Special Coverage

Arts Editor's Picks

Photos by ROBERT LEE / FREE PRESS Beryl Boney, who grew up in Trinidad and Tobago, has spent 25 years transforming her block on St. Mary’s Road with flowers and vegetables, including ceramic chickens that nod to her Caribbean roots.

Vibrant Norwood apartment garden a labour of love to honour green thumb’s late partner

David Sanderson 8 minute read 6:00 AM CDT

St. Vital resident Rob Duncan can’t pinpoint when he first noticed an award-winning garden blanketing the grounds of a two-storey St. Mary’s Road apartment block, near Coniston Street.

Perhaps he was on his way home from work and caught a glimpse of it out of the corner of his eye. Or maybe he was running errands in the Norwood Flats area and paused to admire the array of annuals, perennials and potted plants that extends from the block’s doorway to the front curb.

What Duncan does know for certain is that after spying the urban oasis, twice fêted in Take Pride Winnipeg’s annual Winnipeg in Bloom competition, he couldn’t unsee it.

“First of all, the pink building really stands out,” Duncan says, referring to the brightly painted California Apartments complex at 268 St. Mary’s Rd. “But then you have the pergola, the rock garden, the flowers and trees… a sea of colour on a very busy street.”

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Le fil des Francophiles

MARTA GUERRERO / LA LIBERTé Mercédès Beaudry, 17 ans, prêtera sa voix à la francophonie manitobaine lors du spectacle de Jamais Trop Tôt, dans le cadre du FICG.

À Granby, le Manitoba francophone au micro

Félix Guichard 10 minute read Preview

À Granby, le Manitoba francophone au micro

Félix Guichard 10 minute read 2:00 AM CDT

Bercée par la musique depuis l’enfance, Mercédès Beaudry sera la seule représentante du Manitoba à Jamais Trop Tôt, le volet jeunesse du Festival international de la chanson de Granby (FICG), au Québec. Le 16 août, l’auteure compositrice-interprète de 17 ans montera sur la scène du Palace de Granby aux côtés de 19 autres artistes de la relève francophone venus des quatre coins du Canada.

Mère, père, frère et même ses chats : à peine sélectionnée, Mercédès Beaudry s’est empressée de leur annoncer la bonne nouvelle. La jeune artiste se trouvait avec un ami quand le téléphone s’est mis à sonner : “Pour la première fois dans ma vie, je dois prendre un appel,” s’amuse-t-elle. C’est avec un grand enthousiasme qu’elle a accueilli cette sélection.

Après le dévoilement public de la cohorte, la nouvelle de sa participation s’est vite répandue dans son entourage. “Il y a des personnes qui m’ont textée et qui ne savent pas forcément en quoi consiste Jamais Trop Tôt, alors je dois expliquer ça à tout le monde.”

Au programme du FICG, qui se déroulera du 13 au 23 août, Jamais Trop Tôt n’est pas une compétition, mais un projet musical pancanadien avec un spectacle à la clé. Vingt interprètes de la relève francophone venus des quatre coins du Canada, dont près de la moitié du Québec, passeront cinq jours à l’Université Bishop’s, du 11 au 15 août, pour suivre une formation vocale et scénique. Ils se produiront ensuite en spectacle le 16 août à 19 h 30 au Palace de Granby.

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2:00 AM CDT

Books

MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Didi Chanoch is the proud owner of Other Places Books at 436 Graham Ave.

New sci-fi/fantasy bookstore a welcome addition

Ben Sigurdson 5 minute read Preview

New sci-fi/fantasy bookstore a welcome addition

Ben Sigurdson 5 minute read Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026

A new chapter has begun in Winnipeg’s literary landscape with the opening of science fiction and fantasy bookstore Other Places Books.

Located at 436 Graham Ave., the queer-owned and operated shop is the latest in a host of genre bookstores to have opened in the city over the last few years. In addition to longtime mainstay Whodunit? Mystery Bookstore (163 Lilac St.), the local scene now also features a horror bookstore (Raven’s End Books, which opened at 1859 Portage Ave. in 2024) and a shop focused on romance (Bound to Please, which opened at 995 McPhillips St. earlier this year).

The 900 titles currently in stock at Other Places, which opened Tuesday, span a range of sci-fi and fantasy sub-genres, with a particular focus on queer writers and storylines. The bookstore is the brainchild of Didi Chanoch, who moved to Winnipeg from Israel in 2025 after the Canadian federal government began offering work permits to those in Israel and Palestine looking to leave the area due to the conflict.

Winnipeg ended up on Chanoch’s radar in large part due to a more reasonable cost of living than other Canadian cities.

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Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026

COVID-19: Canada and World

Dr. Anthony Fauci departs after appearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing at the Capitol, Wednesday, July 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)

Fauci contempt vote reflects the enduring politics of COVID

Ali Swenson, The Associated Press 8 minute read Preview

Fauci contempt vote reflects the enduring politics of COVID

Ali Swenson, The Associated Press 8 minute read Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026

NEW YORK (AP) — Dr. Anthony Fauci is sitting before Congress, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is on TV debating COVID lockdowns and Americans can’t agree on what science to trust.

You might think it's 2020 again.

Six years after COVID-19 thrust the world into the fear and uncertainty of a global pandemic, Republicans in power aren’t leaving it in the past. Instead, they’ve returned its familiar political arguments to center stage for new scrutiny, demanding accountability for the scientists and media figures whom they feel deceived and mistreated Americans years ago.

The efforts ramped up last week, when a Republican-led Senate committee chaired by Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul subpoenaed the now-retired, 85-year-old Fauci to testify about his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026

The Arts

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS Visual artist RYAN AD says while internationalism has been good to him, he recognizes its exploitative elements.

Winnipeg artist RYAN AD's ambitions growing as work reaches Paris

Conrad Sweatman 5 minute read Preview

Winnipeg artist RYAN AD's ambitions growing as work reaches Paris

Conrad Sweatman 5 minute read Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026

RYAN AD is Jamaican-Grenadian, lives in Winnipeg and receives iPhone notifications in French.

One of these notifications recently gave the photographer (who goes by his artist name) good news: a prestigious Parisian art gallery was interested in featuring two of his photographs in one of its exhibitions. One was captured in Manitoba, the other in Jamaica.

“I felt a constant sense of community in Jamaica. You’ll walk down the road and people will talk to you,” he says. “Here you have to be buying something to exist in most places.”

One photo, entitled Born Underwater, is a gentle depiction of Lake Winnipeg, reminiscent of Wanda Koop for its symmetry and pastel-like softness. The other, Myself When Young, shows a man leaning on an old car with its hood popped, a glimpse into Jamaica’s culture of repair and resourcefulness.

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Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026

Goldeyes Report

RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS Winnipeg Goldeyes pitcher Derrick Cherry (left) says catcher Raphael Pelletier (right) ‘keeps everyone looking good on the field.’

Goldeyes catcher Pelletier moonlights as team barber

Taylor Allen 6 minute read Preview

Goldeyes catcher Pelletier moonlights as team barber

Taylor Allen 6 minute read Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026

Tucked inside the Winnipeg Goldeyes’ clubhouse is a no-frills washroom with a urinal, a pair of toilets and a trio of sinks beneath matching mirrors.

But when rookie catcher Raphael Pelletier drags in a well-worn black leather salon chair with cracked upholstery and lays out his clippers, trimmers and shears, the space transforms into something else: a barbershop.

While far from luxurious, it’s the type of haircutting experience that could only exist inside the wacky world of independent baseball.

“He keeps everyone looking good on the field, honestly. We needed this,” said third-year Goldeyes pitcher Derrick Cherry, while getting a trim on Wednesday ahead of the team’s game against the Chicago Dogs.

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Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026

NHL

Gene J. Puskar / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES With the addition of Stuart Skinner, the Winnipeg Jets have the makings of featuring the best one-two punch between the pipes in the NHL this season.

Central remains toughest division in league

Ken Wiebe 7 minute read Preview

Central remains toughest division in league

Ken Wiebe 7 minute read Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026

With NHL training camps set to open in just over five weeks’ time, the Central Division still looks like one of the toughest places to earn a playoff spot in the league.

With three of the top seven teams in the NHL standings last season residing within it — including the Presidents’ Trophy winning Colorado Avalanche (121 points) — it’s clear that the most likely path back to the Stanley Cup playoffs for the Winnipeg Jets is by earning one of the two wild-card berths available in the Western Conference.

And since a couple of teams in the Pacific Division are on the rise, including the Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks (who missed the playoffs by four points in Macklin Celebrini’s second NHL season), it’s likely going to take north of 90 or 92 points to punch a post-season ticket.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the moves that were made in the Central, realizing there are a few questions left unanswered for the Jets and the seven other clubs:

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Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026

Basketball

BROOK JONES / FREE PRESS FILES The Winnipeg Sea Bears will be without star guard Teddy Allen (right) Thursday as the club takes on the Saskatoon Mamba at Canada Life Centre in the CEBL Western Conference semis. Allen was assaulted by nightclub security Sunday night.

Sea Bears say Allen recovering from nightclub assault

Joshua Frey-Sam 5 minute read Preview

Sea Bears say Allen recovering from nightclub assault

Joshua Frey-Sam 5 minute read Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026

The Winnipeg Sea Bears are preparing for the Canadian Elite Basketball League playoffs without the services of its Most Valuable Player.

The club announced on Tuesday that star guard Teddy Allen has been ruled out for Thursday’s Western Conference semifinal against the Saskatoon Mamba at Canada Life Centre (7:30 p.m.) as he recovers from “significant health injuries” suffered after being assaulted by security staff at a downtown nightclub on Sunday.

“We continue to co-operate with the Winnipeg Police Service on its investigation and have referred them individuals and information based on what has been provided to us from those on the scene,” a statement from the club read.

“What we’ve seen and heard to date leads us to believe that Teddy was the victim of an assault at the hands of security at a downtown nightclub.”

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Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026

Arts Editor's Picks

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS Chef Mike Licharson with dishes using ingredients sourced from Assiniboine Park and The Leaf biomes at the Gather restaurant on Wednesday, May 27, 2026. For AV story. Free Press 2026

Homegrown grub: Resto turns to the Leaf for freshest ingredients

AV Kitching 4 minute read Preview

Homegrown grub: Resto turns to the Leaf for freshest ingredients

AV Kitching 4 minute read Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026

The term “eat local” has taken on a whole new meaning at Gather Craft Kitchen and Bar, where the journey from plot to plate is measured in footsteps rather than miles.

Head chef Mike Licharson has expanded the restaurant’s focus on local sourcing by incorporating fruit and vegetables grown in The Leaf’s biomes and outdoor kitchen garden into his menu.

Bananas from the tropical biomes star in his banana-bread French toast and accompanying banana compote. Leeks, braised slowly and paired with Manitoba-grown beluga lentils, and Swiss chard — which takes the place of grape leaves in Licharson’s play on classic meze dolmades, a nod to the chef’s Greek-Ukrainian-Irish heritage — are both grown in the outdoor kitchen garden.

The park’s produce complements the restaurant’s other locally sourced ingredients, Licharson says.

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Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026

Health

Supplied The Canadian Health Care Guerrilla Handbook is widely available.

Book gives patients tools for navigating the Canadian health-care system and getting treatment they need

Janine LeGal 6 minute read Preview

Book gives patients tools for navigating the Canadian health-care system and getting treatment they need

Janine LeGal 6 minute read Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026

More than a few of us have been known to complain about the Canadian health-care system: the lack of staffing, the long ER waits, the challenge of finding a family physician, the lengthy waiting lists for specialized tests and surgeries. There’s been an outcry for answers for a long time.

The publication of The Canadian Health Care Guerrilla Handbook: How to Fight for What You Need is welcome news for anyone seeking those answers.

Written by Michael Decter, who served as cabinet secretary in Manitoba before his move to Ontario — and Mike McCarthy, patient advocate and consultant who brings a personal story of living with hemophilia, the book is a must-have, packed with answers to commonly asked questions that will help the reader navigate a complex and fractured system.

The book, written in plain language, talks about how to get what you want and need: a family doctor, diagnostic tests, appropriate medications, a second opinion, long-term care, home care, mental-health care — all of that and more is easily accessible in its 217 pages.

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Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026

Movies

Apple TV Tanya Reynolds and Jason Sudeikis head to the pitch in a new season of Ted Lasso.

TV with kick, secrets, rebellion and green rings

Denise Duguay 4 minute read Preview

TV with kick, secrets, rebellion and green rings

Denise Duguay 4 minute read Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026

Deep into a summer with endless-seeming heat waves, squadrons of both mosquitoes and dragonflies, and a dearth of insect repellent, here is a richly varied smorgasbord of TV, new and returning, to illuminate your shade-darkened viewing spaces. Also, remember to hydrate.

• Ted Lasso (Season 4 premières Wednesday, Aug. 5, on Apple TV)

It’s the return of the nice guy, the can-do guy, the BELIEVE guy! But enough of that feel-good stuff. There are questions to be answered when the soccer-is-life series returns! How and why does Ted (Jason Sudeikis) leave the U.S. to go back to the U.K. to coach the AFC Richmond women’s team after having quit the Richmond men’s team at the end of Season 3? What fresh stories will the show come up with to avoid a female rewind of the first three seasons, good as those stories were? And finally how will Hannah Waddington gear down from the fun assassin role in Prime Video’s excellent new series Ride or Die back to the buttoned-down AFC team owner Rebecca Welton? Shall we all find out together?

• The Shards (series premières Wednesday, Aug. 5, on FX, and the next day on Disney+/Hulu)

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Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026

Le fil des Francophiles

Gracieuseté Julien Nayet-Pelletier Julien Nayet-Pelletier en tournage en Islande pour Julien Looks Under Things: Under Iceland’s Waters.

Sous les eaux islandaises avec Julien Nayet-Pelletier

Chelsea Howgate 7 minute read Preview

Sous les eaux islandaises avec Julien Nayet-Pelletier

Chelsea Howgate 7 minute read Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026

Avec Julien Looks Under Things: Under Iceland’s Waters, le vulgarisateur scientifique Julien Nayet-Pelletier entraîne le public sous les eaux islandaises. Son documentaire met en lumière une biodiversité fascinante et les personnes qui travaillent à sa préservation.

Devenir cinéaste n’était pas un rêve d’enfance du franco-manitobain Julien Nayet-Pelletier.

Mais bien qu’il ait toujours été fasciné par la nature et le théâtre, et bien qu’il demeure fan des documentaires de David Attenborough, c’est donc sans surprise que la vie l’a finalement mené sur cette voie.

Il est l’animateur de la série numérique Julien Looks Under Things, où il vise à dévoiler les éléments variés de la nature avec humour et un talent pour rendre la nature accessible.

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Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026

Arts Editor's Picks

Stampeding to Starlette’s

Stampeding to Starlette’s

David Sanderson 7 minute read Preview

Stampeding to Starlette’s

David Sanderson 7 minute read Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026

ELMA — Build it and they will come.

Lee and Star Giesbrecht are the owners of Starlette’s Burger Saloon, a western-themed, outdoor eating spot situated on the married couple’s 40-acre spread, immediately north of Elma.

Seated at one of a half-dozen picnic tables that dot the grounds, Star recalls a conversation she and Lee had prior to the May 2025 grand opening of their locale, which, with its weathered-wood exterior and rustic swinging doors, wouldn’t look out of place in an episode of Yellowstone.

Because they are “literally in the middle of nowhere,” Star says Lee thought it would be advantageous to mount a TV in one corner of the kitchen, for those occasions when they’d be twiddling their thumbs for hours on end, with little to do.

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Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026

Soccer

NSL PHOTO The Ottawa Rapid came away with a 2-1 win over the Halifax Tides in Week 13. Halifax gets its chance to avenge the loss at home on Monday.

Around the NSL: Roaring Rapid; Mighty Maroons motoring; Wild still looking for first win

Grace Anne Paizen 5 minute read Preview

Around the NSL: Roaring Rapid; Mighty Maroons motoring; Wild still looking for first win

Grace Anne Paizen 5 minute read Friday, Jul. 31, 2026

WELCOME back to the View from Row Z!

What a fortnight of footy in the Northern Super League. With two Week 15 games already in the books, this edition of the View will look a little different, capping off all the action from Week 13 and 14.

Let’s start with questions going into the two games left in Week 15.

Can the Rapid be stopped?

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Friday, Jul. 31, 2026

Arts Editor's Picks

RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS Biz - Dastardly Villain Ale Works Photo of Scott Tackaberry, owner of Dastardly Villain Ale Works soon to open on south Osborne, Breweries open in South Osborne, with another (Dastardly Villain) on the way. This article is about the business expansion in South Osborne. Dastardly Villain is currently constructing its micro-brewery and taproom. July 31st, 2026

‘Good deal of synergy’ brewing in South Osborne

Gabrielle Piché 5 minute read Preview

‘Good deal of synergy’ brewing in South Osborne

Gabrielle Piché 5 minute read Friday, Jul. 31, 2026

Pub crawls could become the next South Osborne draw.

At least, that’s the hope of entrepreneurs in the area as three breweries build out locations in the Winnipeg neighbourhood.

Nonsuch Brewing Co. and Good Neighbour Brewing Co. have opened storefronts along the strip in the past three months. Dastardly Villain is creating a taproom and nanobrewery.

“I’m really excited to have these pubs and taprooms,” said Ben Shantz, board chair of the South Osborne Business Improvement Zone.

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Friday, Jul. 31, 2026

Bomber Report

JOHN WOODS / THE CANADIAN PRESS B.C. Lions’ Keon Hatcher (4) and Zander Horvath (34) celebrate Horvath’s touchdown in front of Winnipeg Blue Bombers defensive back Deatrick Nichols Thursday night at Princess Auto Stadium.

Bombers defence still holds hope season can be turned around

Ken Wiebe 7 minute read Preview

Bombers defence still holds hope season can be turned around

Ken Wiebe 7 minute read Friday, Jul. 31, 2026

One solitary, one-syllable word was all Mike O’Shea needed to try and describe what he had just seen.

The head coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers had watched his defence get shredded for almost 400 yards in the rushing game alone in what was a 35-19 loss to the B.C. Lions on Thursday night before a stunned crowd of more than 31,000 at Princess Auto Stadium.

“Oof,” said O’Shea, before he explained things a bit further on the tactical side and provided some of the reasons things went sideways in such an important facet of the game.

It wasn’t that the description the head coach of the Bombers gave on that front wasn’t important, but the preamble to the soliloquy on how a series of errors and missed tackles wasn’t really necessary for anyone who had just witnessed this debacle.

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Friday, Jul. 31, 2026

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