What's up: Ava Kobrinsky celebration, cocktail competition, tapestries, Mari Padeanu, Scattered Seeds

Winnipeg Free Press

08-05-2025

West End Cultural Centre, 586 Ellice Ave.
Saturday, 8 p.m.
Tickets $35 at wecc.ca
TODD KOROL / FREE PRESS files
Ava Kobrinsky and Mitch Podolak stand in front of the soon to open West End Cultural Centre in 1987.
For 50 years, Ava Kobrinsky has been a pillar of the Canadian folk music scene.
Together with her late husband Mitch Podolak, Kobrinsky co-founded the Winnipeg Folk Festival, the West End Cultural Centre and Home Routes/Chemin Chez Nous. They hosted thousands of travelling musicians at their Wolseley home and helped launch the careers of too many artists to count.
In 2021, Kobrinsky was inducted into the Order of Manitoba for her outstanding commitment to the arts, having played a role in the establishment of many other cultural organizations, including Prairie Theatre Exchange, Winnipeg Jewish Theatre and Winnipeg's Contemporary Dancers.
Saturday's concert at the WECC is a celebration of folk music and one of its fiercest champions, featuring Burnstick, James Culleton, David Graham, Sheena Legrand, Onna Lou, Flora Luna, Daniel Peloquin-Hopfner, Leonard Podolak, Jorge Requena Ramos and Orit Shimoni.
— Jen Zoratti In Good Spirits cocktail competition WAG-Qaumajuq, 300 Memorial Blvd.
Monday, 6:30-9:30 p.m.
Tickets: $70 here.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES
Mixologists and bartenders will create concoctions at the In Good Spirits cocktail competition Monday.
Eighteen of Winnipeg's best mixologists and bartenders will face off at WAG-Qaumajuq on Monday at the In Good Spirits cocktail competition. The third annual competition closes MB Somm Week, which features all manner of tastings and workshops put on by the Manitoba chapter of the Canadian Association for Professional Sommeliers (CAPS Manitoba).
Each of the participants has been assigned a specific spirit (including whisky, gin, vodka and pisco) on which they're to base their signature cocktail, which they'll create in front of the crowd starting at 6:30 p.m.
Beyond that, it's all up to the bartenders and their imaginations to shake and stir the panel of judges and the public, with the chance for contestants to win a distillery tour, a bursary and other prizes.
Among those participating are drinks slingers from Darling Bar, Nola, Baby Baby, the Manitoba Club, Solera, Sous Sol and Hy's Steakhouse.
Tickets include a welcome cocktail, small bites and samples of the competitors' drinks, with $10 from each ticket sold going to the Canadian Mental Health Association. You don't need to be a member of CAPS Manitoba to attend; for the full list of participants and to buy tickets see wfp.to/ingoodspirits.
— Ben Sigurdson Prairie Deck II C2 Centre for Craft, 1-392 Cumberland Ave.
Runs until 26 June (Wednesday to Friday, noon to 4 p.m.)
Free
Edmonton-based artist Aja Louden's solo exhibition brings his vision of an Afrofuturist world to life in large-scale tapestries.
Weaving a tale of two spacewomen — a mother and her daughter — exploring the prairies, Louden's work is a riot of colour and texture with themes of nature and technology running through each tufted piece.
Louden's works in yarn explore science fiction, history and fantasy, promising to take visitors on a journey through time, space and alternate realities.
— AV Kitching Mari Padeanu Park Alleys, 730 Osborne St.
Friday, 9:30 p.m.
Free
Kinda weird to think Winnipeggers used to bowl without live jazz.
SUPPLIED
Mari Padeanu performs at Park Alleys on Friday.
Over the past few years, Park Alleys has made the unlikely duo a staple of its weekly happenings.
Singer Mari Padeanu is one of a few young stars in Park Alley's revolving cast of jazzers. The originals Padeanu performs, many from the singer's recent EP The Fool, decorate funk and pop grooves with romantic whimsy and melodies that harken back to the golden age of crooners.
Filling out Padeanu's sound is sizable ensemble, including Josh Bonneauteau (drums), Sam Fournier (bass), Jasmine Henry (vocals), Daniel Nemez (guitar) and Tirian Plett (keys).
Total non-sequitur: if you have the chance, check out the punched hole in the wall of one of Park Alley's bathroom stalls. Rather than repair it, management has framed it with the description 'Mixed media: dry-wall and toxic masculinity' and the title Couldn't Beat the Gutter.
— Conrad Sweatman Scattered Seeds Craft Market Red River Exhibition Place, 3977 Portage Ave.
Friday, noon to 9 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Tickets $10 at thescatteredseeds.com
SUPPLIED
Scattered Seeds Craft Market is celebrating its 30th anniversary this weekend with a Mother's Day sale.
Scattered Seeds Craft Market is celebrating 30 crafty years with a special two-day pop-up at Red River Exhibition Place.
The first iteration of the market took place in founder Deb Schwartz's East St. Paul home with crafts made by family and friends. The business quickly outgrew the living room and the sales have become popular annual events for local makers and shoppers.
Promoted as 'Winnipeg's cosiest market,' Scattered Seeds' is hosting its first-ever Mother's Day market this weekend featuring more than 160 vendors, workshops, food trucks and a high tea service. Tickets for the latter are $70 per person with seatings still available for Friday between 1:30 and 3:30 p.m.
Admission to the craft sale is free for children aged 12 and younger and discounted for seniors aged 65 and older. Half-price tickets are available for the last two hours of each day.
— Eva Wasney