Rainbow Stage’s 70th anniversary

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This article was published 03/07/2024 (464 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Sunday marks the 70th anniversary of the grand opening concert at Kildonan Park’s Rainbow Stage.

Music has always been a big part of the park’s history but its well-used bandshell and most of its other built infrastructure was destroyed in the 1950 Red River Flood. The city’s parks board, in consultation with the Junior Chamber of Commerce and Civic Music League, decided that the venue should be replaced with something grander that could host more elaborate shows.

Architects Smith, Munn, Carter, Katelnikoff were hired to design a new venue. Their proposal featured an arched wood proscenium which led to the name “Rainbow Stage.”

The estimated construction cost was nearly $30,000, but the city had a long list of post-flood capital projects on its books and would only put up half of the money. It was up to a public fundraising campaign led by the Junior Chamber of Commerce and Civic Music League to match that amount.

Fundraising began in June 1952 and on Sept. 2, with about $4,000 from the public in the bank, the city let out the construction contract. (The final cost of the project ended up being nearly $50,000, which the city had to cover.)

Construction got underway in the autumn of 1952 and the first concert by the Kitsilano Boys Band from British Columbia was held in the yet-to-be-completed venue on Sept. 22, 1953.

The official opening of the 2,000-seat open-air facility took place on July 7, 1954. Mayor Grant Coulter, Reg Hugo of the Civic Music League, and James Fraser, chairman of the city’s parks board, presided over the opening night concert.

The two-hour show featured St. Boniface tenor Georges Paquin, comedian Len Andree, Eric Wild’s orchestra, the 80-member Ukrainian Youth Association Choir, Ukrainian dancers from the Trident Club, the Jewish Community Choir, and the 22-piece Lowe’s accordion band.

Rainbow Stage was originally a community stage for hire and was rented out for 19 different events during its first summer. In 1956, the administration of the venue was transferred from the Parks Board to the Winnipeg Summer Theatre Association, which produced its own shows and concerts. A decade later, the non-profit Rainbow Stage Inc. was created.

The venue has undergone numerous expansions and improvements over the decades.

Most noticeable was the addition of a geodesic dome roof designed by Jack Ross and built by Dominion Bridge. It was unveiled in 1969 with fabric panels that were changed to plastic ones in 1970.

In 1976, a multi-year, $750,000 upgrade was announced. It included adding washrooms and concessions below the main seating area at the front of the venue. The resulting brutalist concrete form façade has been softened in recent years with murals.

Another series of renovations in the 1980s focussed on the stage and backstage area and required the removal of the original arched proscenium

Rainbow Stage’s 70th season kicked off with the first of three productions on June 27.