Things to Do in Winnipeg

Winnipeg is a city with an outsized passion for live events, driven by devoted sports fans, a thriving arts community, and a festival culture that makes the most of Manitoba's dramatic seasons. Canada Life Centre downtown is the home of the Winnipeg Jets of the NHL, and the atmosphere inside on game nights ranks among the loudest and most intense in all of Canadian hockey. IG Field at the University of Manitoba hosts the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the CFL, a franchise with a fiercely loyal following and multiple Grey Cup championships to its name. The Winnipeg Folk Festival, held every July in Birds Hill Provincial Park just north of the city, is one of North America's most respected folk music gatherings, drawing tens of thousands of campers and music lovers for a weekend of performances across multiple stages. The Exchange District, a National Historic Site filled with early twentieth-century warehouses, is the heart of Winnipeg's arts scene and home to the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, the Centennial Concert Hall, and numerous independent galleries and performance spaces. The Royal Winnipeg Ballet, one of the oldest ballet companies in North America, performs its acclaimed season at the Centennial Concert Hall alongside the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. Summer brings Festival du Voyageur celebrating Franco-Manitoban heritage, the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival in the Exchange District, and Jazz Winnipeg. Despite winters that test even the hardiest residents, Winnipeggers embrace the cold with packed hockey arenas and winter festivals that keep the city's social calendar full from October through March.