A new Winnipeg Art Gallery exhibit called Headlines celebrates the 150th anniversary of the Winnipeg Free Press.
One of the interesting pieces in the exhibit is a collage featuring photos from the newspaper over the years. It is fun to examine them and try to figure out what news story each photo represents.
Can you find Dale Hawerchuk signing with the Winnipeg Jets in 1981, images of the 1997 flood, protesters overturning a street car during the strike of 1919, the building of the Manitoba Legislature that began in 1917 and Elijah Harper rejecting the Meech Lake Accord in 1987?
What about swimmers at the Pan Am Pool in 1967 during the Pan Am Games, a pair of Siberian Tigers welcomed to the zoo in 1961 and a photo of author A.A. Milne meeting the bear who inspired his Winnie the Pooh book?
See the huge crowds in 1923 lining the streets to get a glimpse of the magician Harry Houdini? Of course, there’s the iconic Salisbury House which opened its doors in 1931, the Witches Hut at Kildonan Park built in 1970, and IF day a reenactment of a possible Nazi takeover of Winnipeg staged in 1942.
Check out the old Winnipeg City Hall demolished in the 1960s, the return of the Winnipeg Jets in 2011, the Holy Trinity Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral built in 1952, the Gimli Glider emergency landing in 1983 and a light artwork called Bokeh installed in Kildonan Park in 2019.
Recognize the performer Spoon Man at the Winnipeg Folk Fest, Burton Cummings in his grade 11 St. John’s Highschool picture or the Arlington Bridge?
Did you know Carmichael and Clementine were the first polar bears at the zoo brought there in 1939 and 1940 respectively or that the Golden Boy was placed atop the Manitoba Legislature in 1919?
This section features some iconic Winnipeg food, a fat boy with chilli fries, Alycia’s Ukrainian Restaurant and Manitoba Imperial Cookies from Goodies Bakeshop. The blizzards of 1966 and 1997 are shown along with photos reminding us of the Folk Fest, Festival du Voyageur, the flight of the Royal Canadian Air Force Snowbirds over Winnipeg in 2020 and the Santa Claus Parade.
The man hanging onto the parking meter or is it a fence pole looking like he’ll be blown away by the wind is legendary Winnipeg Free Press photographer Jack Ablett. Is that his camera in his hand?
The Headlines Exhibition is at the Winnipeg Art Gallery till the end of May. You don’t want to miss it!
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