Downtown Peggy

Two cool pieces of info about the Bay downtown came caught my eye the other day!

•   First – what’s the right way to kick off a long weekend? Spoiling yourself seems like a good way to start – the Bay is having a private shopping event this Thursday night (April the 5^th) from 7-9:30. Food & bevvies while you shop, personal shoppers to help you pick out some new spring styles, and a draw for a bridal package worth $1000! Tickets are available at www.winnipegwomen.net

•   Number two is a very cool announcement that happened Friday night. It’s that time of year again for the Young Associates to throw their famous Black & White event. I love that it’s always somewhere cool downtown (the past few years have been at the Manitoba Club, the new Manitoba Hydro atrium, and the penthouse at 201 Portage) so I couldn’t wait to hear what they had cooked up for this year, and I was definitely not disappointed. The theme is the Roaring ‘20s, and they’re holding it May 12 in an iconic building that opened in 1926, the Bay Downtown! I hear their decorating committee is hard at work with big plans.  I’m planning out my costume now…there will definitely be beads! And feathers. Tickets are on sale here

If you’ve ever been eating at Stella’s downtown and thought “huh, I should go check out the Plug In next door” – this is a perfect time. I just got back from their open house Bag of Books sale! It started at 12 today and runs until close on Sunday. You buy one of the adorable totebags below…

…for just $10, and then you go into the gallery and fill it up with as many specially marked books as it can fit for free! I came away with a pretty great haul (plus the bag in the middle). And if you’ve never been in the gallery before, they’re offering tours of the space today too!

www.plugin.org (PS – when you go to their site, try scrolling over their name at the top of the website – I never realized it did that until today!)

Over the last few days I noticed traffic’s been lighter and I’ve seen way more kids strolling through downtown, and I finally clued in – it’s spring break!

That made me realize how perfectly timed this article in the Metro was about taking your kids downtown. The writer, Colin, was talking about bringing his son downtown and why he thinks it’s so important. It brought back a whole pile of memories for me of being a kid downtown, and it got me thinking.

I think that’s part of why I love downtown today – I started coming here as a kid. My parents took me to shows at the IMAX, where I was totally amazed by feeling of a movie in 3D. It’s where I shopped with my mom at the Bay and Portage Place, where my dad took me for a street hot dog on Broadway on his lunch break from work, and where I took a summer walk in Memorial Park and around the Legislature (I still remember not being allowed to try to climb the Queen Victoria statue). And of course, trips to the museum where I could play on the Nonsuch and play in the science galleries. So when I got older, I kept coming back to my favourite places – when some friends convinced me to try a big outdoor trip, I headed to MEC for my supplies. Now that I’m all grown up (well, kinda – still a kid at heart) I’m the one calling up my parents and telling them about a great new Fringe play or show at the art gallery that they need to come downtown to check out.

So for the last few days of spring break, I completely agree with Colin – it would be great for parents to share some of the awesome spaces with their kids and help make downtown part of their Winnipeg from a young age.

OK, the Jets are still JUST in the playoff hunt. There’s still a chance! And if Disney movies have taught me anything, it’s that they’ll pull off a miraculous run and go all the way to the Stanley Cup (they may or may not win there, but no matter what they’ll learn a valuable lesson about team spirit).

Anyways! There are still a few games to go and lots of fun to be had watching them. But as lots of you lucky 15,000 who’ve come downtown to watch a game know, it can get jam-packed right before the game. So take my advice – come early, and win prizes! Portage Place has been hosting a centre court shootout contest called Shoot for Loot for the last few games, and it’s so much fun. It starts 90 minutes before each home game for the rest of the season (that means your next chance is the 26th). You come down, show your game day ticket, and take your turn trying to get a foam puck into the goal to win a prize, all while being emceed (or heckled) by Frankie Hollywood of Energy 106! I love watching it – especially when a young kid or little elderly lady in a jersey steps up to play and gets huge cheers! The team spirit in the city is so amazing right now it’s spreading everywhere – now just imagine if we make the playoffs!

No, this is in no way related to the coyote downtown yesterday. (how weird was that, by the way?)

We’ve all spent a few minutes (or hours, or days) surfing YouTube to watching cool and/or hilarious commercials, right? What you might not know is that they’ve actually got awards for this stuff! And the Oscar of awards is the Cannes Lion trophy– a really prestigious award that goes to the best creative film, film craft, print, outdoor, interactive, radio, design, etc. etc.

The WAG hosted a screening of the Lions awards in December, and it was a huge hit – so popular that they’ve decided to bring it back one last time starting tonight! Head down to the WAG and you can laugh, cry, and get inspired by some really creative brains from all over the world at work.

Tickets are on sale now for screenings – here’s the details:

• March 20, 21 • 7pm

• March 24 • 2, 7, and 9pm

• March 27, 28 • 2, and 7pm

• March 30, 31 • 2, 7, and 9pm

Tickets are $9 for WAG members, $11 for adults, and $10 for students and seniors. They are available in person at the WAG, at wag.ca/entertainment or by calling 786.6641 ext 235.

My pick? I still never get tired of watching this 2011 winner:

This is without a doubt the warmest St Patrick’s Day I can ever remember – I mean, tshirts? In Winnipeg? Mid-March? I can’t even believe I’m writing it. But I’m definitely not complaining – this means that a lot of the city patios are scrambling to open up early this weekend to serve you up green beer – Earl’s on Main patio is open, Finn’s Pub at the Forks – Tavern United’s been busy renovating their rooftop patio, and it’s just opened – complete with a new kitchen to on the rooftop! I’m getting out my favourite green dress for the first time this year and heading over – but before I go, I’ve got to share a photo I took today that gave me a giggle. Happy St Paddy’s Day!

What’s the longest running, most popular, North American touring production in history? Phantom of the Opera? Les Miz? Good guesses, but no – it’s Cats, and it’s coming to the Concert Hall in Winnipeg at the end of the month, March 30 and 31^st. And I’ve got a contest to set you up with a pair of opening night tickets!

Since this is the internet, which is made up of roughly 90% cat-centric content, I’ve had what I think is a genius idea for how you can enter to win the contest AND make this Monday go a little faster:

You get your chance to win by submitting the most adorable cat photo or video you can find in the comments below.  I know, there are literally millions out there so it’ll be tough to pick – but you’ll be limited to one entry per person. I’ll choose what I think are the top 10 cutest, and then draw one winner on March 26^th for the pair of tickets!

(One more rule: No doubles! If someone’s already submitted that Kitten Stuck in Tuba video you had in mind, you’ll have to find another one to qualify. If you’re wondering if I only made this rule to make sure I got a ton of different cats to look at…well, you’d be right.)

If you can’t take the suspense of waiting to win and you want to make sure you’re there to see it, you can buy tickets at Ticketmaster – link’s right here!

UPDATE: We have a winner! Melanie, who sent me a link to the adorable Maru, was the winner of the draw yesterday – check your email to find out how to pick up your tickets – and congrats!!!

So it’s a little bit grey outside these days, and when you’re stuck in your office all day that can get you a bit down – at least it does to me. But I’ve got something to help fight off the back-to-work blues! I’m really excited to announce I’m bringing back one of my favourite specials from last year – Let’s Do Lunch Downtown!

For this entire month of March, some of my favourite downtown restaurants are going to be offering specials on lunch starting at $6.99. It’s a great excuse to get away from your desk, grab your best work friends, and enjoy some of the fab eats right around you!

There’s a bonus too – when you eat at any of the participating restaurants, ask your server for a ballot and you can enter to win a $500 downtown restaurant tour!

There are some seriously yummy eats on the list of specials…a chickpea burger at the Palm Room of the Fort Garry, a beef dip at the Lobby on York (it has smoked tenderloin, guinness mustard, horseradish aioli, sweet onions, mushrooms, pan jus & crispy fries), stuffed red peppers with beef, rice and feta cheese at Hermanos…I’d keep going, but my mouth is watering.

The full list of 13 participating restaurants and their menus is online at dolunchdowntown.com, and I’ll be blogging more about my menu picks in the days to come, so look out for reviews! Happy lunching

They definitely deserve it – I went to see Altar Boyz at the Prairie Theatre Exchange over the weekend, and I spent the full hour and a half laughing. If the show name sounds familiar, it’s probably because it was in Winnipeg as a huge hit of the 2009 Fringe festival. The show is a pop musical comedy that puts you in the audience of the final “Raise the Praise” tour stop of the Altar Boyz, a Christian boy band. It’s a playful look at the 90s boy band phenomenon starring the five Boyz – Matthew (the leader), Mark (the sensitive one), Luke (the bad boy), Juan (the heartthrob), and Abraham (the actually-talented-guy). They come with a Soul Sensor that counts down how many ‘burdened souls’ are in the audience – and Winnipeg apparently has a lot of mischievous sinners out there – and see how many they can free up before the end of the show.

The bubblegum pop songs are catchy, but make sure you listen to the lyrics closely – the Altar Boyz aren’t all that reverent and they’re full of innuendo and sly, but never mean, jokes. My personal favourite was the story of the founding of the Altar Boyz where they were graced with the commandments of successful boybandhood (eg. Thou shalt anoint thy hair with product and array thyself in pleather…)

The Boyz aren’t just paying lip service to this being a concert – these guys can sing AND dance. The whole show is choreographed with bouncy dance moves that had me exhausted just watching them. They definitely do their cardio! I was a little nervous when they started pulling people up on stage (I wasn’t picked, whew) but I started to regret it a little by the time it was done – they looked like they were having lots of fun.

Final word – it’s bubblegummy fun with just enough bite to keep you laughing, I’d definitely recommend it. The show runs until March 11^th, and ticket prices and showtimes can be found on the PTE website

Side note: If you haven’t been to the PTE in a while, you should take a walk up to check it out – the lobby was renovated last year and has been totally transformed.

It’s Art & Soul time again, Apres Ski style! This year’s event is in just two days on February 25th and is almost completely sold out – a little birdie (by which I mean twitter) told me there are less than 85 tix left for the party as of yesterday afternoon! I got mine and I’ll be live tweeting from the Winnipeg Art Gallery, and I wouldn’t wait to grab yours – last year was totally sold out.

A picture’s worth a thousand words, so I’m just going to show you 3,000 words worth of why you should be there:

#1: Last year’s party = awesome.

Last year's London Calling theme in action

#2: Bonding with friends!

#3: For once, it’s appropriate to wear a tuque and furry boots with your formalwear! Vive le apres ski theme!

If you still need your tickets, you can buy them and get all kinds of other info on their website: artandsoul.wag.ca