Why Coloradans should visit Manitoba

At first glance, if you search for Winnipeg, Manitoba, on a map, it appears to be in the middle of nowhere. That’s because it kind of is: the next-closest big city is Minneapolis — and it’s 450 miles away.

Look closer, however, and you will see that Winnipeg is also uniquely located smack dab in the middle of North America: in the heart of the continent.

And despite its geographical isolation — some will say it’s as a result of it — Winnipeg, which is celebrating its 150-year birthday in 2024, has matured into a cosmopolitan city that is a cauldron of creativity. It is often referred to as the “cultural cradle” of Canada as a result of its history of talented artists, award-winning musicians, legendary festivals and world-renowned museums.

United Airlines resumed direct flights to Winnipeg in May, reestablishing a route the airline canceled after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and making the city a 2 1/2-hour flight from Denver International Airport.

Known for its friendly and welcoming spirit — the province’s license plate motto is “Friendly Manitoba” — Winnipeg is a diverse multicultural city with a rich and varied history. An Indigenous trading center prior to the arrival of Europeans, Winnipeg was at the heart of the country’s fur trade and instrumental in developing Canada’s gateway to the west. It was once referred to as the “Chicago of the North.”

No, folks, it’s not just a collection of crazed, decked-out-in-white hockey fans cheering on their NHL’s Winnipeg Jets.

Roland Sawatzky, curator of history at the Manitoba Museum, says it’s the city’s isolation that actually defines it.

“That’s why it’s such a cultural center and such a creative center. We’re forced to do it ourselves,” he explains. “So we have these amazing festivals, so many great artists and so many great musicians. It’s a hotbed of creativity.”

Jason Hooper is the executive director at the city’s West End Cultural Centre, a nonprofit music venue that was founded in 1987 and has hosted a multitude of homegrown and international artists. He has had a front-row seat to the various displays of talent in the city and cites a collaborative all-for-one-and-one-for-all spirit that enables Winnipeg to punch above its weight.

“I think there’s a real sense of community that happens and it’s an artistic community that’s supportive of each other,” he says. “And then, equally important is there’s an audience that supports that community. You see it at all levels of culture in the city.

“There’s a real passion for creativity in Winnipeg that makes it a very special place.”

The city’s artistry and originality is also heavily influenced by its ethnic diversity and inclusiveness. Winnipeg is home to the largest Indigenous population in Canada, the third-largest Filipino and Ukrainian populations in Canada, and has the largest francophone community in Western Canada.

“There has always been an incredible openness to immigration in Winnipeg, because we want to grow, to change and to improve,” says Sawatzky. “Winnipeggers see immigration as a very positive thing … and because of that we are much more global than we used to be … and it is very much a city that is dedicated to and immersed in truth and reconciliation.”

The Winnipeg Gallery at the Manitoba Museum is a terrific place to get an overview of the city, past and present. Exhibits include a nine-minute timeline film of the history of Winnipeg; a 20-foot-long showcase with more than 100 artifacts exploring seven themes in the city’s history; an engaging storytelling feature where newcomers to the city express their feelings about living in Winnipeg; and an immersive experience where visitors enter a 1920 Winnipeg Cityscape and explore the buildings of the era and discover the diversity of people from more than 100 years ago.

A recent exhibit — If These Walls Could Talk — is a series of 20 posters that capture the issues and concerns of the LGBTQ+ community in Winnipeg from the early 1970s to the present. They are calls to action to advance and protect the rights of individuals in the community. A rainbow wall is “very popular with the kids,” says Sawatzky.

Here are several suggestions of places to explore on a trip to Winnipeg:

Opened in 2014 with an impressive eight floors of exhibition space, the award-winning Canadian Museum for Human Rights draws a quarter of a million visitors a year to galleries that focus on past and present global issues such as equality, justice and dignity, including a sizable component devoted to Canada’s indigenous people. A current exhibit that is scheduled to run until September 2024, called Beyond the Beat: Music of Resistance and Change, showcases artists who have used their talents to promote equality, freedom and social change.

Often praised for its live music scene, Winnipeg is best known for giving birth to the likes of The Guess Who, Neil Young and Bachman-Turner Overdrive. There is a wide variety of venues in the city that provide an opportunity for the next generation of musical upstarts, including the Times Change(d) High & Lonesome Club that is located in a beautifully restored 19th-century building a few blocks south of Winnipeg’s iconic intersection of Portage and Main and is best described as a Tom Waitsian masterpiece of honky-tonk glitz and grit. Young makes a homecoming on July 17, when he brings his Love Earth Tour to town.

Located in the 1,100-acre Assiniboine Park, The Leaf is an indoor horticultural attraction that houses four indoor plant biomes and more than 12,000 trees, shrubs and flowers from around the world. It is also home to Canada’s tallest indoor waterfall and a terrific butterfly garden.

Opened in 2021, Qaumajuq features the largest public collection of contemporary Inuit art in the world. This first-of-its-kind center connects to the Winnipeg Art Gallery, creating a 185,000-square-foot cultural campus in the heart of downtown Winnipeg.

Numerous festivals throughout the year include the live-theater Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival, the second-oldest such festival in North America; the Winnipeg Folk Festival, which will mark its 50th anniversary this year; the two-week Folklorama, the largest and longest-running multicultural festival of its kind in the world offering authentic entertainment, cuisine, and arts and crafts at a series of pavilions representing more than 40 countries; and the 10-day Festival du Voyageur that celebrates the city’s francophone community and fur-trading heritage with exhibits, entertainment, food and a popular snow-sculpting competition.

The FortWhyte Alive nature center is Winnipeg’s largest green space offering outdoor recreation and environmental education. It has some terrific trails for hiking, cycling and cross-country skiing, a gorgeous lake for canoeing and fishing, and the world’s largest urban bison (or buffalo, as they’re known in the U.S.) herd.

The Forks National Historic Site is located in the heart of Winnipeg at the junction of the Red and Assiniboine rivers and has been a meeting place of Indigenous people for more than 6,000 years. The 56-acre site includes The Forks Market with shops offering locally-produced goods. The Market is also home to The Common, a popular craft beer and wine kiosk located in the newly renovated Food Hall. The Children’s Museum, the Manitoba Theatre for Young People, and the Agowiidiwinan Centre, where visitors learn of the history of Canada’s First Nations, are all located at The Forks.

On the subject of food, there are plenty of unique eats in Winnipeg, but no visit is complete without a trip to a Salisbury House. Known to locals as simply “Sals,” this exclusive-to-Winnipeg restaurant chain has been serving up all-day breakfasts and burgers (which they call “nips”) since 1931. This writer’s suggestion is the three-cheese double nip. Ask them to butter and grill the bun.