Find out why our mayor thinks Winnipeg is the perfect destination for your business event
Scott Gillingham is both the 44th mayor of Winnipeg –– and its number one fan.
While it shouldn’t come as a big surprise that our new mayor is a big advocate for the city, you will be intrigued and delighted by all the unique reasons why His Worship thinks this city excels when it comes to both general leisure tourism and business events.
Here’s why Mayor Gillingham thinks Winnipeg is right for you.
In your opinion, why is Winnipeg the perfect location to business events?
One of the reasons that Winnipeg is a great place to host an event is we're only 15 minutes between the airport and downtown. We're also in the centre of Canada, so if you're flying to Winnipeg, there's great connectivity from all around North America and certainly through Canada as well.
We have great, great venues to host events. And of course, we have our beautiful convention centre, which is a great attraction that hosts so many events every year.
We're a friendly city. If you're having your event here, you're going to enjoy Winnipeg's hospitality.
And, we have great people working in tourism that are ready to greet you and ready to help you have a successful event.
So, if you're considering where to have your next event, I can help you with that. It's Winnipeg.
When someone from outside of Winnipeg asks you why they should visit our city, what do you tell them?
We're the best city in Canada!
We're really, really friendly and we have so much to offer… There's a reason the license plate says “Friendly Manitoba.”
It's Winnipeggers –– it's all Manitobans in fact –– that give that warmth to those that visit. And so there's so many reasons to visit our community! We have world class arts. We have pro sports at every level that people can enjoy. And there's so much to see and do here.
What are some of your favourite, or family favourite, must-see attractions, restaurants and events in Winnipeg?
My wife and I like to bike. So when we do get some time, especially on a Saturday, we'll get on our bikes and we'll try to find the best cinnamon bun in the city.* So we'll bike somewhere for coffee in the afternoon, but there are so many great restaurants to enjoy.
One of the greatest things about Winnipeg is its ethnic diversity, which translates into a really great food scene in this town. If you enjoy food, Winnipeg is a place to be.
We also really enjoy the parks. Winnipeg has beautiful green space and I think of Assiniboine Park, St. Vital Park and Kildonan Park where thousands gather, especially during the summer months.
We also have great festivals, and people will come to Winnipeg as tourists just to enjoy one or more of our festivals, whether it's Folklorama or Jazz Fest, the Fringe Festival, New Music Festival… I mean, I could go on and on. And we can’t forget, our winter festivals as well, especially festival goers. There’s just so much to do in our city and we enjoy taking in as many of those festivals as we can as a family.
Winnipeg has hosted some major sporting events like World Police and Fire Games and Canada summer Games in the last few years. How important is it to bring major events like this to our city?
By bringing major events to our city, people from outside of Winnipeg get to experience what we all know here every day –– that we have a great city, a vibrant city, a city with so much to offer.
For example, our volunteers: The World Police and Fire Games was just here recently, and I had so many comments from participants in the Games from other parts of the world. They were overwhelmed with, and impressed with, the volunteers in our community and just the friendly reception that the people received.
They said Winnipeggers were going out of their way to give them directions and someone opened their home to them. That's Winnipeg and that's Winnipeggers. And when we put our best foot forward, we attract major events to our community.
Winnipeg has some of the best venues, so whether it's sporting events or cultural events or arts events, we have world-class facilities. Just think about the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, Winnipeg Art Gallery-Qaumajuq, and of course Canada Life Centre and Princess Auto Stadium.
*This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Editor’s note on cinnamon buns: While the mayor wouldn’t dish on his personal favourite, may we suggest the legendary version found at Tall Grass Prairie (859 Westminster and The Forks Market), La Belle Baguette (248 De La Cathedrale Ave), Cottage Bakery (1382 Pembina Hwy) and Blue Stone Cottage (3670 Roblin Blvd) -- all of which will afford you a very pleasant bike ride.
