The JP Hoe Hoe Hoe Holiday Show plays the Burton Cummings Theatre, 364 Smith Street, on Friday, December 11 and Saturday, December 12, 2026. Both nights start at 8 p.m. Guests ask us most Decembers what to book when the symphony feels too formal and the ballet is already gone. This is the answer we give.

JP Hoe is a Winnipeg songwriter, and the Hoe Hoe Hoe is his holiday concert: songs, a band, guests who turn up on the night, and an audience that has been coming back for years. The Winnipeg Folk Festival presents it. This is the twentieth edition, which is why there are two shows instead of the single night it has run on for most of its life.

Two nights, because of the twentieth

Tickets went on sale on October 22 and run from $29.50 to $69.50 at face value, before fees, through Ticketmaster. If the Friday is gone when you look, check the Saturday before assuming you have missed it. The second night is new, so it is the one people have not thought to try yet.

We would book the Friday if you are flying in for the weekend and the Saturday if you are already here, mostly because December 12 leaves you a Sunday to recover and the markets are still on. That is a preference, not a rule. Either night is the same show.

What the Burt asks of you

The theatre opened in 1906 as the Walker and is a designated historic site, which is lovely to sit in and does mean the building was laid out before anyone thought about elevators. The main floor is wheelchair accessible; the balcony is reached by stairs and there is no lift to it. Wheelchair seating is in Loges 1 and 2 and is arranged by calling Ticketmaster rather than booked online. Children two and older need their own ticket, and a child under two can sit on a lap.

Parking is in the lots beside and across from the theatre, with metered spots on the surrounding streets. On a December Friday those fill from both directions at once, because the downtown office blocks have not emptied and the evening crowd is already arriving, so give yourself the half hour you would not need in July.

The bus is the less annoying option from our end of town. D19 Corydon runs east along Corydon Avenue into downtown and finishes on Kennedy Street just south of Portage Avenue, which puts the theatre under fifteen minutes away on foot, east along Portage. F5, F8, D12 and D13 also serve the venue. Dress for the walk, not the lobby: by the second week of December the sun in Winnipeg is down by about half past four, so an 8 p.m. curtain is a full-dark trip in both directions.

Eat before the show rather than after. Hargrave St. Market at 242 Hargrave Street is a short walk from the theatre and holds enough counters that a group can disagree and still sit together, which is more than most single rooms downtown manage on a Friday at six.

Before you go: Start times, prices and the arrangements for accessible seating can all change between now and December. Confirm the performance you want at burtoncummingstheatre.ca or winnipegfolkfestival.ca, and call Ticketmaster directly if you need a seat in Loge 1 or 2.

If you are stacking a December weekend, the Winnipeg Symphony's Christmas run overlaps this one almost exactly, with the Grinch concert on the same Saturday. Christmas in Winnipeg covers the markets and the lights around both, and our Winnipeg Folk Festival guide covers what the same organisation does in July, which is a very different kind of evening.

Where to stay for the Hoe Hoe Hoe

Our three-bedroom house sits in Crescentwood, south of the Assiniboine, with the D19 on Corydon Avenue a ten-minute walk away. Downtown is about ten minutes by car from the door: Canada Life Centre at 300 Portage Avenue is 3.9 kilometres from us, and the Burt is on the same downtown blocks. Coming home after a late show means one short drive rather than a hunt for a hotel entrance in the cold.

December 11 and 12 fall in the two busiest weeks of the Winnipeg calendar, with concerts, markets and a Jets home stretch competing for the same beds. Book sooner than feels necessary. Our Airbnb listing shows what is still open that weekend.