Issue link: http://read.canadatravelguides.ca/i/651528
TRAVEL GUIDE TO CANADA MANITOBA SPECIAL EVENTS JANUARY • Big fun festival, Winnipeg FEBRUARY • festival du Voyageur, Winnipeg • northern Manitoba trappers' festival, the Pas MARCH • Cluster: new Music + integrated arts festival, Winnipeg • Hudson Bay Quest, Churchill APRIL • Winnipeg Comedy festival MAY/JUNE • Manito ahbee festival, Winnipeg • Pride of the Prairies, Winnipeg Pride festival JUNE • Manitoba Summer fair, Brandon JULY • Dauphin's Countryfest • Manitoba Stampede & exhibition, Morris • Winnipeg folk festival, Birds Hill Provincial Park • Winnipeg fringe theatre festival JULY Ÿ AUGUST • icelandic festival, Gimli • national Ukrainian festival, Dauphin SEPTEMBER • Manyfest, Winnipeg www.travelmanitoba.com/festivalsevents and rivers in canoes, kayaks, or fi shing boats. Beach-goers head for picturesque Gimli, Winnipeg Beach, and broad, curved Grand Beach (www.gimli.ca; www. grandbeachtourism.com). All three face the endless vistas of Lake Winnipeg's vast south basin, and the historic Icelandic fi shing settlement of Gimli is a favourite weekend hangout with its charming marina and beach-town atmosphere. En route to Gimli, Oak Hammock Marsh Interpretive Centre welcomes thousands of migrating geese in the fall ( www.oakhammock marsh.ca). In Spruce Woods Provincial Park, a day tripper's hiking trail covers forests, hills, a genuine desert, and the eerie, deep-water blue Devil's Punch Bowl (www. gov.mb.ca/conservation/parks/popular_ parks/western/spruce_spirit.html). HERITAGE AND CULTURE Historic gems dot this province: Brandon's Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum preserves the story of World War II air fi ghter training (www.airmuseum.ca); Thompson's Heritage North Museum shelters the stories of the Aboriginal people of the North (www.heritagenorth museum.ca); Morden's Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre highlights fi nds from prehistoric Lake Agassiz (www.discover fossils.com); and Selkirk's Marine Museum of Manitoba offers a collection of original vessels that once plied vast Lake Winnipeg (www.marinemuseum.ca). Winnipeg's historic Exchange District has the largest collection of terra cotta and cut stone architecture in North America, and Hollywood fi lmmakers frequently fi lm here. Architectural landmark touring includes the Esplanade Riel cable pedes- trian bridge and its new summer only on-bridge bistro, Union Station, the Manitoba Legislative Building, the Royal Canadian Mint, and the stunning new Canadian Museum of Human Rights. Every September, at the Manito Ahbee Festival in Winnipeg, Aboriginal culture and spectacular powwow performances are showcased ( www.manitoahbee.com ). The mid-winter French Festival du Voyageur, centred in St. Boniface, focuses on Franco-Manitoban history and culture (www.festivalvoyageur.mb.ca ). MUST SEE, MUST DO The Forks National Historic Site ranks at the top of visitor to-do lists, thanks to its marketplaces, Children's Museum, Manitoba Theatre for Young People, traditional Aboriginal Oodena Celebration Circle, Festival Park and Stage with free concerts, and the Riverwalk that rolls out along the Assiniboine. Summer boat rides take in a longer piece of the river, and in winter its frozen ice becomes a skating, skiing and snowball-throwing playground. The Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada, near Winnipeg's international airport, houses Canada's second-largest collection of vintage planes, including bush planes and a real fl ying saucer—the Aero Avrocar ( www.royalaviationmuseum. com ). The Manitoba Museum (www.manitoba museum.ca ), neighbouring planetarium, science gallery and venerable 17 th century replica ship, Nonsuch, can fi ll a day of exploration. Polar bears and beluga whales in Churchill are well worth a 2.5 hour fl ight or a relaxing 48-hour train trip north. In summer, Churchill is the place to snorkel with beluga whales—not endangered here, but in defi nite ecological trouble elsewhere ( www.everythingchurchill.com ). A handful of lodges offer summer touring packages of the area and the thousands of belugas that populate the mouth of the Churchill River. In fall, which looks like winter to southerners, remote lodges and famous Tundra Buggy tours offer close-up WinniPeG GoLDeYeS BaSeBaLL GaMe, SHaW ParK • traVeL MB