Audio Transcript
 

Welcome to Old Market Square!

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Since its creation in 1966, Old Market Square has been the heart of the Exchange District. Initially home to summer farmer's markets, the park's design and use has changed significantly across the decades. Today, it plays host to a number of different arts festivals in Winnipeg, from Jazz Fest to Reggae Fest and, biggest of all, the Winnipeg Fringe Festival.

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Created in 1988, the Winnipeg Fringe Festival is the second largest festival of it's kind in Canada. Dedicated to alternative theater, the festival presents a wide variety of plays highlighting both local and travelling performers. Here, in Old Market Square, you never know just what you'll find during the festival. Perhaps actors, in characters and costumes, handing out playbills for shows - or Fringe Fest volunteers, handing out brochures and information with a smile.

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During the day, you'll find acrobats performing daring stunts on ladders and tightropes, or jugglers throwing fire - but as the day goes on, local bands will take the stage. Performances vary every year so you'll never know just what you'll see - only that you'll be in for a treat!

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Now that you are in the center of the Old Market Square, you will see a giant metal box. Go ahead and get a better view!

For $1.2 million, This 28 x 28 foot Cube is an open-air performance venue - with a twist. The stage features 2 performance areas, a main stage and a rooftop stage. Depending on when you visit the Cube, it's appearance may change!. It can actually be used 365 days a year, so should you brave the cold of a Winnipeg winter and come downtown, the Cube will appear as a metallic box, closed in on all four sides and illuminated at night like a wintery art piece.

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In the warmer months, things change. Tension cables, threaded throughout the interlocking steel triangles of the curtain, can be pulled back to reveal the Cube stage.

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Whether a neighbourhood park or hub for the city during summer festivals, the Old Market Square and Cube Stage have undeniable significance for the vitality of Winnipeg’s Exchange District.