'Get out there and explore,' Winnipeg woman visits 1,335 parks

Eleven months and 1,335 parks later, one Winnipeg woman has hit her stride on an ambitious goal.

Julie Navitka set out to visit all of the City of Winnipeg parks and open spaces, and on Sunday she plans to visit her final stop, Lord Avenue Park.

"It was one that I had missed on a previous—I call them park hunts. My last 40 or so have been ones that I somehow missed," Navitka said.

The mission started last April, she said, and was inspired by her experiences abroad.

"I've done a lot of travelling, and you live day-to-day trying to find out what to go do and see. So I figured why not do that when I'm at home as well," Navitka said.  

Winnipeg's parks are more white than green right now, which caused Navitka to stray slightly from her original plan, but not by much.

"This winter has been mostly running," she said.

"I started out sort of doing it all on foot or on bike, in terms of leaving my place and riding out to wherever I was going… I quickly learned that was a little bit impossible when going out to places like Amber Trails."

She said that meant she had to drive to far areas and go for a five or six mile run, "and nab a bunch of parks that way."

Navitka recommends being a hometown tourist to other Winnipeggers, but doesn't advocate people visit all 1,335 sites.

"This list—its parks and open spaces—so it includes things like boulevards and triangles in the middle of traffic circles and riverbanks," she said.  

"Many of them are not things that people would consider a park, but in general, people should get out there and explore."