Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - October 30, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba FALL INTO COMFORT SALE + ** See below for details. 36 Month No Interest Financing ** % * 20-50 STOREWIDE $ 1,899 $2,625 Save $726 Jay Reclining Sofa Recliners starting at $599 Sherman Rocking Recliner $ 1,219 2 colours available $1,739 Save $520 Kells Leather Rocking Recliner $ 1,699 $2,425 Save $726 Kodie Leather Rocking Recliner $ 1,519 $2,524 Save $1,006 2 colours available 2 colours available $ 6,249 $9,249 Save $3,000 Tahoe 5 pce Sectional Pillows sold separately Store Hours: MON-SAT 10AM - 6PM | SUN 11AM - 5PM la-z-boy.com *some exceptions apply, see store for details **O.A.C. $199 administration fee applies Connect with us: 1425 Ellice Ave ................................................204-783-8500 SAVE F I N A L W E E K E N D WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM ● C3 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2025 Counting on fans for countdown to 60th Festival du Voyageur F ESTIVAL du Voyageur is seeking memories and memorabilia to help celebrate an upcoming mile- stone anniversary. Organizers are looking for donations of vintage photos, programs, merch and other items of interest to be dis- played during the francophone winter festival’s 60th birthday in 2029. It’s a project that started at this year’s festival with the debut of L’shed à Léo, a gallery of archival ephemera onsite at Voyageur Park. “We went through our basement at the festival office and found a bunch of cool stuff,” says Colin Mackie, director of the festival’s heritage and education programs. “It really struck a chord with our visitors and longtime volunteers and people involved in the community.” Anything and everything is on the table, from vinyl records to medals from festival-sponsored sporting events to branded T-shirts. Fitting donations will also be shared in themed L’shed displays over the next three festivals leading up to the anniversary. Next year’s gallery will focus on Festival du Voyageur-related art, in- cluding music, dance, snow sculptures and crafts; while the 2027 and 2028 iterations will focus on heritage and community, respectively. In his role, Mackie typically focuses on educating the public and school groups on Voyageur, Indigenous and Franco-Manitoban history. He’s looking forward to turning that focus inward and celebrating the founders, volun- teers and supporters of the long-run- ning festival through the displays and an accompanying oral history project. “The festival is getting kind of his- toric as well. We have people who have been building Voyageur Park for 25, 30 years and their perspectives are equal- ly important to anyone who’s worn a suit and stood in front of a camera,” Mackie says. Donors can drop off their wares at Festival du Voyageur’s main office at 233 Provencher Blvd. and will be asked to fill out a questionnaire for archiving purposes. The organization is unable to accept loans of items, except in special cir- cumstances. The 2026 festival takes place Feb. 13 to 22 at Whittier Park. Visit heho.ca for more information. eva.wasney@winnipegfreepress.com EVA WASNEY SUPPLIED The 2025 display of Festival du Voyageur memorabilia was the start of L’shed à Léo. SUPPLIED The colleciton ‘struck a chord with our visitors and longtime volunteers.’ ARTS ● LIFE I ENTERTAINMENT FortWhyte’s visitor centre recognized with award for sustainable construction FORTWHYTE Alive’s new Buffalo Crossing visitor centre has thundered past nearly 1,000 submissions to win the prestigious Holcim Foundation Awards. Opened in April, the 18,000-square-foot facility strong on mass timber and reclaimed materials is one of 20 designs across the world recognized by the awards for sustainable construction. Elegantly evoking a stampede of buffalo moving across FortWhyte’s 660 acres of tall-grass and bison prairie toward Muir Lake, the visitor centre means that Fort- Whyte now has two facilities to accommodate ever growing demand for its programming. FortWhyte also has $40,000 coming its way, with another possible $40,000 if it’s selected by the Holcim Foundation as the grand prize winner for North America. The awards celebrate spaces “that embody values (and) reflect the kind of future we want to live in,” said Liz Wilson, FortWhyte CEO and board president, at a press conference Tuesday. “That’s why this award means so much to us — because Buffalo Crossing was always much more than just a build- ing.” The new facility, the full name of which is the FortWhyte Alive Buffalo Crossing Paul Albrechtsen visitor centre, is Manitoba’s very first commercial building to attain the coveted passive house standard, according to Ian Barnett, vice-president at FortWhyte Alive. This means, among other things, it uses up to 90 per cent less energy than conventional buildings, constructed according to the National Energy Code. What energy it does burn includes minimal greenhouse gases, with Buffalo Crossing having zero net carbon emis- sions over a year of operation, as recognized by Canada Green Building Council. While the centre is a feather in FortWhyte’s cap, Barnett says this is all part and parcel of its mandate. “Our mission is to create awareness and connections to the natural world, and that hopefully leads to day-to-day actions in people’s lives that lead to more sustainable living choices,” he says. “And obviously we want to blend in and be complementa- ry to the natural surroundings that we have here as well.” From birdwatching, canoeing, cross-country, hiking and cycling to summer camps and educational presentations, FortWhyte offers a refuge from urban life within city limits, and is also a popular rental facility, Barnett says, adding Buffalo Crossing serves growing demand for such programming. “We felt the need to expand … to accommodate the growth that we’ve seen over the last 10 years or so, and especially during the pandemic, when people really wanted to get outside,” he says. The Buffalo Crossing visitor centre — which was devel- oped through $12.4 million in federal funding, $3.37 million in provincial funding, with additional support from private and corporate sponsors — is part of FortWhyte’s ongoing Your True Nature drive. The $40-million capital campaign includes six planned initiatives. conrad.sweatman@freepress.mb.ca CONRAD SWEATMAN CELLO FESTIVAL ● FROM C1 There are certain moments in live performance, if one is lucky, when all perceived lines between artist (and the requisite ego that comes with being a world-renowned soloist) and physical instrument simply evaporate, as “music” itself takes over to create pure, metaphysical magic. Carr’s deeply felt performance created this sense of suspended wonder, particularly during his Adagio, in which his sustained tone bled into the cello theme and orchestral fabric. His Allegro molto exhibited sunny, good-natured spirits, with a few minor intonation issues quickly forgiven, leading to an exuberant close and an equal- ly boisterous standing ovation by the mixed-ages crowd. The evening’s only flaw was, ironically, hearing nearly two solid hours of cello concertos. As won- derful as they are, the overly homogeneous program saturated listeners with the same genre of music. A few more varied solos with orchestra, such as Crozman’s selections, would have provided greater contrast. The program could also easily have been whittled down by 30 minutes and featured fewer musicians; there’s an entire week of concerts still to come in which everyone is given their turn to shine. Still, despite these quibbles, it’s hard to complain when presented with a galaxy of cello stars on a single night. holly.harris@shaw.ca ;