Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 1, 2024, Winnipeg, Manitoba THURSDAY, AUGUST 1, 2024WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM ● B7 NEWS I BUSINESS Coolers stocked with beer, vodka sodas to be available on Exchange District cycle tours Pedal Pub wheels out spirited new offering B IKERS with beers will soon tra- verse Exchange District streets. Pedal Pub, a popular attraction where users cycle to local bars, is pre- paring to offer brews on its quadri- cycles. “The first question we get from people is whether they can consume alcohol on the bike,” said Miguel Gauth- ier, co-owner of Pedal Pub’s Winnipeg branch. “Now we’re very proud and happy to say that we can answer… with a big, firm ‘Yes.’” Starting Monday, employees will load coolers full of beer and vodka sodas onto the quadricycles, which are four- wheeled vehicles that riders pedal. It’s been a long time coming for Gau- thier and his partners. They brought Pedal Pub to Winnipeg in 2022. In other Canadian cities, customers of the franchise could sip alcohol while pedalling to various bars. They’d get off, drink more and hop back on. It was the case for operations in Saskatch- ewan and Alberta. Winnipeg’s Pedal Pub couldn’t get a liquor licence from the Liquor, Gaming and Cannabis Authority of Manitoba. The LGCA would only issue a liquor service licence if other government agency licences and permits regulated the entity in question, spokeswoman Lisa Hansen explained earlier this summer. And in 2022, Pedal Pub’s quadri- cycles — where 15 customers can pedal at a time — didn’t fit any vehicle regis- tration class. It didn’t need a City of Winnipeg licence, either. Pedal Pub contacted the provincial government to create laws targeted at quadricycles, co-owner Brandon Guen- ther said. As of this Wednesday, Manitoba has launched a pilot project regulation for large quadricycles. It’s set to be re- voked Jan. 31, 2029. Part of the legislation called for mu- nicipal approval. So in July, the Pedal Pub owners waited to see what the City of Winnipeg would say — and on July 3, councillors gave the green light. “The province is the one that’s regu- lating it, so I wish them the best,” Coun. Russ Wyatt (Transcona) said while moving the motion. Now, Pedal Pub is preparing for an even boozier ride. “We’re really, really excited,” Gauth- ier said. The tour will continue the same: the two-hour Exchange District trek will have two bar stops and pre-paid drinks. However, customers can order a cooler stocked with cans to accompany them on the quadricycles. Packs range from 15 to 36 drinks, at $6 per Torque Brewing beer and Smirnoff vodka soda. People must place their orders online before the voyage, according to Gauth- ier. Pedal Pub isn’t required to change its safety features, such as adding seat- belts. Instead, it’s adding a second staff member to its rides, Gauthier detailed: one employee will drive and another will act as bartender, ensuring riders behave. “Nobody who is on the bike can just reach in and grab their own drink,” Gauthier emphasized. “If there’s in- stances of full intoxication, we’re in full control of that vehicle. We’re able to remove the person from the tour… if it’s becoming unsafe.” Each quadricycle has an electric mo- tor, a backup if legs fail. Pedal Pub has 10 bar, restaurant and distillery partners in the Exchange District. Each tour elicits an average $1,200 in spending at local businesses, Guenther said earlier this summer. The company is currently restrict- ed to operations downtown and in the Exchange District. It must get city ap- proval before touring elsewhere, Gau- thier said. gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com GABRIELLE PICHÉ MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES Beginning next week, Winnipeg’s Pedal Pub quadricycles will be licenced to stock and serve beer and vodka sodas to its riders. Jasper’s fire-affected small businesses face rocky road AFTER labouring for months to bring one of Jasper’s newest busi- ness concepts to life, the owners of The Peacock Cork & Fork never dreamed the young restaurant’s run would be so short-lived. “Rest in Peace you elegant beast. June 12 to July 20, 2024,” the Peacock’s owners wrote on so- cial media on Saturday, just days after wildfire swept through the picturesque Alberta tourist town and destroyed the roof of the building housing their new ven- ture. “It was open for 40 days,” said co-owner Ashley Kliewer in an interview, adding the fine-dining restaurant with its four-course chef’s menu and curated wine pairings was something Jasper had never seen before. “When it’s something that you loved and that you poured so much energy into, it makes it so much more crushing.” The business community of Jasper — a town whose economy depends on tourism, particularly in the crucial summer season — is facing an overwhelming chal- lenge in the months ahead. Residents have not yet been able to return, so Jasper’s small business owners have been scour- ing photos from firefighters and other officials to try to ascertain the extent of the damage to the community’s shops, restaurants, boutiques and hotels. Federal officials have said about one-third of the buildings in the Jasper townsite were lost in the blaze and it’s already clear that some business owners lost their homes as well as their busi- nesses. “My main residence is in Cal- gary, so I’m OK, but my parents’ home unfortunately did not make it and both my business partners’ homes are gone,” said Brett Ire- land, co-owner of Jasper Brewing Co., which suffered “significant damage” due to the flames that reached the commercial strip of Connaught Drive. Like Kliewer, Ireland also had a new business venture that was af- fected. He and his partners were in the final stages of staff train- ing for the soon-to-be-opened Ma- ligne Range distillery when the evacuation order hit. “No one’s been able to get into it yet,” Ireland said of the new busi- ness. “So we don’t know. From the outside it appears it’s in pretty good shape, but we’re bracing ourselves. We expect there could be pretty significant smoke dam- age.” Last week, credit rating agency DBRS Morningstar estimated the Jasper wildfires could cost the insurance industry up to $700 million, making it one of the most expensive wildfire disasters in Canadian history. The agency said insurers will likely face significant claims from businesses with respect to commercial buildings and busi- ness interruption losses. Kliewer — who spoke over the phone from Edmonton, where she, husband Mike and her two young children have been staying since being forced to evacuate last week as the fast-moving flames approached — said she has busi- ness interruption insurance. But she said it will only cover her rev- enue losses for a few weeks. “And we had taken all of our earnings and put it into this new restaurant,” said Kliewer, who also co-owns The Raven Bistro, another Jasper restaurant. “And we did have to pay to get into the new space, and that good- will money is not insurable. So that’s just gone.” Ireland said when and if busi- ness owners get the all-clear to go back, reopening will be com- plicated by the staffing situation. Even before the fires, Jasper struggled with a labour shortage. Now many of the community’s seasonal workers have returned to their home cities or provinces, and no one knows how easy it will be to lure them back. “One hundred per cent we will be rebuilding and reopening, that’s for sure,” said Ireland. “It’s just a matter of what the timeline looks like … The staffing situation is going to be the biggest thing for sure.” During an update Tuesday, Al- berta Emergency Management Agency spokesman Joe Zatylny said there were no timelines for when Jasper residents and busi- ness owners can return home or tour the damage. Re-entry will happen once the wildfire calms down and the area is safe, he said. Kliewer said while that makes sense, she can’t make a plan for how to rebuild her business until she can get in and see first-hand what remains. In the meantime, she’s fielding questions from staff and custom- ers, dealing with insurance and watching as the bills roll in — all while trying her best to cope with the stress of it all. “I almost fell asleep on the floor of Walmart this week while buy- ing my kids some shoes because I find my brain will just shut down. I get overwhelmed and all of a sudden, I just feel like I could close my eyes and it’s like my brain short-circuits,” Kliewer said. “I have no doubt that Jasper will eventually return and be beauti- ful and we’ll figure out a way to make it even more magical than it was before. It’s just in this time, with all of the variables, it’s really excruciating.” — The Canadian Press AMANDA STEPHENSON AMBER BRACKEN / THE CANADIAN PRESS Officials estimate nearly one-third of Jasper’s buildings were destroyed in a wildfire last month. Before fires, ‘we were having a great season,’ Barkerville, B.C.’s media manager says WHEN Stewart Cawood returned to British Columbia’s histor- ic gold rush town of Barkerville earlier this week, he said the town looked almost like it had been “ransacked.” Barkerville and the surrounding region had been evacuated several days earlier due to a nearby wildfire. Firefighting crews had drenched the town, creating a so- called humidity bubble to shield it from the blaze. Though the 143-square kilometre wildfire continues to burn out of control, all evacuation orders and alerts were lifted in the area by Monday. Cawood, Barkerville’s public programming and media man- ager, said the hoses that littered the town just days ago have now been removed as it prepares to reopen to the public Fri- day. “Before all of this went down, we were having a great sea- son,” he said of the two-week closure. “We were hoping to sort of start getting back to where we were before the pandemic. This has definitely put a dampener on all of that but I do remain hopeful … that people are going to come out and support us.” The historic town said in a news release that its programs will resume, though guests may see “elevated smoke” and its campgrounds, cottages and guest houses will remain closed until about mid-August. The influence wildfires may have on tourism are not limited to B.C.’s Cariboo region. Walt Judas, CEO of the Tourism Industry Association of BC, said there is “no question that wildfires have an impact on the visitor economy in B.C.” “Certainly, when a wildfire hits an area, it dissuades people from travelling there, particularly for leisure reasons,” he said in an interview Wednesday. “But it also may force people to leave an area where they are vacationing, notwithstanding the impact on residents and businesses and so on.” Cawood said the 12-day closure has resulted in a loss of about $90,000 for Barkerville, accounting for loss of ticket sales, accommodation cancellations and paying for emer- gency staffing. The impacts of the evacuation order will likely last longer than the smoke, he added. Recent rains and cooler temperatures have helped dampen some wildfire activity across the province. — The Canadian Press BRIEANNA CHARLEBOIS ;