Annual Report
Mission-
The Forks - Shall be developed as a ‘Meeting Place,’ a special and distinct, all season gathering and recreational place at the junction of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers, through a mixed use approach including recreational, historical and cultural, residential, and institutional and supportive commercial uses.
The Forks welcomes nearly 4 million visitors each year, earning it the distinction of being the province’s most visited tourist attraction. It has been recognized as one of Canada’s top 25 by Forbes Traveler.
The original idea of The Forks as the city’s meeting place has certainly come to fruition and that theme runs through every aspect of operations, programming and future visions for the site.
Last year marked the 20th anniversary of The Forks and this year The Forks Market turns 20. Originally two stables, The Market was the lead project to open at The Forks and has been a popular meeting place ever since. This year, The Market returned to its roots, rebranding itself as a downtown neighbourhood grocery store to its area residents. A large celebration is planned for October 2009, with family programming and a gala honouring the seventeen original charter tenants.
While some come to The Forks to shop or dine, others come to play. Programming at The Forks is one of our hallmarks, with nearly 200 third party events hosted on the site each year.
The Signature Programming at The Forks is both innovative and exceptional. As with all programming undertaken by our organization, it is free to the public and provides an urban experience like no other in this city.
Winter programming has experienced the largest jump in attendance numbers. This year, the door counts used to track attendance were similar to those seen in July and August.
The Forks, working with Festival du Voyageur, broke our own Guinness World Record for the longest naturally frozen skating trail at 9.0 kilometres. The full length of the Trail was on the Assiniboine River due to frazil ice on the Red, allowing us to reach Assiniboine Park for the first time. The ensuing media earned The Forks a place on the national stage. The push for the extra length was made possible through Assiniboine Credit Union Rivertrail’s sponsors as well as significant financial contributions from the Province of Manitoba and the City of Winnipeg.
Arctic Glacier Winter Park continues to gain in popularity year after year. It’s through partners like Arctic Glacier, Great West Life, Investors Group, Scotiabank, Omni Facilities and many others that we can offer quality programming and great winter attractions.
We continue to work closely with Festival du Voyageur in creating a winter long festival that will include Assiniboine Credit Union River Trail, Arctic Glacier Winter Park and Festival du Voyageur.
The format of Scotiabank Family New Year’s Eve catered to families once again with one mid evening fireworks show featuring the world champion fireworks of Archangel. Visitor numbers remained steady at 22,000 and families came throughout the day to enjoy programming inside and out.
Our Summer Concert Series Live on the Scotiabank Stage once again allowed us to partner with others to bring large scale programming to the site. The series is anchored by a Signature event, Canada Day at The Forks presented by Rogers, and includes long standing concerts like Kidstock and the Folklorama kickoff. This year’s series was rounded out with an all local Manitoba event put on by Manitoba Music. The addition of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra to the Canada Day presented by Rogers was spectacular, with fireworks beginning with the 1812 Overture.
Casinos of Winnipeg Dancing Under the Canopy and Casinos of Winnipeg Salsa Sundays continued to attract loyal fans, new dancers and spectators throughout the summer. These Signature Series have a loyal following with their format of live music paired with professional dance instruction and fun.
The Plaza, the site’s popular skate plaza, plays an important role at The Forks. It was recognized this year by the Wall Street Journal as one of the world’s top ten skateparks for its innovative design.
While no large scale competitions took place this year, there were many events within the park put on by third parties. Three weeks of Skate Camps at The Forks were once again generously supported by Investors Group.
The Inn at The Forks has built a solid clientele of conference, business and leisure travelers over its four year history. Their reputation has attracted local, national and international clients to their one-of-kind boutique hotel. This year they were awarded the 5 Key Eco Rating, one of only seven hotels in Canada to receive the green distinction.
The Manitoba Children’s Museum (MCM) and Manitoba Theatre for Young People (MTYP) both continue to report strong attendance at their venues. This summer for the first time MTYP opened its doors to show Strike! The Musical by local playwright Danny Schur.
The flooding that began last winter, continued through this spring. The rapid rise of the river made clean up difficult and we were unsure if the Splash Dash Water Bus would be able to operate. All boats were in the water by early August.
As part of our commitment to find ways to reduce The Forks’ carbon footprint to zero, we developed our own green initiative: Target Zero. This year, we have nearly completed the process of converting The Forks Market to a geothermal heating and cooling system.
Additional Target Zero initiatives included the installation of a bio-composting system, the successful conversion of waste fryer oil to bio-diesel to power site equipment and a full recycling program for The Forks Market. We continue to explore the possibility of a site-wide district geothermal system as well as solar loading ideas.
The Forks Foundation’s mission is “to raise funds to support and enhance historical, cultural and public amenities at The Forks”. Over the past year, The Foundation has received funds in support of public programs and donations from individuals purchasing a Forks bench to commemorate someone or recognize their business.
This past spring The Forks Foundation fundraiser Dine-About honoured Architectural Excellence. The Forks would not be what it is without the architectural and design expertise it has been privileged to utilize over the last twenty years. Fourteen members of the architectural community were recognized at the dinner in late May.
This year we were excited to begin work on new projects that will enhance our reputation as the city’s meeting place by bringing new energy to The Forks.
The Forks is a site of historic significance. A group of dedicated volunteers known as The Forks Heritage Advisory Committee play a major role in facilitating projects and programs that interpret the heritage of the site. As new projects are introduced to the site, opportunities to integrate heritage themes within these developments will be considered
Parks Canada announced the Variety Heritage Interpretive Playground to be built on Parks land. The $1 million dollar project is expected to be completed by October 2010. It was also announced this year that Parks Canada was the recipient of $1 million in federal Infrastructure money to be used to revitalize lighting, wayfinding, site furniture, irrigation, the amphitheatre, and river walkway surface. All projects are to be completed by March 2011.
Friends of Upper Fort Garry (FUFG) achieved their fundraising goal to acquire the site for re-development as a heritage park. The Forks North Portage Partnership is acting as Management Group for the Friends of Upper Fort Garry to oversee the development of the site. Demolition is set to begin on 100 Main Street in the coming weeks and open houses are slated early in 2010.
The Canadian Museum for Human Rights, the largest project ever undertaken at The Forks began construction this year. The only federal museum to be located outside of the national capital area is slated to open in April 2012.
The Forks is currently exploring the feasibility of an energy efficient “green” mixed use development across the street from the Museum on a surface parking lot that would include parking, residential and commercial and enhanced pubic spaces. Public consultation work and completion of master planning work is scheduled for completion in Spring 2010.