The Garrick — a Winnipeg live music venue and event space — is closing its doors indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Winnipeg Free Press reports that Garrick operations and production manager Sam Smith turned in the keys to the venue earlier this week, while the property lease for the multi-room venue was terminated.
The paper notes that Manitoba's provincial government will continue to host a walk-in COVID-19 testing site in the venue's lobby for the foreseeable future.
"As much as I've said this was not a surprise, turning in the keys made it register with me. This is actually real," Smith told the Free Press, acknowledging that the writing was on the wall not long after the coronavirus arrived in North America.
The Garrick opened in Winnipeg as a theatre in 1921 and was renovated to become the city's first multiplex in 1968. It began life as a multi-use venue after Manfred Boehm, owner of the neighbouring Marlborough Hotel, purchased the theatre in 2002. Since 2018, the Garrick has been operated by the MRG Group.
Smith said that "it would be a tremendous waste of loss to not resurrect it as a concert facility" in a time where COVID-19 is under control, calling the Garrick's closure "a void that's going to be hard to fill."
"Would I like to see it as an entertainment venue again? Sure," added Boehm. "But when will that be? My crystal ball is as good as yours."
The Winnipeg Free Press reports that Garrick operations and production manager Sam Smith turned in the keys to the venue earlier this week, while the property lease for the multi-room venue was terminated.
The paper notes that Manitoba's provincial government will continue to host a walk-in COVID-19 testing site in the venue's lobby for the foreseeable future.
"As much as I've said this was not a surprise, turning in the keys made it register with me. This is actually real," Smith told the Free Press, acknowledging that the writing was on the wall not long after the coronavirus arrived in North America.
The Garrick opened in Winnipeg as a theatre in 1921 and was renovated to become the city's first multiplex in 1968. It began life as a multi-use venue after Manfred Boehm, owner of the neighbouring Marlborough Hotel, purchased the theatre in 2002. Since 2018, the Garrick has been operated by the MRG Group.
Smith said that "it would be a tremendous waste of loss to not resurrect it as a concert facility" in a time where COVID-19 is under control, calling the Garrick's closure "a void that's going to be hard to fill."
"Would I like to see it as an entertainment venue again? Sure," added Boehm. "But when will that be? My crystal ball is as good as yours."
