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Manitoba’s greatest architect dies at 92

Étienne Gaboury, a titan of his craft largely considered Manitoba’s greatest architect, has died at 92.

Gaboury, who was born in a large family on a farm near Bruxelles, Manitoba in 1930, spent over 60 years sculpting the province’s identity through his building designs and artwork.

Among his works are the Church of the Holy Martyrs, l’Église de Précieux Sang, the Esplanade Riel, the Canadian Embassy in Mexico City, the Centre culturel Franco-Manitobain, and the Royal Canadian Mint. He won a Canadian Heritage Award for his post-1968 fire revitalization of the St. Boniface Cathedral. He received the Order of Canada in 2010, and the Order of Manitoba in 2012.

His work was largely influenced by, and created for, Manitoba’s Francophone community.

After the storm: Hurricane Fiona

The weather system known as Hurricane Fiona, later becoming tropical storm Fiona, hit  hard along the east coast of North America. Amid the rain, wind and waves, many communities faced power outages, flooding and destruction. Multiple levels of government in Canada and the United States worked to address the crisis.

Birdwatching, fruit foraging, cool trails help make most of fall

On Thursday, Sept. 22, we mark the fall equinox, the time of year when days and nights are roughly equal. In Manitoba, this is a sign that winter will follow soon, but there’s still lots of time to enjoy the autumnal splendour of colourful foliage, late blooming plants, and nightly displays of migrating birds. Here’s a few suggestions on how and where to check out natural shows in or near Winnipeg.

Summit Series ’72: Game 3 in Winnipeg

The Free Press was at the Winnipeg Arena to witness Canada battle Russia in the 1972 Summit Series. While only a select handful of images were published, we dug out the negatives from this classic game and scanned the rest for this gallery.

Of course, negatives aren’t archived with captions as we do with our digital files, but we’re sure you’ll still appreciate these images that haven’t been seen in decades.

Return to the Summit

It’s been five decades since Foster Hewitt uttered the immortal words: ‘Henderson made a wild stab for it and fell. Here’s another shot. Right in front, they score! Henderson has scored for Canada!’

Interactive Map: Mosquito Watch

Heading outdoors? Need repellent? Find out with our interactive map showing the number mosquitoes caught in traps around the city.

Canada Day 2022

This year, Canada Day at The Forks transformed into what organizers called a reimagined version of the national celebration.

In the wake of thousands of potential unmarked graves being discovered last year on residential school grounds, and after consultations with Winnipeg’s Indigenous community, The Forks replaced its typical Canada Day festivities with a new slate of culturally influenced events.

Events at The Forks included a variety of Indigenous ceremonies, performances by more than 150 musicians, 10 culturally influenced cultural pop-up shows and the usual smattering of food trucks and treats.

Here are some of the pictures from the day.

Manitoba Marathon 2022 cancelled midway

The Manitoba Marathon 2022 pulled the plug on this year’s race midway through the event.

Runners were pulled off the course by officials who said the race was stopped owing to the heat.

"The lives on the course and the runners on the course are our first priority," said race director Rachel Munday. "We’ve all trained for this for months and we’ve been planning it for a very long time and keeping people safe is the most important thing."

Many runners remained on the course, despite the official stop, meaning they were continuing at their own risk.

Arbor Day 2022

Arbor Day is Saturday, June 4 at Kildonan Park. 

Trees Winnipeg will hand out nearly 2,000 trees, involving 25 species, to those who purchased them through the ReLeaf program, which sells affordable quality tree packages that count for the city's Million Tree Challenge.

Guests can also get a bird’s-eye view from the tallest trees in the park by learning how to safely climb a tree or get a lift in a bucket truck.

Getting fleeced: from sheep to skein

Anna Hunter and her husband Luke run Long Way Homestead in the town of St. Genevieve. They run a wool mill, make their own natural dyes, and run workshops, while raising two children.

David Milgaard over the years

David Milgaard, who spent 23 years in prison for a murder he did not commit, has died. He was 69. Milgaard, who was born in Winnipeg, was formally exonerated in 1997 after a DNA test confirmed his innocence.

Flood of 2022

Looking back on the flood of 1997

The 1997 Red River flood was the worst to hit southern Manitoba in 145 years.

Before the month-long flood was over, nearly 350,000 acres of farmland was submerged, approximately 350 farmers were affected and about 25,000 residents — 7,000 of them in Winnipeg — were evacuated from their homes.

The river peaked in the city on May 3 and 4.

The Red Sea was a massive body of water — 20 kilometres wide at the American border and about 40 kilometres wide just south of Winnipeg — spreading at will across the valley’s flat farmland.

Weekend storm wreaks havoc on province

Manitobans spent the weekend grappling with flooded basements, highway closures, and power outages across the province. More than 870 outages were reported according to Manitoba Hydro. The long-range forecast indicates Manitobans can look forward to better weather as the province cleans up from the latest Colorado low.

Spring blizzard 2022

Beginning April 13, 2022, southern Manitoba saw a blizzard expected to drop the heaviest snowfall in 25 years.

Gallery: March moments: Pictures of the month

Free Press photographers take hundreds of photos each month, with only a select few accompanying a story in print or online. Here’s a selection of notable images from March 2022, including some that haven’t previously appeared on our pages.

Gentle as a lamb

Linda Frig feeds her three-week-old lambs at her family farm near Petersfield on Thursday.

Spring is birthing season on the farm, and so far 35 lambs have been born, with six needing to be bottle fed, which happens when their mothers aren't able to provide for a twin or triplet. Frig feeds them three times a day. 

While they're little, the heated machine shop the lambs call home keeps them cosy until the weather warms up enough for them to go outside. Due to an errant ram in the fall, birthing started early this year on the farm, with the first lambs born in early March when the temperatures were still frigid. The season is now winding down.