Winnipeg's Osborne Village Voted the Country's Top Neighbourhood

The Canadian Institute of Planners Great Places in Canada initiative has been polling Canadians on their top picks for public spaces, streets and neighbourhoods. The latter category was won by Winnipeg's Osborne Village, one of Canada's most densely-populated neighbourhoods. The Winnipeg Free Press reports,

"More than 200,000 online votes were cast during the four-month voting process, overseen by judges with the 7,000-strong organization, and Winnipeg's cosy hippest strip rose straight to the top.

There is, after all, nowhere else in Winnipeg where you can buy a shrimp burrito, a spray tan, a jug of milk and a therapy session without once hopping in a car or even leaving the same one-block strip. The Village is a place where life's little errands blend into a colourful pastiche: You can get a nipple-piercing while waiting for the guy to finish your taxes, rent an obscure Korean horror movie after sweating at the gym, or buy a pair of high-waisted spandex leggings on the way to pick up cat food. This is the secret of the Village: It has a little something for everyone. For the neighbourhood's significant senior population, it's one of the few places in the city that offers complete services without transportation hassle. And for the 20-somethings who have snapped up the area's character condos, it's a playground of patios, pubs, dancing and karaoke."