Summer fun — and all for free

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This article was published 26/06/2017 (3022 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

During the last week of school for Winnipeg students, naturally thoughts are turning to summer vacation and how to fill time with experiences that will become fond memories.

Many seasonal activities and attractions don’t come cheap and, for many families, summer can become costly. That’s the main reason Assiniboine Park’s summer entertainment series is free. It’s made possible through donor support and sponsors such as Casinos of Winnipeg, this year’s title sponsor.

“It’s a place where families and friends and communities can come together to take in a great concert, or a double movie feature, or jazz, without worrying how they’re going to pay for it,” says Alison August, marketing and community engagement co-ordinator for the Assiniboine Park Conservancy.

“There are a lot of great festivals that are happening throughout the summer… but it gets expensive. That makes it inaccessible to a large group of people who are struggling to get by. Everyone should have the opportunity to take in live music.”

At the heart of the entertainment series is the Lyric Theatre. Since opening in its current iteration in 1999, the theatre has been among the busiest public stages in the city. (Of course, the tradition of live music in Assiniboine Park predates the ’90s; bandshell performances happened there as early as the 1920s.) The Summer Music Series kicked off last week with a Winnipeg Pops Orchestra performance and continues until Aug. 31. The concerts begin at 7 p.m., and are held on Thursday and Sunday nights, which is by design. Many folks are cottage-bound Friday and Saturday.

The much-loved Jazz in the Leo Mol Sculpture Garden series runs every Sunday at 3 p.m. from July 9 to Aug. 27.

Local musician Gerry Atwell was tapped by the conservancy to serve as the artistic co-ordinator for the series, a gig he jumped at, having played the Lyric stage many times. His vision was to diversify the music on offer and attract new audiences to the park.

“We wanted to see all of Winnipeg reflected on the stage throughout the summer,” Atwell says. “Now, that’s impossible given how rich Winnipeg is in culture, but I think we’re fairly representative this year in trying to provide a lot of different experiences for the audience.

“My thought when I was engaging acts was imagining the experience if I were sitting in the audience.”

Tom Jackson, Eagle & Hawk, the Ron Paley Big Band and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra are among the well-known draws. There will be a host of tribute bands as well. Assiniboine Park has teamed up with Folklorama, which will be programming four concerts featuring everyone from Chilean-Canadian guitarist Oscar Lopez to the Winnipeg multidisciplinary collective Kayumanggi Philippine Performing Arts.

There’s more than music to be found in park in summertime. The Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s much-loved Ballet in the Park, which runs July 26 through 28 at 7 p.m., is a tradition that dates back to the 1970s, attracting more than 20,000 people every year. The hugely popular Movies in the Park, meanwhile, will enter its seventh season this summer, screening double features every Friday for the month of August — a family-friendly movie at 7 p.m., and a more grown-up blockbuster at 9:15 p.m.

“People love Movies in the Park,” August says. “People pack picnics and get here early.”

The conservancy is adding a wellness component. Free, hour-long yoga classes will be held at the Lyric Theatre Wednesdays at 6:45 a.m. from June 28 to Aug. 30. There are also many third-party events, including on Canada Day.)

Both Atwell and August recognize the potential the venue has for outside-the-box performances and events.

Last July, the Lyric Theatre hosted the live broadcast of the final concert of the Tragically Hip’s Man Machine Poem tour.

“Thousands of people came and it was an incredible night,” August says. “All of Canada was coming together in public spaces across the nation and it was a highlight to be a part of that. There was such a sense of community.”

In many ways, Assiniboine Park becomes a microcosm of Winnipeg’s arts scene in the summer. August would love to see the conservancy to explore partnerships with more of the city’s arts organizations, as it has successfully with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Folklorama and the Winnipeg Art Gallery, whose WAG @ the Park is in the Pavilion all year. (On her personal wish list is a Winnipeg Folk Festival night, as well as more children’s performers.)

“Our goal is to make Winnipeg a culturally diverse and enriched community. We want to offer the public and tourists things to do, and leave them with a feeling of, ‘What a great city, there’s so much happening here.’ Because there is so much happening here.”

jen.zoratti@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @JenZoratti