Bee2gether Bikes out of The Forks after lease confusion

Tandem bike rentals aren’t on offer at The Forks this summer — and the longtime company behind them is claiming financial loss, calling the change unexpected.

For nearly two decades, people have zipped around The Forks on Bee2gether Bikes’s tandem and buggy rides.

Owner Chad Celaire said he planned for another season of downtown Winnipeg rentals. He said he emailed The Forks leadership in the spring, checking when Bee2gether could set up.

Celaire said he was “blindsided” when he received a May 19 email from property management saying The Forks wouldn’t grant a 2026 lease to Bee2gether Bikes.

“The previous year, they treated us so well,” Celaire said. “There was no indication that they wouldn’t be having us back.”

Celaire and his wife/business partner Kim quickly reached out to FortWhyte Alive. The company has since moved part of its operations to the southwest Winnipeg nature space.

It also launched a GoFundMe seeking $7,500 to cover “the losses incurred by The Forks (sic) decision to not renew our lease.” The change has been financially “devastating,” according to Bee2gether’s GoFundMe page.

Bee2gether shifted gears as its 2026 season was supposed to start, Celaire said, and it bought a swath of items — kayaks, pedal boats — from Kendrick’s Outdoor Adventures, FortWhyte Alive’s former rental provider.

Celaire estimates the move to FortWhyte cost the business tens of thousands of dollars (including its choice to buy the boats).

“We just find it so hard to believe that they wouldn’t want a family-oriented business there anymore,” Celaire said of The Forks, adding he’s happy to have a spot at FortWhyte.

Bee2gether launched at The Forks in 2007 with four tandem bikes. Since then, the seasonal business has had various locations on the property, gradually expanding its fleet.

Sales of two- to eight-person, side-by-side bike rentals racked up. It depended on which location Bee2gether was placed, Celaire said — a spot behind The Forks Market would not be as busy as in front of the building.

He counted about 2,500 rentals last year, marking Bee2gether’s best season downtown.

Leases were renewed annually, with the exception of a two-year deal spanning 2024 and 2025.

Celaire said he’d talked to The Forks leadership last year about hosting a future bike valet: “When you’re given comments like, what you could do for the next year, automatically that leads you to believe there will be a next year.”

The Forks said it advised Bee2gether Bikes in 2024 a two-year lease was available (for 2024 and 2025), but the lease wouldn’t be renewed further due to “planned changes to the site and the future of the space.”

“These decisions are never made lightly and we recognize they have a real impact on the businesses involved,” spokeswoman Tineke Buiskool-Leeuwma wrote in a statement. “We understand this outcome is disappointing, but we were transparent throughout the process and provided long-range advance notice.”

Celaire disputes this. He pointed to a May 7, 2026, email from The Forks property manager (which the Free Press has viewed), saying The Forks was looking at various options for summer 2026 and hadn’t completed its tenancy reviews.

It was in response to Celaire’s check-in; the property manager said discussions would likely conclude “mid-next week.”

In July, The Forks chief operating officer told Celaire in an email: “We warned you (in 2024), ‘With the impending construction of the Railside Development, we won’t know if the space will be available in the future.’”

The Forks declined to comment on confidential discussions with tenants.

“You did not contact us to discuss a new lease; you sent an email in April saying you wanted to come set up for 2026, and we informed you that you no longer had a lease, as it had expired in 2025,” Jessica Floresco, the COO, wrote to Celaire in an email.

Space isn’t available, she added.

Construction is ongoing at Railside at The Forks, a mixed-use development. Four buildings are in the ground and expected to be finished in 2028, according to Buiskool-Leeuwma.

Celaire said he’d still like to run Bee2gether Bikes at The Forks, perhaps once Railside is open. Bee2gether also has sites at Assiniboine Park and Birds Hill Provincial Park. It employs more than 30 people, mainly students.

“We’re thankful for the opportunity and all the years that we’ve been able to run there,” Celaire said of The Forks. “It’s the busiest attraction, probably, in Manitoba.”

The Forks records four million visitors annually.

Meantime, Bee2gether is leaning into FortWhyte Alive. The hub has 22 fat tire bikes, eight kayaks, two tandem kayaks, four pedal boats, four canoes, 10 paddleboards and many multi-person bikes.

“It’s a unique experience that they offer,” said Ian Barnett, FortWhyte Alive’s vice-president. “It’s just a different way to get out and about and enjoy our trails.”

Bee2gether Bikes inked a two-year lease with FortWhyte, Barnett said.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com