Fort Gibraltar earmarked for renovations

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This article was published 25/02/2014 (4465 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Festival du Voyageur may have drawn to a close for another year, but the future of centrepiece site Fort Gibraltar looks bright for generations to come.

One of southeast Winnipeg’s most popular attractions is set to receive $30,000 in funding for renovations through the city’s Community Incentive Grant program.

The collective contribution from councillors Dan Vandal (St. Boniface), Brian Mayes (St. Vital) and Justin Swandel (St. Norbert) was announced Feb. 17, Louis Riel Day,  and will be used to help rebuild the fort’s walls, as well as three of its cabins.

“Festival is the time of the year where the world is invited to St. Boniface to experience history, art, culture and the French-Canadian joie de vivre in order to bring a little warmth in the cold Winnipeg Winter months,” Vandal said in a release, noting the improvement will “allow the community, the entire city and even international tourists to continue to enjoy this unique event for many years to come.”

Festival executive director Ginette Lavack Walters, highlighted the cultural and historical significance of the landmark fort.

“As a non-profit organization, we have been doing our best to maintain the condition of Fort Gibraltar since its construction in 1979. We are quite pleased to see that the City of Winnipeg also believes in the importance of this site and in the work that Festival du Voyageur does to preserve and celebrate our Franco-Manitoban heritage and culture,” she said.

According to www.fortgibraltar.com, the site has a storied history. Historians say Fort Gibraltar was built in 1809 by the North West Company and captured and destroyed by the Selkirk Colony in 1816. It was rebuilt by the North West Company a year later and when the company merged with Hudson’s Bay Company in 1821, the fort continued operations under HBC’s standard.

In 1822, Fort Gibraltar’s name was changed to Fort Garry and 13 years later it was abandoned, although its warehouses were still used. In 1852, the fort was destroyed by the Red River flood and it was eventually rebuilt by Festival du Voyageur 35 years ago.

The site now operates year-round and accommodates thousands of visitors for weddings, conferences and various events.

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