70 tours made available for 22nd annual Doors Open Winnipeg
Posted May 25, 2025 3:54 pm.
Last Updated May 26, 2025 9:14 am.
This weekend, 70 venues offered tours for Doors Open Winnipeg, a free annual event giving a chance to explore the city’s historic and cultural sites.
Among them, the Millennium Centre opened its doors for Black History Experience Manitoba, celebrating the many contributions of the Black Community to the province.
The exhibit was a pilot project to see what a permanent black history exhibit could look like, featuring a display of various artifacts, as well as musical performances.
“This is our popup exhibit, to kind of test out the waters, we had a meeting to kind of decide what we thought we wanted to share and how we’d do it, and this is kind of a sampling of what it could look like, but we really want the public’s feedback, we want to create a space that’s super welcoming to everybody,” said Judy Williams, a co-founder of Black History Experience Manitoba.
Cindy Tugwll, the executive director of Heritage Winnipeg, “It’s architecture meets culture, and it’s that wonderful marriage of this beautiful, beautiful heritage building, people are going to look around, but moreover to learn about different cultures and so, Black history exhibits are here today and cultural dance and food. I think we want to showcase what a diverse city Winnipeg is.”
The exhibit was a small piece of the weekend-long event, featuring a wide array of historical sites to visit. From the legislature building, to the first presbyterian church, and even horse and carriage rides around the Exchange District, providing plenty of options to learn about the city’s rich history.
“We have historic churches and museums, but we also have walking tours, so it gives a history of the area. We want to start bringing back social connectivity, make education entertaining, have something for the family, so we made a concerted effort to make sure all age demographics have a great time,” said Tugwell.
Organizers say it all was made possible by the hard work of all the volunteers.
“Over 500 volunteers come out to help put on this event so we can showcase this to Winnipeggers, so we’re very proud of that, and we thank them,” said Tugwell.
