He Ho! Make it a package deal for Festival

Have you made your Festival plans yet? Gather your colleagues, family or friends and come as a group to share in the quintessential Festival Experience! 

A Festival du Voyageur package includes:

- A day pass for Voyageur Park and all the entertainment, and outdoor activities on site

- Reserved seating for a dinner and show that will get your hands clapping and your toes tapping in the comfort and warm ambiance of La Maison du Bourgeois – it doesn’t get any better than this venue in Voyageur Park

- A scrumptious traditional French-Canadian meal prepared by Gibraltar Dining Corporation, Festival’s new year-round caterer for Fort Gibraltar

- A souvenir of the 2012 Festival

- Free guided tour of Historic Fort Gibraltar

The package is $37 per person (taxes included). If you have questions or to make a reservation call 237.7692 or email packages@heho.ca

Festival du Voyageur takes place February 17-25. More information available at  http://festivalvoyageur.mb.ca/

Warming Huts near completion

 
Under construction: Five-Hole by Frank Gehry

This year five new huts will grace the Assiniboine Credit Union River Trail: three coming from an international competition, one from a separate student competition at the University of Manitoba and the third from world renowned invited architect, Frank Gehry. Get to The Forks to see Warming Huts v.2012: An Art + Architecture Competition on Ice, and don’t forget to bring your skates!

The River Trail is open!

The Assiniboine Credit Union River Trail presents free programming and fun activities on the weekends for the whole family!
Skate, walk, run or sled along the Guinness World Record-holding longest naturally frozen skating trail in the world.
Beginning at the heart of the city, The Forks, the Assiniboine Credit Union River Trail is a winter family tradition.
Programming this year includes some old favourites and some exciting new additions.
“There is really something for everyone this year; from ice painting and inukshuk building to Voyageur games and photo booth,” says Ginette Lavack-Walters, Executive Director, Festival du Voyageur. “We are extremely pleased that we can also offer free programming every weekend from noon until four.”

While the rivers may still need a few more cold days, the trails in Arctic Glacier Winter Park , on the Forks site are seeing a fair share of skaters.

“The 1.2 kilometres of trails within Arctic Glacier Winter Park and the two skating rinks are groomed daily,” said Paul Jordan, Chief Operating Officer, The Forks. “The rest of the amenities, including the snowboard park, toboggan run and snowman lane, are still under construction, but with the help of some snow will be completed soon.”

Visit www.rivertrail.ca for more information.

Photo: Dan McKay

Zoo’s polar bear centre open

The International Polar Bear Conservation Centre (IPBCC) located within the Assiniboine Park Zoo opens today! As a key component of the new 10-acre Journey to Churchill exhibit currently under construction, the IPBCC will be a centre of global influence in the field of polar bear research and conservation.
Visitors to the Zoo can experience the IPBCC first-hand in the multimedia rich interpretive gallery – learning from interviews, interactive games, touchable objects, and interpretive signage about polar bears, researchers, and climate change.

A Moon or a Button at Plug In ICA

Michael Dumontier | A Moon or a ButtonJanuary 28 to March 25, 2012
A Moon or a Button is a solo exhibition of new and existing work made by Michael Dumontier (Winnipeg) over the past five years. Dumontier’s inventive, reductive works are at once sculpture, painting, collage, and drawing. Being unconcerned with these definitions, Dumontier makes objects that are the outcome of a playful series of improvisations with simple materials. Lines, rarely drawn or painted, are made with rough cuts of a saw blade, string, carefully extracted childrens’ drawings, or thin slivers of negative space. This exhibition, curated by Micah Lexier, is the first major exhibition of Dumontier’s work presented in a public venue.
Michael Dumontier was born in Winnipeg in 1974 and graduated with an Honours Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from the University of Manitoba. An original member of the noted Winnipeg artists’ collective, The Royal Art Lodge (founded in 1996), he also worked collaboratively on other projects creating Sound Machines with Tom Elliott, and doll works with Drue Langlois under the label Eyeball Hurt and the Medicine Present. Throughout, he maintained an independent career, producing collages, drawings, videos, installations and small sculptures. All of Plug In ICA’s exhibitions are free, and everyone is welcome. Plug In ICA is located at 460 Portage Avenue