Tourism Winnipeg

www.meetingswinnipeg.com | Tourism Winnipeg | 19 by the celebrated artist); English Garden, where your senses will be enveloped by a fantastic array of flora and sweet smells; Assiniboine Park Zoo – home to over 300 species, including our famous swimming polar bears; lunch at the Qualico Centre while overlooking the park; and strolling the countless tree-lined paths. Festival season is also in full swing during the summer, and a few of our biggest draws are the TD Winnipeg International Jazz Festival (June) and the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival (July 18-29, 2018) – both of which turn the Exchange District into one big block party featuring numerous free shows; Folklorama (August 5-18, 2018) – the world's largest and longest running multicultural festival where one can go globetrotting via cuisine, culture, music and dance of host nations across the city every night; and the Winnipeg Folk Festival (July), where massive headliners and some of the finest bands you've yet to discover play for thousands of people at stages throughout Birds Hill Park. Fall Along with the aforementioned start to our robust theatre and performance groups season (see winter guide), fall is the season when Winnipegger's tend to close their cabins and get back to business. The kick-off to fall is ManyFest (September 7-9, 2018), the city's largest block party which shuts down Broadway at Memorial. Crowds in the thousands flock to this event to take part in all sorts of good times including Food Truck Wars, live music, markets, a bike jam, kid's zones, and yes – many more things. The other big festival-like atmosphere comes courtesy of Culture Days (late September/early October) where Winnipeg continues to host more cultural events within one week than anywhere else in Canada (take that Toronto!... they finished second in 2017). Culture Days culminates with Nuit Blanche, an all-night free party across the Exchange District, downtown and St. Boniface featuring everything from art shows, to rooftop performances, to all manner of immersive creative experiences. Fall is also the time when Winnipeg's skies are the busiest – and we're not talking about planes. At both FortWhyte Alive and Oak Hammock Marsh migration season – which sees tens of thousands of geese, fowl and bird species descend at dusk on the prairies – is celebrated with nightly events including specialty dinners and plenty of birding opportunities. Both places have interpretive centres overlooking expansive wetlands where your senses will be treated by the spectacle and sound of these winged wonders descending in the thousands onto the water. Food Truck Wars at Manyfest // Black and Gold Photography Bee2Gether Bikes // Mike Peters

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