Carberry ~ Brandon ~ Killarney ~ Winnipeg
This tour came together perfectly, originally three shows in three days, then a lucky forth added on.
Day one: Carberry & Sprucewoods
Carberry is a smaller town, with an old timey feel, right off the highway of the number one, east of Brandon. I learnt a few things from the folks who came to watch my show about Carberry.
- Carberry is right near the Manitoba desert (we did not get to drive through, but it’s on the list to do).
- Manitoba has mudpuppies, a type of salamanders. Although they are rare to see.
- Carberry is filled with potato farmers.
The show was set to be at the Gingerbread House. The house was built by James White in the early 1900’s. The last brick gingerbread looking house in Western Canada. Which is now a part of the Carberry Plains Museum.
There were only three houses designed and built this way, and Carberry’s is the last standing.
The members of the Carberry museum were all super sweet, and it was a warm and welcoming show.
Originally, I was supposed to be singing on this little porch part, but since our sound system required power, we had to switch locations.
Of course, leaving the gingerbread house, the members of the museum board had sent dad and I home with homemade cookies.
After I had finished the show, we packed up and hit the road to the town we we’re going to sleep in, halfway between Brandon and Carberry, off of the highway a bit, Sprucewoods. We arrived late at night and woke up early in the morning to leave so there wasn’t that much time to sight see, but we did find a few cool things.
Sprucewoods is a little town just north of the military base in Manitoba, Shilo. It also is located just on the edge of the Spruce Woods Provincial Park, and we didn’t get to see much, but we got to see some good Scots Pines.
Day two: Douglas, Brandon & Ninette
We started the day at the Reptile Garden, right outside of Douglas, MB. I hadn’t been here since I was a kid, and dad had never been here at all. When I was kid, I had boughten a stuffed snake toy that was super long, and that’s all I really remembered. There was such a variety of creatures. The crocodiles and alligators were my favorite to see.
Feeding the turtles was fun too. The food looked like smaller cat food, and the turtles loved it. These were Western Painted Turtles, which are actually wild in Manitoba, but these guys were all rescues.
The owner was super excited about her new iguana chair, so we of course had to take a picture with it. The owner also shared how this wildlife sanctuary started as a few pet reptiles in her house as her husband’s hobby, and it’s grown from there.
Afterwards we headed into Brandon, had a quick bite, then headed to Lady of the Lake. I played here last year, and it was a great little show. The stage set up (whether inside or outside) is always gorgeous and the best for photos.
There wasn’t a lot of time to do much shopping in the storefront, but there were some seriously cute things there.
My set list was nestled into the plants as I sang.
The merch trunk filled for the weekend.
We packed up the sound system and hit the road again. We wanted to be in Killarney that night. On the two-hour drive towards Killarney we stopped in the little town of Ninette – there was a huge boat perched with a for sale sign on the main street. The boat wasn’t typical for these Manitoba lakes; it looked more like a boat you’d see out west. We took the right turn and ended up at the Pelican Yacht Club.
Sailboats in Manitoba, I never would have thought. Some folks from the club came and chatted with us as we were driving through. A very welcoming community.
I also tried out these cute cat clips that I found online (I LOVE them)
Day three: Killarney
Killarney reminded me a lot of Eastern Sask – everyone had opened arms, and you could chat with anyone off the street, it was so nice. This town had a lot of shamrocks scattered – from imprints in the cement to the lights hanging on main street. We happened to be in town of the town wide garage sale, so we took our time stopping at the sales and meeting the locals.
The poster that I made for this show at the Owl & Oak Cafe – I was super proud of. My graphic design skills are getting better by every poster.
This cafe, I have amazing things to say about. It’s connected to an art gallery (ran by the same owners) which had such a variety of broad styles. We even found a print of a photo from Inglis, MB.
This style of art reminds me of Montreal – there was so many art galleries which were filled with this bright style – I love it.
The plant wall was my favorite part of the cafe, besides the coffee.
The little merch set up for this gig.
As Killarney is a shamrock filled town, there was this fella near the door in the cafe. Now he didn’t exactly fit the rest of the owl-and-oak theme, so I had to ask about him.
The owner told me that there is a woman in town that leaves this leprechaun at local businesses she likes – she doesn’t announce she’s leaving it, and she doesn’t say when she’s going to collect him. I love the idea of this.
I never asked if he had a name.
Day four: Winnipeg
The morning was filled with driving – we had to stop in Portage for a few errands, then continued as we went. We stopped in a town (I want to say it was named Holland) to take this picture:
I always see the huge windmill fan blades being hauled on trains through my little village – so it was cool to see an older much smaller one.
We then headed straight for the Assiniboia Downs – the horsetrack. This was my first time at a racetrack, and my first time playing at the Manitoba Night Market (which I was so honored the Purple Room picked my application to play here). The market was three floors, indoor and outdoor – the top floor was filled with tattoo artists, and the rest with little crafts and small businesses.
I don’t have very many pictures / videos of this gig – but I did end up buying a few things (a bracelet for me, and a new hot sauce for my boyfriend), but there were a lot of vendors that I could have easier bought from.
The outside market.
Dad and I were pretty beat by the end of this trip, so we got out of the city pretty quick.
Kolby Clunas 