Every year at our AGM we give out our highly coveted West End BIZ Star Award. For 2014, we gave out two star awards: one to Frank Grande of Casa Grande Pizzeria on Sargent Avenue and one to the Institute of Urban Studies at the University of Winnipeg.
For over 37 years, Casa Grande has been serving fantastic pizza from the same location at the corner of Sargent Avenue and Wall Street. Grande originally owned the business with his mother and brother ion 1977 and the restaurant continues to be a quaint little hide-away restaurant customers think of as “their own little Italian pizzeria.”
The other star award winner was the Institute of Urban Studies department at the University of Winnipeg. Led by director and urban aficionado, Jino Distasio, the urban institute does invaluable research on central neighbourhoods in Winnipeg that help us better serve the wider West End community. From their research on grocery store accessibility to studies on housing, their work helps us better coordinate our efforts.
Congratulations to both Casa Grande and the Institute of Urban Studies!