaking from inside the packed restaurant. “Summer is generally a bit slower downtown because people are going to their cabins, so we definitely want to see (the Jets) keep the Whiteout going.”

Support for the Whiteout even came in the form of a cheeky advisory from Canada’s weather service, calling for a “Whiteout” downtown.

Despite temperatures in the mid-teens, “Localized whiteout conditions can be expected, however, in the vicinity of downtown Winnipeg,” Environment Canada posted online.

The City of Winnipeg announced street and sidewalk closures Saturday to accommodate the first Whiteout street party. The roads and sidewalks were set to reopen Sunday night or early Monday, and rerouted buses were set to resume regular service Monday.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca

Tyler Searle
Reporter

Tyler Searle is a multimedia producer who writes for the Free Press’s city desk. A graduate of Red River College Polytechnic’s creative communications program, he wrote for the Stonewall Teulon Tribune, Selkirk Record and Express Weekly News before joining the paper in 2022. Read more about Tyler.

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