By Betty Sawatzky
Discover Westman, published July 15, 2025
The Brandon Riverbank Discovery Centre installed their most recent bronze sculpture in the Peter Sawatzky Sculpture Garden earlier this month, this one of a curious black bear.
Director of Marketing and Communications for Brandon Tourism, Lanny Stewart, says the sculpture garden is a wonderful addition to the Riverbank, the City of Brandon and to the Westman Region from a place-making perspective, from a tourism perspective.
"It's a great initiative for people to come and see, and this is just another thing can add that to the list of things to come and see if you're a visitor at this great city."
Peter Sawatzky's bronze sculpture of a herd of caribou crossing a river is located near the Discovery Centre building
Earlier this spring this significant piece, affectionately called Caribou Crossing, was installed at the Discovery Centre northwest of the building entrance. The newest addition, the Curious Black Bear is located closer to the Brandon Riverbank's grounds entrance.
Peter Sawatzky's bear sculpture was brought to the Riverbank on July 3rd. At the time the landscaping for this piece was only 90% complete and so it is very impressive to see the bear placed into its new home.
Betty Sawatzky takes a selfie with this sizeable bear!
More sculptures will be added to the growing collection. In addition to the Peter Sawatzky Sculpture Garden, the Riverbank has worked extensively on their trail system and flower beds.
The flower bed at the front of the Discovery Centre is still in its construction phase
A few years ago, Travel Manitoba unveiled a destination area assessment to help determine significant tourism markers in the city; what has the most potential. "And the river and the riverbank like blew them away in terms of where it could potentially end up in a few years," explains Stewart.
"The Riverbank is currently in the midst of a 25-year master plan that involves a variety of initiatives," he adds. "Obviously you need money for all these things, right? Anything you want to do involves money to get significant initiatives in place, but they're well on their way."
"That green space is a really, really notable tourist attraction here in this area," shares Stewart. "And it's continuing to get better and better. And the better the Brandon Riverbank grounds are, the better it is for Brandon. Because this area has the potential to be like a kind of Forks in Winnipeg type-destination. It's got a lot of potential there."
"I tip my cap to [Executive Director] Dean Hammond and the entire team at the Riverbank for the work they do because it's just continuing to get better. And the bronze sculptures that were just recently installed is just another tip of the cap to them for all the work that they're doing there. There's a lot of things to see and do there," he explains. "And that helps my job to help attract people to come to our city!"
Marketing the Riverbank as a tourism destination benefits the entire Westman Region. When folks travel to the Riverbank Discovery Centre, they're looking at spending a number of hours there, to take in the sites, to walk the trails along the Assiniboine River, maybe rent a kayak there near the building and go for a kayak ride on the river. This kind of a day leads to shopping and eating out at restaurants. Folks might come prepared to stay for a few days, and then of course check out neighbouring towns and the events taking place in those locations.
"People don't want to just go to a restaurant and be done with it," says Stewart. "They actually want to experience and see things. And so, I think the Riverbank is really figuring that out. So, yeah they're creating a lot of things for people to come and see, which is huge, because from a marketability standpoint that provides me the opportunity to not just market the Riverbank, but to market the region."
The sculpture of the doe and fawns is located near the Riverbank's outdoor stage
