Where May June 2018 WhereMayJun18_Digital | страница 9

HANDMADE IN MANITOBA
Winnipeg is a hotbed for artisanal acquisitions, from local food
products to handmade clothing, jewellery, and fine art. Those
looking for one-of-a-kind items need not stray too far from the
beaten path. Many boutique shops’ shelves are stocked with
handmade goods, making it easy for makers to share their
wares.
Mud + Stone Studio is the perfect place to
pick up a special accent piece. Lynne Mulvihill
and Jenn McCurry design gorgeous hand-
thrown pottery, beloved by the city’s trendiest
restaurants and found in hip local homes.
Pottery, jewellery, housewares, and art turn the
Forks Trading Company on the second floor
of the Forks Market into a covetable treasure
trove. Pick up a long-burning soy candle from
local Coal & Canary Candle Company in a
signature Forks scent that blends chestnut, brown
sugar, and maple. Sweet tooth shoppers can take
home a taste of the city (literally) from Beeproject
Apiaries, stocked at Beespace on Osborne Street. These
intrepid urban beekeepers have harvested neighbourhood
honey from the city’s ‘hoods, each with a unique flavour profile
imparted by the area’s vegetation.
Pro Tip: Popular pop-up markets are great places to peruse for
handmade items. On May 4 and 5 the city’s largest urban market
Third + Bird takes over the Hudson’s Bay downtown department
store to showcase more than 140 local artisans. Visit the Assiniboia
Downs racetrack on June 10 for the Manitoba Night Market &
Festival (pictured above), which boasts food trucks, vendors, kids
activities, live music, and beer gardens. Twice weekly, St. Norbert
Farmers’ Market sets up shop with locally grown produce, delicious
fresh baking, home-style jams and preserves, fresh-cut flowers,
homespun crafts, and uniquely designed jewellery. Weekly markets
held on Saturdays 8am to 3pm, Wednesdays 11am to 3pm and
feature 130 full-time vendors and 70 occasional vendors.
ARTS AND CULTURE
Winnipeg is renowned for supporting a vibrant arts community
of visual artists, writers, filmmakers, and musicians. While visitors
and locals alike satisfy a year-round appetite for art at the city’s
many galleries, this proliference of creativity means that simply
walking down the block can lead to a moment of aesthetic pleasure.
Neighbourhoods splashed with murals, eclectic street art and
outdoor installations transform the streets into go-to destinations.
Featured on this issue’s stunning cover, muralist Mike Valcourt’s
Nibaa (Ojibway for ‘sleep’), is a beautiful and richly symbolic work
dedicated to missing and murdered Indigenous women. Find this
work on the north-facing wall of the Public Safety Building parking
arcade
on James
Avenue, at the
south east corner of Princess Street.
The state-of-the-art, interactive art
fixture known as The Cube (pictured
above) transforms the Exchange District’s
Old Market Square into an incredible
open-air performance venue during the summer
months. The stage revealed when The Cube’s aluminum
‘curtain’ rises plays host to popular music festivals such as the
Winnipeg Fringe Festival, TD Winnipeg International Jazz
Festival, Soca Reggae Festival, and the Manitoba Electronic
Music Exhibition (MEME) Festival.
Expect full-on creative exposure each month on First Fridays,
when the galleries and studios of the Exchange District open
their doors for free workshops and exhibits. Join the evening art
walk/art talk tour for an inside look at the local art scene. To
view each month’s lineup, visit firstfridayswinnipeg.org.
EXPLORE OUTDOORS
Though a sprawling urban centre, Winnipeg has no shortage
of nature. Those wanting to get wild can find outdoor
adventures a few short minutes from the city’s tallest buildings.
Sandwiched between busy Corydon and Grant Avenues,
heavily-treed Assiniboine Forest offers a quiet space to lose
oneself mere steps from civilization. Bikers, hikers and joggers
flock to the forest for its narro w, shaded trails covered by a
canopy of foliage. Trails connect to Assiniboine Park, a 700-acre
green space which is one of the country’s largest urban nature
parks. Keep an eye out for prairie flora and fauna, including
an impressive number of wildlife species: deer, foxes, raccoons,
muskrats, frogs and birds. Clear trails and no admission fee
make this outdoor adventure free and easy.
Thirty minutes from downtown, Birds Hill Park is another
oasis for urbanites. Tents have been pitched on this land since
the 1880s, when area farmers fled to its high ground during
flooding season. Today, campers come for the acclaimed
Winnipeg Folk Festival in the summer and to hit the trails for
more than 30 km of hiking and biking. Wildlife enthusiasts
should hit the trails at dawn or dusk for the best chance of
glimpsing the many white-tailed deer that make their home in
the park.
In this land-locked province, Oak Hammock Marsh’s
(pictured) expansive lake networks and marshland provide
plenty of water fun. A quick jaunt north of the city provides the
opportunity to hop in a canoe for a wetland adventure. Paddle
the marsh in a modern or long voyageur canoe, stroll along the
floating boardwalk, or get up close to the marsh’s inhabitants by
joining a nature survey, to help a marsh interpreter count frogs,
butterflies and birds.
MAY/JUNE 2018
where.ca
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