Best free Winnipeg attractions

Looking for something fun to do, but short on cash and ideas?

Here are the best free Winnipeg attractions and free things to do in Winnipeg:

Head for The Forks where there is always something entertaining to see or do at any time of year. Stroll along the Riverwalk, watch the skaters or the skateboarders, or the harbour traffic.

Pause for a free concert, or (on weekends) the buskers. Or head across the bridge to wander through Saint Boniface.

Enjoy the public art, scattered throughout Downtown.

Manitoba Legislative Building (Broadway at Memorial) offers free guided 45-minute tours (on the hour in summer; year-round by appointment), then see the gardens.

From there, it is a short walk across the bridge to Osborne Village for window-shopping.

There are free outdoor concerts on summer evenings and weekends at the larger city parks.

My favourites are the jazz, ballet and blues/pop concerts at Assiniboine Park.

Free events and author readings are held at major Winnipeg bookstores including McNally-Robinson (at Grant Park Shopping Centre), Chapters, Indigo and Aqua Books (downtown).

Many of the small museums are open (summer only) with entry by donation, and you can get into the art gallery at Assiniboine Park Pavillion and the tropical garden and flower display at Assiniboine Park Conservatory by donation year-round.

If you're here in early May, you can see one of the world's natural wonders, the bizarre sight of thousands of garter snakes emerging from their winter homes to mate. That's in Narcisse, north of Winnipeg.

Biologists are onhand to explain the annual phenomenon throughout garter snake season. Makes a nice Mother's Day outing, oddly appropriate.

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SBI!