© 2026, Christian Cassidy
On Saturday, I appeared in a CTV Winnipeg news story about the 120th anniversary of Happyland, which held its grand opening weekend May 24 - 26, 1906. Here is a deeper dive into the history of this "magnificent resort for fun and frolic" that struggled to survive financially for most of its existence.
Part 1: The Glory Days (1906 to 1908)
Part II: New Ownership (1909)
Part III: The final struggle (1910-1914)
April 21, 1909, Winnipeg Tribune
Little is mentioned about Happyland in the papers until early April 1909, when the Maroons began their training camp at the site. Later that month, a news story shed more light on plans for the coming year.
It was announced that the park would reopen around the usual date under the new name "White City", which gives a hint that the investors were American. This was a common name for amusement parks in the U.S., not necessarily tied to one particular company. The "white" refers to the heavy use of artificial light that made amusement parks glow from a distance.
The company was said to be capitalized for $100,000 and new investments planned for the park over the course of 1909 included the addition of a "first-class" restaurant and renovation to one of the existing buildings to make it an outdoor theatre. Sports would be a big part of its future with a new swimming pool, a large gymnasium to host wrestling and boxing matches, and an expansion of the sports field to include football and lacrosse fields next to the baseball diamond.
May 22, 1909, Winnipeg Tribune
As promised, the park reopened on Victoria Day Weekend, but under the old Happyland name. This, despite one of the most noticeable first impressions of the park being the 10,000 lights that lit up every ride, building exterior, and step along the boardwalk.
The amusement rides were back, including the big roller coaster. As for new venues, the dance hall became the 'Aerodrome' open-air theatre/performing space, and there was the newly-built 'Olympic' open-air arena in the round for boxing and wrestling.
Noticeably missing on opening weekend was outside entertainment of vaudeville acts and circus-style performances. Instead, a local band played, and there were several sports demonstrations.
By the peak of summer, Happyland had settled into a routine of lots of sports-related programming and smaller acts on its stage, but behind the scenes, the park may have been struggling.
The park offered free admission for women and children for a week in early June, again in the last week of July, and in late August. There was free admission for everyone for the week of July 5th, which should have been peak amusement park season.
The Free Press noted briefly in its coverage of the July city hall committee meetings that a delegation from Happyland appeared to request a rebate it the $500 licence fee it had to pay to operate for the years.
July 10, 1909, Winnipeg Tribune
One summer attraction that ended up to be adud was the "aerocar" named Canada produced by a local man named W. J. Robertson. Happyland tried for weeks to secure the final assembly of the plane on-site and get the necessary approvals to do test flights over the park. For tours of the plane and to see the flights up-close, it would charge an extra fee to patrons, something it did not do with its other attractions.
There was much buildup by both Happyland and the local press for the test flight, but on the day of the event it had to be called off due to the wind and the assembly of the plane not being complete. Nearly a month later, on August 20, the assembly was complete and the first test flight was held. As noted in a small story in the Tribune, "a sudden wind lifted the car and Mr. Robertson some little distance in the air, sufficient enough for the car to drop and break the rar wheels and warp the rudder frame."
Robertson vowed to make repairs and hold another test flight the following week, but that was the last mention of the aerocar at Happyland.
August 10, 1909, Winnipeg Tribune
To make matters worse, a "near riot" also took place at Happyland in August 1909.
The venue had sold tickets to have people come see an evening ten-mile foot race between between Canadian championship marathoner Jimmy Fitzgerald and British distance runner Alfred Shrubb. Such exhibitions were often held as a way for both promoters and the runners to make money.
About 1,800 people were in the grandstands ready for the 9 pm race, but the track's lights never came on. The crowd sat for an hour in relative darkness until it became frustrated. Taunts and boos turned to action as some took to ripping the seats off or tried to set fire to them. Others rushed the field and pulled down light standards. The free press reported that a mob then left the seating area and "swarmed over the park smashing windows, tearing down lamp posts, and overturning ticket boxes."
The Tribune noted that there had been cases bad behaviour at large sporting events before but not to this cale and that there was no police presence at the site.
Speculation turned to the possibility that a city-wide electricians strike may have had something to do with the trouble.
The Tribune said it had heard that the lighting problem started earlier in the day and that there had been "several strikers on the grounds" to ensure that electricians were not brought in to make repairs. The Free Press then claims there were a half dozen figures along the track at around 9:30 who appeared to be working on the lights and then disappeared not long before the trouble began.
Happyland manager E.S. Harrison said that Happyland was not to blame "as they attribute the failure to secure proper lighting to the strike of electricians in the city which made it difficult to secure good men to do the work." He said that before the event he had been approached by a group offering to repair the lights for him, but he said he had his own crew that could look after it. For the union's part, it said it had nothing but good relations with Happyland.
August 16, 1909, Winnipeg Tribune
A week later, the race was attempted again with a new lighting system. A third man, Western Canadian running champion Paul Acoose from Saskatchewan, was added to the bill. The race went off without a hitch.
Shrubb was in the lead but dropped out due to a tendon injury. Acoose beat Fitzgerald by almost a full lap in a time of 1 hour, 8 minutes.
The rescheduled race and several big Labour Day Weekend events helped the "new Happyland" finish off what had been a shaky first year on a somewhat positive note.
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