Manitoba is not exactly a province you hear about a whole lot when thinking of Canada. I was born and raised just outside of Winnipeg and had lived there most of my life and to be completely honest, it’s taken me a move across the world to truly appreciate the province and realize how underrated it is.
It is full and I mean full of beautiful lakes, boreal forest and pretty epic wildlife. And although I’m not a huge city goer, Winnipeg is actually a pretty cool place and does have a lot to offer. It is also a pretty interesting place.
Typical me fashion, I’m always curious to know what a place is known for, cool facts and interesting things that have come from an area. Whenever I go somewhere I’m always consulting the university of google to tell me some interesting or unusual about that place. The best is when you learn these cool tidbits about a place you spent most of your life in. To lighten the mood a little and get you going, ‘oh my gosh, I didn’t know that!’ I thought I would put together a list of fun facts about Manitoba, Canada.
Here we go.
1. Winnipeg is the capital city of Manitoba and the largest one. The name come from the Western Cree words- muddy water and is named after Lake Winnipeg- which if you look at it, does look a bit like muddy water.
2. Winnipeg is the geographical center of North America.
3. It’s no secret Winnipeg is very flat and always at risk of flooding. In 1997 they had what was called ‘the flood of the century’. It was the biggest flood since 1826.
4. Winnipeg is in the top 5 coldest cities in the world along with two cities from Russia, one from China and another province in Canada- Yellowknife, NWT. Temperatures have gone as low as minus 45 Celcius in February of 1966 and minus 47.8 Celcius in 1879. Yup, a little nippy!
5. Manitoba has more than 110,000 lakes which covers almost 16% of the province. Just take a look at a satellite view. It is dotted everywhere !
6. There are two National Parks- Riding Mountain National Park and Wapusk National Park. The Wapusk National Park is the largest denning site for polar bears because yup, Manitoba is cool like that and is home to many of them! There are also 54 beautiful provincial parks scattered throughout the province.
7. The town of Churchill is nicknamed the Polar Bear Capital of the world. It is also the best place in the world to see the Aurora Borealis. It truly is a magical place! I guess you can see why Churchhill is on my bucket list!
8. Being the polar bear capital of the world is pretty cool but since there are so many polar bears and their habitat is being threatened, residents actually leave their car doors unlocked in case anyone needs to escape from the bears!
9. This one’s for you snake lovers. I myself don’t mind them but please don’t come anywhere near me with a spider! Manitoba is home to the largest mating congregation of red sider garter snakes in the entire world! Thousands upon thousands come out in May at the Narcisse Dens for their mating party!
10. The Winnipeg Folk Festival is the largest and oldest folk festivals in the world. It has been running for 42 years!
11. Winnipeg also has the largest and oldest multicultural festival- Folklorama. It has been running for 50 years and I have to say it is a must-do if you’re in Winnipeg during August. It does get quite busy but the pavillions are seriously so cool! The food, the dancing, the costumes, I just love it! Sadly due to the Covid-19 virus, the festival has been canceled for its 51st year but will be using social media to still showcase different cultures from around the world.
12. The first million dollar player in NHL hockey was Bobby Hull who played for the Winnipeg Jets! The team has been through a bit of a roller coaster, having to move to the states to become the Phoenix Coyotes. And have after a few more moves, they were back in action in 2011! Still playing out of Winnipeg! Go jets go!
13. We always hear about polar bears in Northern Manitoba but we can’t forget the curious, the cute and super cool Beluga whales. There are over 60,000 of them in the Hudson Bay (Northern Manitoba) and are a sit to see. They’re very social and playful creatures and love to sing their songs by whistling, chirping and clacking. Yet another reason to visit Churchill.
14. On the west side of Lake Winnipeg, a town called Gimli is the largest Icelandic community outside of Iceland. They have a massive statue of a Viking in town, an Icelandic festival each year and I kid you not a little neighbourhood called Reykjavik. Who would have thought ‘New Iceland’ would be in the heart of Canada.
15. You wouldn’t think it but Winnipeg was the first in North America to use a central emergency system. It was first 999 but later changed to 911.
16. Some say Manitoba is the Curling capital of the world. It has more curling clubs than Ontario and Quebec combined which are at least 7 times larger in population than Manitoba.Did someone say ‘SWWWEEEEEPPPP’.
17. The Forks in Winnipeg has one of the longest skating trails in the world. It goes down the Assiniboine and Red Rivers and is 9 km long. The ice that you skate on is at least 12 inches thick.
18. The movie James Bond was inspired by Sir William Stephenson. And who was this you say? He was a a World War II spymaster who was born and raised in Winnipeg. So essentially, Winnipeg can claim James Bond… right?
19. For 16 years straight, Manitoba has also been named the ‘Slurpee capital of the world’. If you’re wondering what a slurpee is, it’s basically a frozen pop, soda, fizzy drink, whatever you want to call it-= frozen sugar drink. Manitobans consume more slurpees than anyone else in the world. They even have a slurpee statue! Myself, I think I’ve had 2 in my thirty years of existence.
20. Just 5 hours north of Winnipeg is Little Limestone Lake. One of the world’s best and largest examples of a marl lake! This, in my opinion, is a must-see! It is quite a detour getting up there but it really is unlike anything else in the province and even the country. The colour could be compared to the glacial lakes in the mountains but this lake is surrounded only by trees. It’s really quite fascinating.
21. Talk about pay it forward. Customers at a Tim Hortons, the national coffee chain, in Winnipeg paid for the next customer’s bill 288 times in a row! It stopped simply because some grumpy dude didn’t want to pay for his line neighbours drink. He must not have been Canadian.
And last but not least,
22. Have you heard of Winnie the Pooh? He was actually named after the city of Winnipeg which was later shortened to Winnie. So we have James Bond and Winnie the Pooh, we’re doing well!
Enjoy these fun tidbits? Anything to add? Let me know!
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