What's on in Winnipeg, Canada through the year

Busy — Winter / Christmas break in Canada, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

• Season

  Frozen river trail

  5 Jan – 5 Mar · usuallyIce season

  The Assiniboine and the Red are ploughed into a skating trail from The Forks, several kilometres long in a good freeze, with warming huts commissioned from architects each year. Source ↗

Still on: Deep cold (15 Dec – 20 Feb (usually))

Busy — Festival du Voyageur

• Festival

  Festival du Voyageur

  12–24 Feb · usuallyMajor festivalCrowded

  Ten days in the French quarter of St Boniface in the coldest part of February: snow sculpture, fiddle music in heated tents and a fur-trade past taken seriously. It is the largest winter festival in the west. Source ↗

Still on: Frozen river trail (5 Jan – 5 Mar (usually)), Deep cold (15 Dec – 20 Feb (usually))

Busy — March break / semaine de relâche in Canada

Nothing new starts in March.

Still on: Frozen river trail (5 Jan – 5 Mar (usually))

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

• Hazard

  Red River flood season

  1 Apr – 10 May · usually

  Snowmelt on a flat, north-flowing river backs water up across the valley most springs, and the floodway around the city was dug for exactly this. The city itself rarely floods; the roads into it do. Source ↗

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in May.

Still on: Red River flood season (1 Apr – 10 May (usually))

Busy — Summer break in Canada, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

• Hazard

  Mosquito season

  10 Jun – 10 Aug · usuallyInsect season

  A wet June turns the surrounding marsh into the worst mosquito ground in the country, and the city runs a fogging programme with published nightly zones. A dry June and you barely notice. Source ↗

Peak crowds — Winnipeg Folk Festival, Summer break in Canada

• Festival

  Winnipeg Folk Festival

  8–14 Jul · usuallyMajor festivalCrowdedBook early

  Five days of camping and stages in Birds Hill Park north of the city in early July, running since 1974 and still the reason people fly in during summer. Source ↗

Still on: Mosquito season (10 Jun – 10 Aug (usually))

Peak crowds — Folklorama, Summer break in Canada

• Festival

  Folklorama

  2–16 Aug · usuallyMajor festivalCrowded

  Two weeks of pavilions run by the city's own communities in halls all over town, each with its own food and dance show. It claims to be the largest festival of its kind anywhere. Source ↗

Still on: Mosquito season (10 Jun – 10 Aug (usually))

Busy — Summer break in Canada

Nothing new starts in September.

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in October.

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in November.

Busy — Winter / Christmas break in Canada, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

• Hazard

  Deep cold

  15 Dec – 20 Feb · usuallyExtreme cold

  Weeks at a time below minus twenty with a wind off the prairie behind it, which is why downtown is connected by tunnels and skywalks. Cars are plugged in overnight here as a matter of course. Source ↗