Happy Monday, Winnipeg!

What a weekend to be outside. Patios were full, parks were busy, and half the city seemed to be hunting for a spot in the shade. We hope you got your share of it.

The heat isn't going anywhere either. We're sitting around 29°C today and climbing to 33°C by Wednesday, with barely a drop of rain in the forecast.

Grab your morning coffee, settle in, and let's get you caught up on what you missed this weekend.

Now, in today’s edition:

— Jas Singh

You know the feeling of coming home. Locking the door behind you. A place to sleep that is yours. Everyone deserves that.

A Manitoba plan called Your Way Home has now given exactly that to 249 people living in encampments.

And 249 is only the start. The goal is to house an estimated 700 people living in camps, and to end chronic homelessness in Manitoba by 2031.

There's still a long way to go, and people are still becoming homeless faster than they're being housed.

But tonight, 249 people have a safe place they didn't have before. That's worth holding onto.

Click Here: To see the full strategy to end chronic homelessness in Manitoba!

You've probably got a running list of home projects for this summer...

The cabinet door that hangs a little crooked.
The patio you keep saying you'll pour.
The window that leaks cold all winter.

Every time you notice one, you think: I should really deal with that. Then you don't. And the list quietly gets longer.

Two days in August, most of that list is under one roof.

The Hutterite Manufacturing & Associate Expo at Red River Exhibition Park brings together Manitoba manufacturers on August 13 and 14.

Kitchen cabinets, doors, windows, metal siding, custom concrete, decking, spray foam, hardware. Some of the best-built products in the province, side by side, ready to touch in person.

Most of what's here is made by Hutterite manufacturers who've spent generations building for one thing: durability.

Cabinets built by hand. Doors that don't warp. Roofing that outlasts what most big-box stores are selling. And the whole point of the expo is you get to see the difference in person before you commit to it.

So bring the list. Bring a measuring tape. Manitoba summer is short, and the projects you finish now are the ones you're not fighting to do in the cold.

Big chains train staff to read your name off a cup…
Local spots just remember it.

Regulars at Espresso Vibe say it doesn't take many visits before the staff has their name and their usual order down. It's the thing people write about over and over, across 478 reviews sitting at 4.9 stars in the shop's first year.

Don't take our word for it, go read them!

None of that would matter if the coffee wasn't good. It is.

They roast their own beans in house, so the espresso comes out rich and clean and the pour-over is smooth enough that you'll stop reaching for the cream.

Then they take that same coffee and do something genuinely creative with it.

It's family-owned, sitting on a stretch of the city that doesn't get nearly enough love.

📍 113 St Anne's Rd, Unit 102
🕒 Mon to Fri 8AM to 6PM, Sat & Sun 9AM to 6PM

Click here: To check out their full menu and all the drinks they've got going!

If you've ever sold chocolate bars, run a silent auction, or chipped in twenty bucks so your kid's school could get a new play structure, you know how long that takes.

Good news, it just got a lot easier. Manitoba is putting $3 million into the new Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities Play Structure Fund, announced last week.

The fund was introduced in Budget 2026 to take the pressure off parent councils and volunteers.

Instead of raffles and bake sales, school divisions can now budget for playground construction and replacement the same way they would anything else at the school.

Recess is where a lot of kids learn to share, take turns, and make the friend they'll still be talking to in twenty years.

Click Here: To see the full list of playground projects covered!

Somewhere in this city, a kid is about to play their first ever soccer game. Nervous, oversized jersey, no clue which way they're supposed to run.

Ralph Cantafio spent his life making sure kids like that had somewhere to play.

He passed away earlier this year. On Friday, the province put $750,000 into the field that carries his name.

Back in 1987, Ralph helped bring Winnipeg its first pro soccer team. Plenty of people said it would never work here. It did.

But that's not the story his family tells about him.

His son Raff spoke at the announcement and teared up partway through. He said that complex was everything sport meant to his dad. Not a place to win things. A place where kids make friends, find something to hope for, and grow up into good people.

So the field gets better grass and better lights.

And that kid in the oversized jersey gets a proper place to start.

Click Here: To read the full announcement and what's coming to the complex!

A water pipe burst above the washroom at Munroe Library, so the branch on London Street is shut while crews fix it up.

Crews are drying everything out now. Then comes new insulation and drywall, a fresh coat of paint, and a carpet clean.

So it's a few weeks of a different branch, and then it's back to your normal routine.

Meanwhile, click here: To find every library branch and the one closest to you!

Most of us let unknown numbers go to voicemail. This week, one of them is worth answering.

Starting today, a local research firm is calling people at random across Winnipeg for the Winnipeg Police Service public opinion survey. It runs every two years, and it's the one time you get asked directly what you think about safety in your own neighbourhood.

Every part of the city gets called, not just a few neighbourhoods. So whether you live in Transcona or St. James or the North End, your answers count the same.

If you've got something to say about how things feel where you live, good or bad, this is the part where somebody actually writes it down.

Click here: For more info so you know what to expect!

This section includes only the major events happening soon. For a complete list of all events, you'll have to wait for future editions!

Thanks for reading The Winnipeg Digest! Let’s chat again on Wednesday!