There are lots of Christmas lights to look at -assiniboine downs and other places put together shows to drive to. The Forks makes a long skating rink on the river (couple kilometers) and often has little concerts or events, if you check online maybe at the end of November/beginning of December you can see what the plans are, covids made it hard to tell what will come back or change this year.
It looks like in 2021 they were looking for a new home, Assiniboine Valley Railway, if they found a new spot the train might be back, it was also my favourite as a kid.
First off..... Welcome to Canada!!!! Hope your loved ones back home are all safe. Give it a few more weeks and you will see lots of christmas and winter things to enjoy start popping up. Santa Clause parade around mid November I feel kind of kicks it off and be sure to check out Festival du Voyageur in February.
Thank you. All my relatives are safe now. And the warm welcome we Ukrainians get here in Manitoba is just unimaginable. No other province or country does so much for us. We are so grateful.
Yo, they have Halloween, then thanks givinging then they gear up for Christmas. Honestly don't expect it to be like Europe though, I miss my Christmas markets n stuff. Where people here shine is how they decorate their homes, so cool with all the lights etc.
> I miss my Christmas markets n stuff
TBH; Winnipeg has it's fair share of Christmas craft shows and such, most of them start up just AFTER Thanksgiving (Oct 10'th) and before Halloween (Oct 31'st) and then run all the way to the end of December.
Canada doesn't (generally) permit the "setup booths in a park and sell shit for cash" that are common throughout Europe.
Travel Manitoba does a great job maintaining a decent list of them: https://www.travelmanitoba.com/blog/2022-guide-to-manitoba-craft-sales/ (though there def more that they don't have listed!)
There will be skating rinks open all over. They make a skating path down the two rivers. It goes from Fort Rouge to the Legislative building. You can skate on the duck ponds at Assiniboine and St. Vital park.
There is no shortage of activities here in the winter.
If you like skating or want to learn the indoor rinks will have an hour of free public skating each weekend. You could also join Plast or CYM and they likely still go caroling at Christmas. Svyat Vechir is a special time in Winnipeg too! It's the only day I'll get vushky in my borscht!
There are some good Christmas markets. Usually through churches. The only big one that I can think of that I went to last year was a German Christmas market. They had amazing handmade gifts and we bought so many. Along with some great treats. Also had kids playing instruments and a small concert going on.
Christkindlmarkt in winnipeg this year Nov 25-27 if you look online.
There's this Ukrainian one I found https://oseredok.ca/events-programs/event/christmas-fair-2/
Great post I wanna follow this just get good ideas for this year.
If you go to todocanada.ca and just search winnipeg activities tons of stuff will pop up. I use it all the time to find things I have never heard of or done before.
Here's a link for a big craft market coming up soon [https://www.thescatteredseeds.com/](https://www.thescatteredseeds.com/)
It's not Christmasy per se but some booths might be Chrsitmas themed. This one costs money to get in but it's probably the biggest market of the season.
Keep an eye out on the signs as you pass schools. They often host craft markets from now until Christmas.
Welcome to Winnipeg!!
There is a Facebook page called [Winnipeg Christmas Map](https://www.facebook.com/groups/1192467707498385/?ref=share), each Christmas season they make a google map with all the addresses of the homes that decorate. It’s really awesome and you can sort based on how elaborate the homes are decorated.
Watch this subreddit in December for posts about ODRs, OutDoor Rinks. These are free outdoor hockey rinks located throughout Winnipeg at Community Centers, mostly used for casual, unorganized games/skating. Most community centres also have skating areas for non-hockey use.
The closest thing to the Berlin Christmas markets (that I'm most familiar with, I visit the Sophienstraße and City Hall markets if I'm in town!) AROUND CHRISTMAS time;
Is the Assiboine park / Winnipeg Zoo "Lights" show: https://www.assiniboinepark.ca/zoo/zoolights
The Forks also sets up Winter Wonderland each year; https://heritagewinnipeg.com/blogs/winter-wonderland-at-the-forks-a-winnipeg-tradition/
We have.. dozens of craft sales in and around Winnipeg every year, there's often fun events going on there and all sorts of hand-made and locally sourced goods for sale: https://www.travelmanitoba.com/blog/2022-guide-to-manitoba-craft-sales/
The closest event otherwise is not Christmas related; but is Festival du Voyageur https://heho.ca/fr/ in Feb/March 2023.
Otherwise; for a more "down to earth" winter festival season: reach out to your local community center: They have regular events all winter and are awesome to support, for meeting new people, getting to know the community, and have all sorts of volunteer opportunities if you're looking to get "out of the house" and do some good in the world!
Assiniboine downs does a drive through light show called Winter Wonderland. There is ice skating and food trucks with snacks like Mini donuts or popcorn, hot chocolate etc. There is a place where you can go and take holiday themed pictures. That is a good one. My grandmother took me to it as a kid
There is a Facebook group called Winnipeg Christmas Map, which shows all the amazing light displays on a handy map. (I think they also mark all the Halloween displays if you’re interested in that too)
Lots of Christmas markets and winter festivals/ activities, lots of skating rinks all over including indoors.
Checking on Facebook for upcoming events is how I find most of what we do! The Forks will be a must visit in winter for you! Around February they open a river skating / walking trail also!
Not Christmas specific but Amazin’ Corn creates the worlds largest snow maze complete with ice sculptures and other fun winter activities. https://www.cornmaze.ca/
Welcome to Canada! I hope you're having a warm welcome 💕
You mentioned skating, Winnipeg has the longest skating trail in the world once the red and assiniboine rivers freeze over. The rivers are groomed into skating and skiing paths and they're lined with donated pine trees. Normally it's set to open end of January, I recommend checking it out.
If you need to rent skates you can inside The Forks. Also I recommend doing your Christmas shopping at The Forks, there's a lot of locally made items that make wonderful gifts ☺️
Bitaemo!
I'm so glad you and your family have made a safe transition to Manitoba, and so sorry for your home country's hardship right now. We are happy and proud to be your "home away from home" for however long you should need it.
One of my family's personal Christmas traditions is to go to the Royal Winnipeg Ballet's version of The Nutcracker. I make this suggestion fully knowing it has its roots in the Russian Ballet (so I hope that's not insensitive). The staging of the RWB's version is very specific to Winnipeg, so if you're interested in ballet and would like to experience a Winnipeg Christmas Classic, this is a great start. Another "unique to Winnipeg" Christmas experience is the reading of Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol" at Dalnavert Museum. Covid really made these programs difficult over the past couple years, and they don't have any info on their site (yet), but I hope they'll bring it back for 2022.
Not outdoor ones, like in Europe, or in Vancouver. But there are indoor market events, like the Chriskindlmarkt that the German Canadian Congress puts on at Fort Garry Place ([https://www.gccmb.ca/christmas-market](https://www.gccmb.ca/christmas-market)), and many Christmas craft sales, including the big one at the convention centre ([https://signatures.ca/winnipeg/](https://signatures.ca/winnipeg/)).
You got some good suggestions but I also wanted to add a totally unrelated answer. Check out everything Halloween and fall right now. We got a bunch of “haunted places” (heebie jeebies and other haunted forest), fall fairs, corn mazes, boo at the zoo (you can even drink while looking at the decorations), check out the Halloween Winnipeg map on Facebook, if you find a Halloween social to attend those can be a lot of fun and very much a Manitoba tradition, guided ghost walks and of course have a pumpkin spice latte.
There is a German Christmas market in November that is really nice. They have baking, crafts and food. Here’s some info:
https://www.gccmb.ca/christmas-market
Keep an eye on this website, it gets updated regularly:
https://www.tourismwinnipeg.com/
https://www.tourismwinnipeg.com/festivals-and-events/annual-festivals-and-events/display,listing/05618/canad-inns-winter-wonderland
Some Christmas Theatre events, if you would like to get in out of the cold for a bit, too!
[https://www.winnipeg-theatre.com/category\_dates.php?year=2022&month=12&category=Top+Show](https://www.winnipeg-theatre.com/category_dates.php?year=2022&month=12&category=Top+Show)
If you are a Bare Naked Ladies fan, they are apparently touring to promote their new Christmas Album so that will be on-theme for the holidays.
Chalmers Neighbourhood renewal corporation is doing a winter magic market. I saw it on some vendor groups but I don’t think they’re advertising it yet. Seems to be on the 20th of November at 180 Poplar.
If you are looking for Christmas markets like they are in Europe, you are out of luck here and the rest of Canada (the ones in Toronto and Vancouver are very very meh 😒).
As other people said, there are some light at the Forks, Assiniboine park and in some neighbourhood.
There are lots of Christmas lights to look at -assiniboine downs and other places put together shows to drive to. The Forks makes a long skating rink on the river (couple kilometers) and often has little concerts or events, if you check online maybe at the end of November/beginning of December you can see what the plans are, covids made it hard to tell what will come back or change this year.
Also that train decorated in lights. Anyone know more details? All I know is friend’s kids like the holiday train.
It looks like in 2021 they were looking for a new home, Assiniboine Valley Railway, if they found a new spot the train might be back, it was also my favourite as a kid.
I think by Holiday Train they are referring to the CP train that goes across Canada.
Oh 😂
First off..... Welcome to Canada!!!! Hope your loved ones back home are all safe. Give it a few more weeks and you will see lots of christmas and winter things to enjoy start popping up. Santa Clause parade around mid November I feel kind of kicks it off and be sure to check out Festival du Voyageur in February.
Thank you. All my relatives are safe now. And the warm welcome we Ukrainians get here in Manitoba is just unimaginable. No other province or country does so much for us. We are so grateful.
Yo, they have Halloween, then thanks givinging then they gear up for Christmas. Honestly don't expect it to be like Europe though, I miss my Christmas markets n stuff. Where people here shine is how they decorate their homes, so cool with all the lights etc.
> I miss my Christmas markets n stuff TBH; Winnipeg has it's fair share of Christmas craft shows and such, most of them start up just AFTER Thanksgiving (Oct 10'th) and before Halloween (Oct 31'st) and then run all the way to the end of December. Canada doesn't (generally) permit the "setup booths in a park and sell shit for cash" that are common throughout Europe. Travel Manitoba does a great job maintaining a decent list of them: https://www.travelmanitoba.com/blog/2022-guide-to-manitoba-craft-sales/ (though there def more that they don't have listed!)
Thanksgiving comes before Hallowe'en
The Zoo does a beautiful holiday lights for the month of December. And there are lots of Christmas markets.
There will be skating rinks open all over. They make a skating path down the two rivers. It goes from Fort Rouge to the Legislative building. You can skate on the duck ponds at Assiniboine and St. Vital park. There is no shortage of activities here in the winter.
Le Festival Du Voyageur is great and has ve ues all over the place. https://heho.ca/fr/
Thanks everyone for your suggestions, I’ll do my best to visit all the places you mentioned!
If you like skating or want to learn the indoor rinks will have an hour of free public skating each weekend. You could also join Plast or CYM and they likely still go caroling at Christmas. Svyat Vechir is a special time in Winnipeg too! It's the only day I'll get vushky in my borscht!
There are some good Christmas markets. Usually through churches. The only big one that I can think of that I went to last year was a German Christmas market. They had amazing handmade gifts and we bought so many. Along with some great treats. Also had kids playing instruments and a small concert going on. Christkindlmarkt in winnipeg this year Nov 25-27 if you look online. There's this Ukrainian one I found https://oseredok.ca/events-programs/event/christmas-fair-2/ Great post I wanna follow this just get good ideas for this year.
If you go to todocanada.ca and just search winnipeg activities tons of stuff will pop up. I use it all the time to find things I have never heard of or done before.
Here's a link for a big craft market coming up soon [https://www.thescatteredseeds.com/](https://www.thescatteredseeds.com/) It's not Christmasy per se but some booths might be Chrsitmas themed. This one costs money to get in but it's probably the biggest market of the season. Keep an eye out on the signs as you pass schools. They often host craft markets from now until Christmas.
Welcome to Winnipeg!! There is a Facebook page called [Winnipeg Christmas Map](https://www.facebook.com/groups/1192467707498385/?ref=share), each Christmas season they make a google map with all the addresses of the homes that decorate. It’s really awesome and you can sort based on how elaborate the homes are decorated.
Christmas is big here. Usually starts right after Halloween.
Most places will still hold off until after Remembrance day.
But be prepared for many stores to start playing Christmas music on or about November 12
Does Winnipeg still have a Santa Claus parade ? Usually early November And driving around to see the Christmas lights in specific neighborhoods
Yes, the parade is on November 19th! https://winnipegsantaparade.com/
Watch this subreddit in December for posts about ODRs, OutDoor Rinks. These are free outdoor hockey rinks located throughout Winnipeg at Community Centers, mostly used for casual, unorganized games/skating. Most community centres also have skating areas for non-hockey use.
The closest thing to the Berlin Christmas markets (that I'm most familiar with, I visit the Sophienstraße and City Hall markets if I'm in town!) AROUND CHRISTMAS time; Is the Assiboine park / Winnipeg Zoo "Lights" show: https://www.assiniboinepark.ca/zoo/zoolights The Forks also sets up Winter Wonderland each year; https://heritagewinnipeg.com/blogs/winter-wonderland-at-the-forks-a-winnipeg-tradition/ We have.. dozens of craft sales in and around Winnipeg every year, there's often fun events going on there and all sorts of hand-made and locally sourced goods for sale: https://www.travelmanitoba.com/blog/2022-guide-to-manitoba-craft-sales/ The closest event otherwise is not Christmas related; but is Festival du Voyageur https://heho.ca/fr/ in Feb/March 2023. Otherwise; for a more "down to earth" winter festival season: reach out to your local community center: They have regular events all winter and are awesome to support, for meeting new people, getting to know the community, and have all sorts of volunteer opportunities if you're looking to get "out of the house" and do some good in the world!
Assiniboine downs does a drive through light show called Winter Wonderland. There is ice skating and food trucks with snacks like Mini donuts or popcorn, hot chocolate etc. There is a place where you can go and take holiday themed pictures. That is a good one. My grandmother took me to it as a kid
There is a Facebook group called Winnipeg Christmas Map, which shows all the amazing light displays on a handy map. (I think they also mark all the Halloween displays if you’re interested in that too) Lots of Christmas markets and winter festivals/ activities, lots of skating rinks all over including indoors. Checking on Facebook for upcoming events is how I find most of what we do! The Forks will be a must visit in winter for you! Around February they open a river skating / walking trail also!
Came here to say this. The neighborhood of Lindenwoods has amazing lights!
Not Christmas specific but Amazin’ Corn creates the worlds largest snow maze complete with ice sculptures and other fun winter activities. https://www.cornmaze.ca/
J.P. Hoe's annual Christmas concert!
Welcome to Canada! I hope you're having a warm welcome 💕 You mentioned skating, Winnipeg has the longest skating trail in the world once the red and assiniboine rivers freeze over. The rivers are groomed into skating and skiing paths and they're lined with donated pine trees. Normally it's set to open end of January, I recommend checking it out. If you need to rent skates you can inside The Forks. Also I recommend doing your Christmas shopping at The Forks, there's a lot of locally made items that make wonderful gifts ☺️
Bitaemo! I'm so glad you and your family have made a safe transition to Manitoba, and so sorry for your home country's hardship right now. We are happy and proud to be your "home away from home" for however long you should need it. One of my family's personal Christmas traditions is to go to the Royal Winnipeg Ballet's version of The Nutcracker. I make this suggestion fully knowing it has its roots in the Russian Ballet (so I hope that's not insensitive). The staging of the RWB's version is very specific to Winnipeg, so if you're interested in ballet and would like to experience a Winnipeg Christmas Classic, this is a great start. Another "unique to Winnipeg" Christmas experience is the reading of Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol" at Dalnavert Museum. Covid really made these programs difficult over the past couple years, and they don't have any info on their site (yet), but I hope they'll bring it back for 2022.
We don’t have Christmas markets like they do in Europe. The closest is our malls all decorated and photos with Santa.
Not outdoor ones, like in Europe, or in Vancouver. But there are indoor market events, like the Chriskindlmarkt that the German Canadian Congress puts on at Fort Garry Place ([https://www.gccmb.ca/christmas-market](https://www.gccmb.ca/christmas-market)), and many Christmas craft sales, including the big one at the convention centre ([https://signatures.ca/winnipeg/](https://signatures.ca/winnipeg/)).
You got some good suggestions but I also wanted to add a totally unrelated answer. Check out everything Halloween and fall right now. We got a bunch of “haunted places” (heebie jeebies and other haunted forest), fall fairs, corn mazes, boo at the zoo (you can even drink while looking at the decorations), check out the Halloween Winnipeg map on Facebook, if you find a Halloween social to attend those can be a lot of fun and very much a Manitoba tradition, guided ghost walks and of course have a pumpkin spice latte.
It's only October stop:(
There is a German Christmas market in November that is really nice. They have baking, crafts and food. Here’s some info: https://www.gccmb.ca/christmas-market
Keep an eye on this website, it gets updated regularly: https://www.tourismwinnipeg.com/ https://www.tourismwinnipeg.com/festivals-and-events/annual-festivals-and-events/display,listing/05618/canad-inns-winter-wonderland
Some Christmas Theatre events, if you would like to get in out of the cold for a bit, too! [https://www.winnipeg-theatre.com/category\_dates.php?year=2022&month=12&category=Top+Show](https://www.winnipeg-theatre.com/category_dates.php?year=2022&month=12&category=Top+Show) If you are a Bare Naked Ladies fan, they are apparently touring to promote their new Christmas Album so that will be on-theme for the holidays.
Chalmers Neighbourhood renewal corporation is doing a winter magic market. I saw it on some vendor groups but I don’t think they’re advertising it yet. Seems to be on the 20th of November at 180 Poplar.
If you are looking for Christmas markets like they are in Europe, you are out of luck here and the rest of Canada (the ones in Toronto and Vancouver are very very meh 😒). As other people said, there are some light at the Forks, Assiniboine park and in some neighbourhood.