McCreary is an unincorporated urban community nestled in the Municipality of McCreary, Manitoba, Canada. Established as early as the 19th century, McCreary was incorporated as a village in 1964. However, it lost its village status upon amalgamating with the Municipality of McCreary on 1 January 2015. Covering an area of 1.70 km2, McCreary is home to a population of 472. Known as the "Ski Capital of Manitoba," McCreary was once significant as the closest settlement to the former Mount Agassiz Ski Area.
The community of McCreary was named after the surrounding Municipality of McCreary, which shares its name with the local post office. The post office adopted the name in 1899 from William McCreary. McCreary was incorporated as a village in 1964, but was amalgamated into the Municipality of McCreary on 1 January 2015.
McCreary is situated in the Parkland region of Manitoba. It is located on flat prairie land, but lies immediately east of Riding Mountain National Park.
McCreary experiences a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb) with cold winters and warm summers. Average daytime temperatures range from 25.0 °C (77.0 °F) in July to −9.3 °C (15.3 °F) in January. McCreary gets an average 539 millimetres (21.2 in) of precipitation annually, noticeably wetter than other areas of the Parkland region.
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, McCreary had a population of 497 living in 232 of its 273 total private dwellings, a change of -2% from its 2016 population of 507. With a land area of 1.84 km2 (0.71 sq mi), it had a population density of 270.1/km2 (699.6/sq mi) in 2021. The median age was 58.1 years old, 17.5 years older than the national average of 40.6.
McCreary was formerly known for the nearby Mount Agassiz Ski Area at Riding Mountain National Park. Despite its closure in 2000, the former village still features some public recreational facilities, including a tennis court shared with McCreary School, a curling arena, three baseball diamonds, and a swimming pool.
The Burrows Trail Arts Council has provided professional performances, visual art exhibitions, workshops, and classes to the area including McCreary since 1986. The McCreary and District Library rotates with the collections of other libraries included in the Parkland Library Service, and contains over 15,000 volumes.
Historically, passenger and mail service in the area was available by stagecoach from 1891 until 1903. The service ran along the Burrows Trail, an early north-south thoroughfare through the Parkland area. In contemporary times, the area is served by Via Rail passenger train service, as well as McCreary Airport, a small public airport with one 2,600 ft (790 m) turf runway and a hangar. McCreary is located along Manitoba Highway 5, which connects it to the Parkland region's largest centre, Dauphin, 78 km (48 mi) to the northwest, as well as Neepawa, 60 km (37 mi) to the south.
