WINNIPEG — The first in a series of pop-ups opening at Winnipeg’s most iconic intersection, begins Friday.
Downtown Winnipeg created the Imagine Portage and Main Series, in an effort for “Winnipeggers who pass through the intersection to reclaim the Portage and Main side walks,” according to its news release.
READ MORE: Brian Bowman hopes Portage and Main will open to pedestrians next summer
The pop-ups begin at 11 a.m.. and includes Folklarama performers, a farmer’s market, a showcase of local breweries in a Battle of the Beers event and a dance party on all four corners of the intersection.
Portage and Main has had pedestrian blockades and has been closed to foot traffic since 1979. A 40 year deal was struck between area shop owners and the city to move their properties into an underground walkway system.
Mayor Brian Bowman has previously expressed his support to open up the intersection and has set the Canada Summer Games held in 2017 as the ideal deadline to solidify the change.
“It’s ridiculous in this day and age when you have so much positive growth going on around that intersection to not open it up to pedestrians,” Bowman said in June.
More to come.