I had to leave Winnipeg for a fairly long time, and go literally to the other side of the globe, to figure out that I loved it. Honestly, I don’t think I could have ever figured this out without having left. I would have spent my whole life wishing I’d gone somewhere more metropolitan or more exotic. There are people like my best friend, who have lived here their whole lives and know that they will live and die Winnipegers – and they wouldn’t want it any other way. I would never have been one of those people. So I'm glad I left - and I'm really glad that I eventually had the sense to come home.
Come February it starts getting harder and harder to remember why I love this city. The snow is no longer fluffy, white and romantic, but rather grey-brown and salt stains have begun ruining all your shoes; the wind chill has made what could almost be a tolerable temperature intolerable for more days than we should be able to count – but we do count. Talk to most Winnipegers in February or March and at some point in the conversation they will almost inevitably say something along the lines of “Can you believe it, 30 straight days below -30 degrees with the wind chill?” There is inevitably at least one day every winter where you get out of your car/off the bus, with a toque pulled down just below your eyebrows, a scarf pulled up to the tops of your cheeks, while your eyelashes freeze together and you think “What the fuck? Why did my ancestors travel half way around the world and stop here???”
The truth is that the misery we go through every winter is part of what binds us together – we all have it in common. We go through it together. We come out the other side, each spring, like soldiers home from battle – bonded together through a shared experience. And we feel that much stronger for it. Let’s face it, we look down on people that complain about minus 15. We’ve earned that right.
Winnipeg suffers from short man syndrome – forever jumping up and down yelling “Look at me! I’m a real city too!” It’s endearing – though unnecessary. We are what we are. We don’t have freeways, and we drive like maniacs. We have only just acquired some of the major US retailers that other Canadian cities have had for years. We are renowned (at least in Winnipeg) for our love of a good bargain. We have Transcona – and where would we be if we didn’t have Transcona to make fun of? Every small man needs a little brother to pick on.
So what do we have? We have incredibly short commutes by comparison with most other cities in the world. We have some of the best and most varied food cultures of any city of been in. We have the Weakerthans, who have written some of my favourite words about this city )“My city's still breathing (but barely it's true) through buildings gone missing like teeth.”) We have the West End Cultural Centre, where you can see burgeoning artists and long established ones at a reasonable price. We have a very real art scene, although you might have to dig a little to find it – it’s there, I promise. We have cottage country, usually at a pretty reasonable drive from the city for a weekend getaway. And speaking of cottage country – we have some pretty incredible summers. And we make the most of them – there’s a festival of some sort at almost any point from the time the weather gets warm (not to mention Festival du Voyageur right in the middle of the winter, when we need it most).
The longer I type this list of things I love about Winnipeg, the longer it gets. This post could go on and on.
I read this article “Nine ways to experience Winnipeg” this morning and it reminded me that some of the things we do have are pretty unique. I don’t agree with everything the author has to say – but it made me laugh, made me feel proud of this city – and usually come February I need something like this to remind me about the lengthy list of things that make me proud to be a Winnipeger. Best of all, it reminded me that there are things about Winnipeg I still haven’t experienced. It made me want to do all of the things he listed – so I’m going to. It might take me a year, because some are very decidedly winter or summer activities, but I’m going to try them all. I may even redo some of the ones I’ve already tried. As with any relationship, no matter how loving, it is always important to keep trying, learning about new things to love and revisiting the tried and true classics that made you fall in love in the first place.
If you are from Winnipeg, what is your one “must do” or “must see”? Maybe I’ll give it a try. And if anything interesting comes of these little journeys I’ll let you know.
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