WPG Pennant Weekly

Goood morning, Winnipeg! Hope you’re staying dry out there ☂️

Speaking of which, why don’t ghosts like when it rains on Halloween?

For the answer to our Dad Joke of the Day, you’ll have to read today’s issue in its entirety (or at least scroll to the bottom).

In the meantime, here’s what we’re covering:

Let’s get to it.

— Ryan Bowman

🌡️ High 8 Low 2 ☀️ Mostly sunny

🌡️ High 5 Low 1 🌧️ Cloudy with 60 percent chance of showers

🌡️ High 5 Low -2 🌧️ Cloudy with 40 percent chance of showers

Bombers set sellout record 🏟️

Yes, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers are going to the playoffs, but the biggest story from their final home game — and their season as a whole — comes from the stands. Thanks to the passion and loyalty of our city, the Blue and Gold set a franchise record by selling out every single home game this season. Dating back to 2024, the sellout streak at Princess Auto Stadium is now at 14 games (and counting).

Capping it off with a Grey Cup appearance at home would be pretty special. Let’s see how they fare in the Eastern Semi-Final on Saturday (more on that below).

Elmwood-East Kildonan has spoken 📣

Emma Durand-Wood — who we featured in our debut edition of MY WPG last Friday — will be the neighbourhood’s new representative at City Hall after winning Saturday’s byelection with 31% of the vote. She was one of seven candidates running for the vacant council seat.

Pane relief coming for city bus shelters 🚌

Who else is sick of seeing shattered glass surrounding our bus shelters? Apparently the city.

Starting this winter, they’ll be rolling out a pilot program using polycarbonate panels instead of glass. While it costs 15% more, the city says it has spent more than $1 million repairing and replacing shelters since 2020 — a small price to pay for safety, cleanliness and a sense of pride in our city. Now if we could only get people to stop vandalizing them to begin with…

Turning the page on community care 🫶

Access to community resources will be a little bit easier thanks to a new community hub in the heart of the city. The Downtown Resource Corner (formerly Community Connections), located in the Millennium Library, will be staffed by provincial employees and offer support with housing, employment, income assistance, mental health and more.

Same building, new beans ☕

It’s the end of an era for longtime South Osborne staple, Park Line Coffee, whose owner recently posted their business’ farewell on Instagram. But caffeine fiends in the neighbourhood need not fret; the space at 685 Osborne St., has already been taken over by a new cafe called Magpies.

Signs of life: retail revival underway Downtown 🛍️

In addition to the new food hall in the Manitoba Hydro Building (which boasts a bevy of local eateries and cafes, including Greenish, Colosimo Coffee, Bagelsmith Express and Super Slice), a few other retail businesses have popped up downtown recently. Two notables include men’s clothing store Modern Ambition (223 Carlton St.) and an upscale convenience store concept called Bliss and Basket (190 Smith St).

Want to see your small business (or your favourite small business) featured here? Reach out to [email protected]

Bombers’ Grey Cup bid begins in Montreal 🏈

Despite winning the above-mentioned record-breaking sellout and finishing the season 10-8, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers find themselves on the road to start the playoffs. The good news is that they’re playing the Montreal Alouettes — the very team they beat in said record-breaking sellout — who also finished 10-8. The winner will face Hamilton for a chance to play in the Grey Cup, which is taking place right here in Winnipeg on Nov. 16.

Brady back in the spotlight ⭐

Sticking with Bombers news, it was announced last week that Winnipeg’s own Brady Oliveira is nominated for a pair of CFL awards. The local running back is up for the league’s most outstanding player as well as the league’s most outstanding Canadian player — both of which he won last season.

Oliveira, 28, attended Oak Park High School before attending the University of North Dakota and returning home as a Bomber.

Halloween’s last boo-rah 🎃

With Halloween only two days away, your last chance to visit Heebie Jeebies, Six Pines, Farmageddon, A Maze in Corn’s Haunted Forest, Boo at the Zoo and most other local haunted attractions is this Fri(ght)day.

Get cultured 🎭

With a new season comes a new batch of arts events, including the new Abraham Anghik Ruben (Oct. 28 to April 12), a matter of time (Oct. 28 to July 5) and Crying Over Spilt Tea (Oct. 28 to July 5) exhibits at the Winnipeg Art Gallery, and Indigenous teachings through digital art prints at the Manitoba Museum’s presentation of I Belong Here (Oct. 28 to Dec. 31).

Support your local theatre company 🐯

Take in Royal MTC’s production of Life of Pi. Based on the best-selling novel by Yann Martel, this epic story of courage, faith and survival roars to life with riveting storytelling and stunning puppetry. Runs until Nov. 8.

Wednesday, Oct. 29

Thursday, Oct. 30

Friday, Oct. 31

Saturday, Nov. 1

Sunday, Nov. 2

Monday, Nov. 3

Tuesday, Nov. 4

To submit future event listings, shoot us an email at [email protected]

Colossal catch 🎣 A local angler got more than he bargained for last Friday, when he hooked a massive sturgeon while fishing near The Forks. Coming in at 1.3 metres (ie. more than four Skinner’s footlongs), the fish was reeled in after a 15-minute tug of war and released in the Red River. See it for yourself here.

Impressive as it was, the catch was still significantly shorter than the largest recorded sturgeon caught in Manitoba — a three-metre, 400-pound monster back in 1903.

ps. for all you local fishing fanatics out there, we recently restocked our MB Angler collection

Welcome to the newest addition to our newsletter — a section dedicated to positive local causes and inspirational neighbourhood initiatives.

With the cooler weather coming, we’re launching Community Corner with an introduction to Warm Boots Winnipeg, a family boot drive started by the Brown family back in 2019. To date, they’ve collected and given out more than 1,000 pairs of boots to those without.

To learn more or donate, check them out on Instagram or email Robyn at [email protected]

Because it dampens their spirits.

We’ll see ourselves out.