Travel Manitoba eNews - February 2013

Celebrate Winter

Manitobans love a good party, especially in the winter. There is no shortage of reasons to zip up and party down.

The “World’s Largest Kitchen Party” is the Festival du Voyageur, February 15-24, a celebration of fur traders and their French-Canadian and Métis roots. If you’re surrounded by lively music, huge snow sculptures, beards and tuques rouges, you know you’ve come to the right place. The Northern Manitoba Trappers’ Festival lets you indulge your inner pioneer while soaking up the sun and snow in The Pas. Running February 13-17, the festival features the World Championship Dog Race, snowshoe races, muskrat skinning and moose-calling contests and the crowning of a King and Queen Trapper.

The Festival of Friends is a family friendly event that that takes over St. Malo Provincial Park, February 14-17. This annual festival is bursting with traditional culinary experiences, regional cultural entertainment and exciting winter events like car races on ice. The Winter Festival in Gilbert Plains, February 18, offers an afternoon of free curling, skating, horse drawn wagon rides, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing – all of our favourite winter activities! The Gimli Ice Festival, March 2-3, makes the most of winter with its tongue-in-cheek activities, including the Frozen Fish Toss, Hole-in-One Ice Golfing and Frozen Chicken Curling. The first day of Churchill’s Aurora Winter Fest, March 15-24, coincides with the thrilling finish to the Hudson Bay Quest Sled Dog Race, a 330 km race through Northern Manitoba. The festival continues with snow sculptures, igloo building, dog mushing and other traditional winter activities.