Winnipeg, Manitoba

Winnipeg is a city with many appellations, bestowed by various cultural sectors. The name Winnipeg, which stems from the aboriginal word 'win', meaning muddy, and 'nipee', meaning waters, was first used on the masthead of Manitoba's first newspaper, The Nor'wester, in 1866. Prior to this time, the Nor'wester called the community Red River Settlement, Assiniboia.

As a prairie city gaining its origin mainly because of water travel, the city is known to some as the River City, as in The River City Brewing Company. The internationally acclaimed Forks Market is located at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers. It is here that Miles Macdonnell and 36 Scottish and Irish laborers founded the first Red River settlement.

Beginning in 1776, when there was nobody around except for a few natives and fur traders, there were five floods before The Great Flood of 1826. This flood caused the evacuation of all the town's settlers, which by this time still tallied less than 1000. There were then six more floods before the Great Flood of 1950. This flood caused an estimated $115,000,000 in damage. Winnipeggers had now had enough and resolved to build the Red River Floodway, an architectural wonder that diverts floodwater around the metropolitan area at the expense of the surrounding villages and farms. This structure was completed in 1962, ensuring that the city would never again have to be evacuated.

But floods were not the only strife early settlers had to suffer before a permanent settlement became viable. Before 1821, the North West Company, its employees and Metis allies practiced a form of protectionism that would land them all in jail today. They killed the competition, which included settlers the company viewed as a threat to the fur trade. They felt, quite correctly, that rising population in the area would quickly deplete the area of its resources in fur bearing animals. On June 19, 1816, in what became known as the Seven Oaks Massacre, 70 mounted, armed North West Company employees and Metis, attacked the settlement at Selkirk, gruesomely murdering, disemboweling and scalping 21 of the settlers there. They then smashed in the skulls and left the bodies on the plains to be scavenged by wolves. That is the way it was done during the earliest struggles between the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company. In 1821, the rival companies agreed to ‘bury the hatchet', merging their interests and bringing an uneasy peace to the area. However, this did not guarantee the settlement's success, and until agriculture became sustainable in the late 1840s, the people relied mainly on the buffalo hunt for sustenance. The fur trade remained strong until about 1875, when expanding commerce and trade, effective flood control and agricultural practices became attractive enough to induce a short period of brisk colonial growth. A population of 215 in 1871 grew to 3700 in 1874.

Yet, in 1870, Winnipeg was still less significant than the Red River colonies. These consisted of Scottish, Irish and French settlements located in feudal arrangement all along the Red River. There were three distinct colonies: at the Forks, at Point Douglas (now the somewhat famous corner of Portage and Main Street), and at Selkirk (now located about 15 miles north of Winnipeg). There was still the odd skirmish between colonists trying to secure their livelihoods; but The Red River Rebellion (in which Louis Riel secured the rights of Metis and consequently martyred himself) of the 1860s resulted in Manitoba entering Confederation in 1870. From the mid-1870s on, the area settled into a slow but steady growth.

The Manitoba Act was signed in 1870; Fort Osborne Barracks were founded in 1872, much increasing local trade; 1872 also saw the inauguration of the Winnipeg Free Press, still in business today. The town grew as a trade centre to meet the demands for goods the colonists needed. The first fortunes made here were made by real estate speculators, who correctly predicted a boom, purchased huge tracts of land and parceled them out to the immigrating colonists. In January of 1872, the first issue of the Manitoba Trade Review is published, and calls for the town's incorporation. On November 8, 1873, The Forks and the Red River Colony merged into an incorporated Winnipeg. The Act of Incorporation followed Ontario's lead; consequently, the remaking of Manitoba in Ontario's image began in Winnipeg. By late 1874, a civic government was well established, and the city's motto became 'Commerce, Prudence, Industry'. Considering the counterproductive endeavors of early settlers here, the term prudence is a terrible irony.

In 1907, Winnipeg's Stock Exchange was chartered, and by 1913 manufacturing concerns achieved sales over $50M. In May of 1919, more than 35,000 union employees and unorganized laborers (almost a fifth of the city's population) went on strike in response to poor trade conditions and a recessed economy, paralyzing Winnipeg commerce. Riots and bloodshed ensued, and before it was over the union leaders were jailed. The following year the Manitoba Legislative Building was erected and topped with a standard symbol of Winnipeg—the Golden Boy.

Travel on the rivers was vital to commerce in the early development of the city. Before this time, however, aboriginal hunting parties, early traders and explorers used these rivers. The ‘forks' also became a meeting place and area devoted to ritual practices. This rich history is represented in the current Forks development and factors largely in continued development. These rivers continued to be vital until the development of the Red River Cart, a sturdy two-wheeled wagon that could withstand the brutal overland routes used in westward expansion. In addition, the coming of the railroad in 1881, removed the necessity of river commerce. Today, the Red and Assiniboine are used almost entirely for pleasure travel and recreation. The Splash Dash Water Bus is an exception, which makes it possible to get quickly from one river attraction to the next.

It was for these reasons that this city became known as the Gateway to the West; it remains a major distribution centre to this day. Connected to this is the notion that Winnipeg is the 'proving grounds' of Canadian commerce. It is said by many industrialists and entrepreneurs that, 'if it works in Winnipeg it will work anywhere'.

Finally, the ‘Peg is known as the 'dining capital of Canada'. It is widely rumored that this city has more restaurants per capita than any other Canadian city. While it is hard to find verification of this rumor, a trip downtown, especially down Corydon Avenue, seems to bear out this assertion with relative ease. The Yellow Pages here have over 25 pages of entries for restaurants—not bad for a city with little more than 600,000 people.

This city has more than even the hardiest entertainment buff can possibly take in. Not only is this a very arts oriented town, but also it hosts some of the grandest festivals of their kind in Canada—in some cases the biggest in the world. It is also a very active sports town and leisure activities abound. The arts are heavily endowed here, both from the public and private sectors. There's a multitude of bars, clubs, theatres, museums, and galleries, as well as a full-service Convention Centre that hosts everything from concerts to car shows. Finding amusement In Winnipeg can be as easy as wandering around The Forks or as difficult as trying to pick a play to see.

Theatre and Entertainment Arts

The Manitoba Theatre Centre operates both a main stage and the Warehouse just a short walk away. The Warehouse doesn't have as much in the line-up, but it offers dependable productions. The Prairie Theatre Exchange, located on the third floor of the popular Portage Place mall, showcases local talent and has a drama school. Other theatres in the Exchange Districtinclude the Walker Theatre and Pantages Playhouse Theatre. Gas Station Theatre in Osborne Village, a walk through which is entertainment in itself, features amateurs taking to stage. The Manitoba Theatre for Young People is in The Forks, where there is a Select-A-Seat office that brokers for most of the production companies in town. The Main stage at The Forks Market is host to concerts, featuring local and imported talent. Twenty minutes north of downtown, at Kildonan Park, visitors will find the lovely outdoor venue, Rainbow Stage; which offers Broadway style shows all summer, and takes their troupe to Pantages in winter. If you like opera or dance, check out the Manitoba Opera, which has its own ticket line at 780 3333, or Winnipeg's Contemporary Dancers.

Movie theatres downtown are distributed almost as tightly as the production houses. In the outlying regions they are found in most major malls; and nearly all movie houses have gone to the multiplex format. Video stores are on every street corner, it seems. Notable for Osborne Village is Movie Village, a shop catering to the viewing preferences of the city's subculture. Those folks into art films will find their needs met at Cinemateque in the Exchange, where independent films play for six bucks a head. If you're driving, Winnipeg still has an old-style drive-in theatre, the Odeon, just past the western limit of town.

Note: In recent years Winnipeg has been host to many independent and major film companies.

Museums and Galleries

A person strolling through the core of Winnipeg couldn't walk four blocks without encountering a museum or gallery of some form or another. Downtown houses the majors, with the Museum of Man and Nature/Planetarium/Concert Hall complex located just north of Portage and Main, and the Winnipeg Art Gallery a short trip up Portage at Memorial Boulevard. Osborne Village and Little Italy have an amazing number of galleries clustered together. Notable are the Sedentary Nomad, featuring work from Africa exclusively, the Prairie Shop gallery, both on Osborne, and the Stoneware Gallery about a mile west on Corydon. Both the core and outlying regions house smaller museums; such as the Transcona Historical Museum, which celebrates that neighborhood's railway past. Some must-see attractions outside of town include Lower Fort Garry near Selkirk, the only intact stone fort construct in North America, and the Mennonite Heritage Museum in Steinbach, a mock-up of a nineteenth-century Mennonite village.

Music

Live music can be found almost anywhere, and in almost any genre. Concerts are held in the arenas, the parks, stadiums, even Assiniboia Downs Horse Racing Track. Many nightclubs feature live music as well as dance music; some, like Braemar Village Restaurant and Cabaret (open late), even give dance lessons. Clubs like Coyote Cafe and the River City Brewing Company are great places to meet that special someone.

Amusements and Games

Winnipeg has some exciting amusement parks that are great for the whole family. Although some climbing and paintball clubs exist within town, most of the parks are just outside. Fun Mountain Waterslide Park, Grand Prix Amusements and Tinkertown Family Fun Park are all located just east of the city, while A Maze in Corn and Victory Lanes Speedway are a few miles past the South Perimeter Highway. Fifteen minutes north of town, at Lockport, is Skinners Wet & Wild—another big waterslide facility. The Prairie Dog Central Living Museum takes train tours out the west side; and if you go as far as Portage la Prairie, an hour west of Winnipeg, you will find the Strawberry Festival in the height of summer. Games could include anything from our pro teams to golf. This city has some excellent pro golf courses, most notable of which are once again located just outside town. John Blumberg Golf Course & Baseball Complex and Prairie Dog Central Living Museum are two of the finest. There are many courses and driving ranges in the outlying areas, as well.

Festivals & Cultural Events

Mentioning a few and not all seems unfair, but Winnipeg has some biggies that should be pointed out. The Winnipeg Folk Festival, held in the spacious Bird's Hill Park & Campground, is weekend of music, crafts and outdoor fun for the whole family. Folklorama, a weeklong celebration of ethnic diversity, is the largest of its kind in the world. The Winnipeg International Writer's Festival is fairly new, but is rivaling similar events in Toronto and Vancouver. The Fringe Theatre Festival, is a rapidly growing event that attracts people from the fringes of the earth. We also have some lesser-known events here that may be of interest. The North American Indigenous Games and the Special Olympics for disabled folks are two examples.