Winnipeg Nightlife

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Living in Winnipeg, we are actually quite blessed with how many top notch Winnipeg Events, Winnipeg Concerts & Winnipeg Raves come through town considering the size of our city. I stand by my statement that we have the best nightlife scene (no matter what kind of music or events you’re into) in Canada for cities under 1,000,000 people.

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In addition to some great one off type events, Winnipeg also has some very consistent Weekly Events or “Bar Nights” that can give you another excuse to get out of the house. Whiskey Dix is always packed on Tuesdays. Republic, Lo Pub, and Ozzy’s are all great places to be on any given Thursday. The O.C. is hot on Fridays and Stereo and Cowboys are great places to be on a Saturday night. Now thanks to some ambitious promoters, it looks like The Academy will be the new Wednesday hot spot in Winnipeg!

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Me and a few friends went down to The Academy to check out their new Wednesday set up on Wednesday, September 2nd. This was my first time ever being to The Academy for any sort of event and I must say I was very impressed with the venue. There is plenty of great seating inside (a lot of large tables and comfy booths) if you are just looking to grab a drink and catch up with friends but there is also a great dance floor comparable in size to what you would expect to see at some “dance clubs” in the city. Th dance floor faces a large main stage that would be suitable to house just about any type of entertainment (dancers, full bands, DJ’s etc). Near the back of the bar near all of the booth seating there is also a smaller stage which would be suitable for a smaller more intimate show.

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The Academy has a great location right in the Osbourne Village at the Corner of Osbourne and Stradbrook (437 Stradbrook Avenue). It is within walking distance of The Zoo/Ozzy’s, Hi Fi, The Toad and many great restaurants and pubs in the Osbourne Village. See the map below:

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My friends and I got to The Academy around 10:30PM and the crowd was still quite sparse so grabbed a booth and ordered some drinks. Domestic Beers and Shots were reasonably priced at $3.75. You can either order your drinks from some of the waitresses that come around to the tables and take drink orders or go up to the large bar that spans the seating area. I ordered a drink both ways and in both cases I received polite and prompt service.

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After sitting inside for a while, my friends and I relocated to the rather large and comfortable patio on the parking lot side of the building. This is a great feature and asset of the club in summer. It probably seats about 60 people or so and is a great place to smoke or just grab some fresh air.

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The bar started to fill up around 12:00AM although still not enough to really feel like a “hot spot”. The crowd overall seemed very young with a few exceptions here and there. The crowd also seemed to be more “Urban” then the typical “Hipster/Indie” crowd then you normally imagine parting on Osbourne. This was also complemented by the music being played as it was almost all Top 40 & Rap/Hip Hop type music.

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On this particular night, the promoter had hired a dance crew which performed around 12:30 on the dance floor. The dance crews performance was good although things seemed slightly disorganized in getting things set up for their performance.

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At the end of the night, I talked to the promoter who informed me this was the first time they had hired a dance crew to do a performance (which explains the slightly disorganized feel and smaller crowd). After talking to some people at the bar also, it sounds as on on a “typical” Wednesday, the bar is actually quite packed and has a great feel about it.

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Although I probably didn’t attend The Academy on the fairest night to give a review, I still enjoyed myself and can see the huge potential for this night! I would definitely attend again and am happy to see a good Wednesday night option in Winnipeg. The venue is great, drinks are reasonably priced, service is good, and the location is awesome. The music and crowd is also great if you are into a younger, more urban type crowd and the music that comes along with that.

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