If you’ve got a green thumb and beautiful space to share consider taking part in the Garden & Art Tour
Bringing people to our region to support our community is what Red River North Tourism (RRNT) is all about, and one of the ways that they do it is by putting the area on show for its amazing qualities. That’s what the Garden & Art Tour is all about, showing off gardens in the area and bringing to these beautiful spaces the amazing artistic offerings of our local creators, then inviting people from near and far to check it out.
“The Garden & Art Tour is an annual outdoor garden tour. It’s a ticketed event and self-guided. People can go to private gardens in our region and in these gardens, there’s going to be artists set up with their art throughout, live music, some garden vendors, master gardeners, and we have some authors too, all selling things that you can purchase along the tour,” said Belle Lourenco, Tourism Coordinator for RRNT.
The tour spans the three municipalities that RRNT serves, with gardens located in Selkirk, St. Clements, and St. Andrews.
This year, RRNT is putting out a call early for gardeners with a beautiful space that they want to share with our community.
“We’re in dire need of some gardens in the Red River North Region,” said Lourenco.
The Garden & Art Tour will take place on July 20 this year, and it’s a really wonderful event that is going to be celebrating 7 years in the community.
“We’re looking for people who have a variety of plants and flowers. It can be annuals or perennials. It can be a flower garden, (or a pollinator garden) for the bees, and (we also appreciate) interesting landscape features. We’ve had previous gardens with some ponds (for example),” she said.
Last year’s event was a full day of fun with eight gardens and about 25 artists, and this year promises to be just as good, with all of the artist slots filled up currently.
Lourenco also wants residents to know that there are some nice perks to opening up your space to our community.
“It’s no cost to participate, and you do get two complimentary tickets to the 2026 Garden & Art Tour. You get a $75 Canadian Tire gift card (courtesy of lead event sponsor Canadian Tire Selkirk), and then you also get a couple of professional photos that we print off for you of your garden and send at the end with your complimentary tickets. It’s also a great chance to exchange gardening tips with other gardeners and just inspire other people,” she said.
From a supporting your community perspective, opening up our homes to people from our region, but also travellers from outside the Interlake, is a great way to support local businesses and interest in Red River North.
“In previous years, we’ve been averaging around 85 per cent of the people who go on the tour come from outside of our region. It’s a tourism magnet. We’ve been selling around 250 to 300 tickets. People are shopping. They’re going to the gas station. They’re buying food in our area. It’s helping tourism in our area, especially this year too, with everybody promoting travelling (within Canada),” said Lourenco.
She explained that it may seem normal to people in our region, but our gardens are quite extraordinary to those from neighbouring municipalities, especially those with more densely packed housing.
“The size of the gardens, people aren’t used to it because the majority of people come from Winnipeg, so they have smaller lots and the soil is different too, so different things (grow here). Even though we’re only 30 minutes apart, people get to share what works for them, and people really get to learn from each other,” said Lourenco.
If the experience of learning more about gardening, supporting your local community and a few nice perks sounds like a great reason to share your space at the Garden & Art Tour, Lourenco encourages you to reach out to RRNT.
“It is a unique one-of-a-kind event. There’s nothing like it in Manitoba right now, where we combine garden and art. There’s a bunch of garden tours in Winnipeg, but there’s nothing that combines having professional artists within your garden displaying their artwork, authors selling books, vendors setting up and also Master Gardeners too. It’s something that’s different, and it’s one of a kind,” she said.
To get in touch with RRNT, shoot them an email at rrnt@gmail.com.
Tickets for the Garden & Art Tour itself aren’t yet available to purchase but keep an eye out for them as they will come off the presses in mid-June. You can be one of the first to know that they are available by keeping up with RRNT online at www.redrivernorthtourism.com, www.facebook.com, or www.instagram.com.
