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18 For more information or to arrange a media visit, contact Gillian Chester at 204.954.1977 or gillian@tourismwinnipeg.com Winnipeg's Quirky Story Starters NEW – Upper Fort Garry is Manitoba's newest provincial park. This Hudson's Bay Company fort is the place where Louis Riel formed the Provisional Government, which led to Manitoba entering Confederation as a province. Newly reclaimed, Upper Fort Garry is now an interpretive park with a 440-foot artistic steel wall that tells its story through various mediums. Download the free app and visit the site for a fun new historical interpretation experience. One of the world's slickest spies has a direct tie to Winnipeg. Sir William Stephenson – the man they called Intrepid – was born in Winnipeg in 1897. His escapades in the Second World War would inspire writer Ian Fleming to create one of fiction's most suave and debonair characters – James Bond. Winnipeg has the largest, mature urban elm tree forest in North America with approximately 170,000 elms. More than 60,000 of these trees are on public boulevards. Learn more about Winnipeg's musical past on a Magical Music History Tour, where you'll see the childhood homes of Neil Young, Randy Bachman, Terry "Seasons in the Sun" Jack, and Burton Cummings, along with other points of interest complemented with music, vintage photos and storytelling. The city's dark side can be explored on numerous ghost tours and vigils. It is said The Fort Garry Hotel, Spa, and Conference Centre is haunted by a ghostly woman in a ball gown, a phantom diner and a mysterious ghost light that traverses the halls of this Grand Trunk Pacific Hotel. Le Musée de Saint-Boniface Museum is known for its connection to the spirit world where apparitions of children, nuns, nurses, patients and even a feisty voyageur have been known to roam the building's nooks and crannies. When Harry Colebourn bought a small black bear cub and named it after his hometown of Winnipeg, little did he know that he would be setting the stage for one of the most beloved characters of children's literature, television, and film to come to life and inspire millions. Winnie the Bear is commemorated in his hometown with a statue at Assiniboine Park, as well as The Pooh Gallery, which houses a collection of artifacts and memorabilia telling the history of that "silly old bear." The Winnipeg General Strike is Canada's best-known general strike and for a brief period of time in the summer of 1919, it was capturing all of the headlines. Labour leaders complained that wages were not high enough, at least 30,000 people were off the job, inflation was high, and unionism was inspiring unrest. A mural in Winnipeg's historic Exchange District commemorates the event, which is creeping up on its centennial anniversary. Manitoba's capital city has a storied past that overflows with characters, anecdotes and happenings that have made us one of Canada's most intriguing and welcoming of cities. Here are a few fun "did you know?" stories to get your creative juices flowing. WINNIPEG IDEAS W i n n i e t h e B e a r S t a tu e Sir William Stephenson statue The Fort Garry Hotel, Spa and Conference Centre Upper Fort Garry National Historic Site: Ryan McBride