North End puts its best foot forward with Culture Fest

Fostering friendship is one of the most important parts of Melanie McKay’s day.

At the Winnipeg Indigenous Friendship Centre, she serves as a program co-ordinator, where she organizes bingo nights, drop-ins for elders and craft sessions. She spent Saturday afternoon at the third annual North End Neighbours Culture Fest, where a dozen organizations serving the neighbourhood gathered at the Ukrainian Labour Temple to share food, watch performances and celebrate each other.

“These are the people that we represent, and these are the people that we want to help out,” McKay said Saturday. “I think being here shows that we’re out there in the community, and we’re willing to help any way we can.”

The Indigenous Friendship Centre began operating out of 410 McGregor St., May 1, while they renovate their former home at 45 Robinson St. They’re holding an open house June 5 in hopes of letting more people know their resources are available to the North End, regardless of their cultural background.

“This is where our heart lies, with the community,” McKay said.

The North End Neighbours Culture Fest began in 2024, when the Winnipeg branch of the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians planned the first festival with the hope of “bringing together people doing cultural work in the North End,” said board vice president Emily Halldorson.

Part of that work is providing what she described as “soft resources” — friendship, emotional connections, community building and free family programming.

“Newcomers can be connected with all of those resources … like employment and literacy and English language training, and still be socially isolated, because they need to have friends and they need to connect to people and have a community,” she said.

The association even connected with a number of newcomers who had just arrived in Winnipeg and are staying in temporary housing who came out to volunteer Saturday.

“What I’m most happy about with the festival this year, is that we’ve been able to bring in more people and kind of grow and just represent even more that the North End has to offer,” she said.

Ralph Jean-Paul knows the value of those connections all too well.

He’s part of the Regroupement des Haitiens du Manitoba, a local organization that helps support the province’s small — but growing — Haitian community. He’s been in Winnipeg for around 35 years and remembers when there were only a few dozen Haitians in the city — now, the number is around 300, he said.

He’s been involved with the North End Neighbours Culture Fest since its inception. He likes to see newer members of the Haitian community come and meet their neighbours, and, even after his decades in Winnipeg, he finds joy in meeting new people, too.

“This is similar to our culture in the Caribbean, in Haiti, in particular, where it’s always doors open to everyone,” he said.

“You come and help and celebrate, nobody is a stranger or visitor, so it feels natural, really, to come and be a part of this.”

The festival is funded in part through contributions from community organizations and grants, including from the City of Winnipeg.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca