The work of the latest phase at Whitewater Park east of Elgin is nearing completion, while what has already been done has proven to be a boon to the community and the Municipality of Grassland.
With its origins in 1967, the park has long been a camping spot near the Elgin reservoir, a favourite for a small get-together and relaxing summer weekend. However, with the help of grants and donations, the municipality has been able to develop the park further, making it more of an attraction.
According to Ruth Mealy, a former chair of the expansion committee and reeve of Grassland, the story goes back many years, around the time of the amalgamation that created the new municipality.
“It would be around 2015, I would say,” Mealy explained, “A lot of this used to be golf course, and it was rarely used, it was sand traps, it was pretty rough.”
“Some people started talking about it years ago, and then we really started working on it.”
The addition of an older display should be a big boon to the Goodon International Wildlife Museum.
The attraction, located by Tommy Turtle on the south end of Boissevain, was opened for the season on May 19. Boissevain-Morton Executive Assistant Melissa Perkins said they put the time in to get ready for opening.
“Our team had been working diligently for prep for the season opening and there was a lot to finish in time for the opening,” Perkins stated. “We are fortunate to have a small but dedicated team of staff including Verna McCausland, our museum supervisor, and a few summer students this year including returning staff and some new faces too. This year there’s some reconfigured exhibits and new additions at the museum this year to check out.”
Changes at Cherry Creek Place will help the active living home continue to move forward as it approaches its two-year anniversary of opening.
The centre, located on the south end of Boissevain, has hired two new staff members. With original manager Kim Rickard resigning her position, the board decided to make some overall changes in the staffing direction. As board member George Heide explained, they ended up adding a new position.
“We’re adding a food coordinator, to look after the kitchen, the food services,” Heide explained. “It was something we had always planned on, but it sort of evolved on the facility manager to do that. So we did some restructuring and moved the jobs in a different direction. This was the time to make the change in the organizational flow chart.”
They have hired Keith Wood in that position. Heide said he was experienced in the restaurant trade in Alberta and within Prairie Mountain Health. This made him perfect for the role of looking after the kitchen and kitchen staff.
Any organization’s greatest assets are its people. There are endless possibilities when tapping special skills and ideas. The Deloraine Fire Department is a good example.
Fire Chief Jerry Redden said they purchased a plain F450 4x4 truck and basically rebuilt it.
“We replaced the bumper with a 12,000 winch, built a new deck and railing and put on a 450 gallon water tank from Morningstar Metal.”
As well, a fire pump was purchased and plumbed in, a hose reel was built for the fire hose and a light and siren package was purchased.
All of this was possible due to the skills and talents of members of the fire department. They do not wish to be named individually for their various areas of expertise; they carry out their work as a team.
The Froese family would have been happier if Oats had told them he was going on a short vacation ahead of time, but everyone was pleased that he came home when he did.
The border terrier is a member of the Ian and Kendra Froese family, who live and farm just north of Boissevain. Last weekend, Oats had a little adventure that worried the clan, but with the help of a lot of concerned citizens in the larger area, he came home safe and sound, ready for a new week.
The story starts on Saturday, May 6. Ian Froese said Oats disappeared at about 9:00am, although no one noticed at the time. He was busy in the yard, and Oats often joins him there. However, it was not an immediate concern.
“It is not that uncommon to lose him for a couple of hours,” Froese explained.
With one new tenant in and operating, part of the old Red Coat Inn ownership team is working on their own addition to the building.
Gene and Patti Unrau are planning what would be a bit of a return to the old usage of the building on Highway #10 in Boissevain. Plans are for a four-room motel, with the intention of a beer vendor. The business will be named Parkside Inn after their Parkside Construction business. Gene Unrau said the motel itself, and the name, will fit in with the area.
“The intention of the motel itself is to utilize and capitalize on the park (Turtle Mountain Provincial Park) area, which is being used more and more,” Unrau stated. “It is a great background to bring in tourists.”
The vendor part is in the permitting process. The intention is to have a vendor, which will present beers from the growing craft industry. Unrau said the demographic of beer drinkers is changing and many people he knows have to go outside of town to pick up their favourites, so the idea is they will be able to stay in town to do so.
The buzz of knowing the answer. The thrill of getting it right. The joy of playing the game. A Canadian academic quiz competition, Reach For The Top (RFTT) has attracted high achieving students since its inception in 1965. RFTT has been featured on national TV since 1966, with local productions across Canada, including CKX in Brandon. Ron Thompson was a longtime host. Each province holds its own championships followed by a national tournament held in various cities.
Deloraine Collegiate Institute, more recently known as Deloraine School has a deep, successful history with the RFTT program starting in 1969. The teams set the bar high putting in hundreds of extra-curricular hours studying and practicing.
In 1977 the team of John Lovering, Allan Manshreck, Guy Grierson and Brian Bell won the western Manitoba competition. Besides bragging rights, the team also received gold lapel pins, wristwatches, encyclopedias, trophies and scholarships, and perhaps most importantly, they advanced to Provincials. They came oh-so-close, being edged by Glenlawn in the final minutes of the game. Glenlawn went on to win the Canadian National Championships.
Boissevain-Morton is among municipalities across many provinces that are protesting paying for an agreement they were not a part of negotiating.
The federal government and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police set a new collective bargaining agreement over a year ago, one that is coming into effect now. The federal police force have not seen its members receive a raise since a freeze came down in 2017. The new agreement sees salaries for regular members increase by 24%, putting them in line with other police services in Canada. As the RCMP have been without a contract or raise for five years, few have any major problem with an increase.
However, this increase comes with retroactive pay, going back several years. Who is to cough up for this back pay is the question at hand.
Everyone wanted spring to come, but perhaps it came too fast for Boissevain-Morton.
On Wednesday, April 12, the municipality declared a state of emergency due to the flooding of roads in the south of Boissevain-Morton coming off of the Turtle Mountains. According to Head of Council Judy Swanson, the problem came up suddenly.
“We had our council meeting on Tuesday morning and everything was fine,” Swanson explained, “but by 2:00pm, John Anderson (rural foreman) told us the melt had happened and that it was coming with such a force out of the mountain it caused them to close some roads. He was out and at one point, 60% of the roads south of town were closed or had water on them.”
The often-discussed baby boom in Minto is paying off for their local school and community.
Rural schools like Minto often suffer from low numbers, or the fear of them in the future. Good news has been in the air for a while now, however, and it looks to impact them for several years.
Minto School Principal Landon White said they would start seeing a significant influx in the 2023/24 school year.
“We have 10 kids in kindergarten registered now,” White explained, “and actually we are expecting more. Those are pretty high numbers, and it has been a while since we have seen it this high.”
There was plenty of good news for local organizations from the province this month.
Manitoba released the names of the grant recipients under the Arts, Culture and Sport in the Community (ACSC) program. Over 400 projects were supported in the province, including nearly a dozen in the riding of Turtle Mountain. MLA Doyle Piwniuk was happy to share the news.
“I’m so thrilled to see these funds going to some great local initiatives,” said Piwniuk. “Our government knows how vital these organizations are to a vibrant community. These projects will foster creativity and innovation in local arts, culture and sports initiatives in Turtle Mountain now and for generations to come.”
History is the past, present and future. It is happening every day and it is important to record it through storytelling, the written word, education and sharing.
Turtle Mountain Souris Plains Heritage Association (TMSPHA) held its ninth annual local history seminar on March 16 in Deloraine.
Jan McClelland, TMSPHA chair gave words of welcome and called on Kelly McMechan, Head of Council for the Municipality of Deloraine-Winchester to bring greetings. He thanked the hosts and welcomed the speakers.
“I’ve always had an interest in the local history. It is good to preserve and catalouge it and keep learning along the way,” he said.
Dan Furlan, president of the Manitoba Historical Society was also in attendance. He was impressed with the TMSPHA website, all the work being done to record and promote local history and provide education.
McClelland gave a brief review of TMSPHA yearly activities. Melita was welcomed back after a four-year absence. The fifth volume of Vantage Points was published in 2021 and Volumes one to four were distributed to all schools and families in the catchment area. The website www.vantagepoints.ca was revamped, the elder interviews were made into podcasts and there was continued outreach to museums. The film “The Chain Lakes Barn” by filmmaker Julie Watt was completed and available on the website. She also spoke briefly about potential plans for this year. This included a film about Whitewater Lake, establishing a recognition wall on the website and updating by-laws, to name a few of the activities.
Deloraine’s downtown scene continues to change. Old buildings come down to make way for potential new business and existing businesses move to new digs.
John L. Morrison purchased Mac Colquhoun’s Insurance business and building located at 117 Railway Avenue West. In 1975, John’s son Don began his career in the insurance business at Morrison Agencies. In 2018 Don semi-retired and sold the business that includes offices in Deloraine and Hartney to Jennifer McMechan and Jon Morrison. He officially retired on June 1, 2022.
Besides being home to Morrison Agencies, the building has housed Meighen Haddad (since 1974) and Doug Morningstar Financial (since 2011), numerous accounting firms over the years, the most current one being Alliance Accounting Group (Siggi De Kezel) and Valley Royal Travel in 1995.
Sometimes fate can intervene and return something precious to where it belongs, even if the people involved are not aware of it at first.
This happened to Aaron and Susan Cutler of Boissevain. Their tricked out camper/fish shack is interesting enough, and is certainly helpful for their outdoor winter adventures. There is more to the story, however.
The tale begins a few years ago. Aaron Cutler had a smaller pop-up camper he had converted to a fishing shack, but was looking for something a little bigger. Around this time, he heard of someone in Austin who had an older camper and wanted to be rid of it.
“He put an ad on eBrandon,” Cutler explained. “He was with the museum in Austin (Austin Agricultural Museum) and said he would give someone $20 to take it off the property. I thought ‘that can’t be right.’”
There were a couple of great reasons to celebrate the in-person Ducks Unlimited (DU) banquet and concert in Melita on Friday, February 24.
It was the first time back to hosting the event after a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19 and it was the 30th year for DU volunteer Heather Voth, Melita DU committee member.
A delicious roast beef supper was enjoyed followed by entertainment from The Sean Taylor Band, who recently released their single “Rolling Stone”. Several auctions including live, silent, bucket raffles, beanbag toss and gun raffles were sources of raising funds throughout the evening.
Voth began her 30-years of service to DU by volunteering at two Killarney DU events including the annual banquet and auction and the golf tournament. A few years later Voth landed the job at the Killarney DU office as fundraising assistant, working for and alongside Stan Good who was the fundraising manager.
A long-standing business in Melita is under new ownership as of February 3, but retains its local roots.
Circle M Furniture, which has been owned and operated by Kevin and Colleen Bridgen for over 30 years, has been sold to Drew and Jamie Wilkinson.
The Brigden’s owned and operated the furniture store since 1992, purchasing it from Darwin and Sharon Slack. The Brigden’s business grew, offering high-quality furniture and were known as the local store with the big city selection and the small town atmosphere.
The origin of the Circle M Furniture goes back to Darwin and Sharon Slack who purchased McKague’s Electric in 1967 and renamed it Darwin’s TV Sales & Service Ltd. They acquired Eyers Furniture in 1976 adding furniture to their appliance retail outlet. In 1979, the business name was changed to Circle M. The logo was created with the ‘M’ to represent Melita, and the ‘Circle’ to represent the surrounding area.
Improving soil quality will always be important for farmers, and one option has a possibility for growth for producers and providers.
Brothers Hudson and Taylor Mealy have recently started their new business, Impact Tile Drainage. They have spent some time working with another Manitoba company in the field, gaining experience and mentorship in tile drainage. According to Hudson Mealy, the two boys, who hail from Minto, knew they wanted to be involved in agriculture when they were finished their schooling, but also knew they would have to do it in a non-traditional way.
“The family farm did not have enough acres to justify us joining the farm.” Mealy explained. “Tile draining was just a good thing to get into. I really wanted to run a business of my own, which was something I was thinking about in university.”
They have been involved in tile draining for a couple of years, with this the first full year working on their business full time. Mealy said they sort of got their feet wet over time, purchasing a GPS unit two years ago, and now acquiring an excavator to be equipped to do the work.
Tiling is a process of agricultural drainage that removes excess sub-surface water from fields. Moving water from the surface can be taken off the field by other efforts like pumping, tile drainage is the most effective for under the soil. Mealy said it works like weeping tile put in the walls of a home to keep water out, but expanded to field size. Pipes are laid under the field to get rid of the moisture, and there is typically a main line, which will exit into a ditch or control reservoir.
There are many advantages to doing this. One is simply lowering the underwater moisture tables, especially during a wet year. As Mealy said, it helps with risk management and allows for a little more control, particularly during seeding, by taking away excess moisture earlier.
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February 25 will once again see the Feisty Rooster crow at Turtle Mountain Provincial Park.
The event, hosted by Turtle Mountain Nordic Ski Club, is now a annual ski loppet and fat bike race held in the park south of Boissevain. This will be the third event for the club, and as Casey Guenther, one of the organizers explained, everything is falling into place.
“We have a date and are just finalizing the details of the course and the distance of the races,” Guenther explained. “We’re hoping to have the registration up later this week.”
The name of the event might seem a bit strange, but like most things in life, has an explanation. Guenther said several years ago they found a stray rooster out at Lake Adam where the event is now held. He was adopted by a member of the group, and he certainly fit the term.
“Adam the Rooster is our mascot. He is extra feisty, so we named our race after him.”
It has been a long time coming, but hockey has finally returned to the Ninga Rink, and everyone is back having fun.
The program in the small community has been running for at least 25 years, but hit hard times during the COVID pandemic. For the first year, 2020-21, no one was able to really run an indoor kids’ program, even though Ninga did have a return to play plan accepted and ran one practice. The next year, as minor hockey started anew with restrictions, they found they could not do so as they did not have the volunteers to check for vaccinations, as was required. Hopes were high the future would be better.
This year it has been. Duane Thiessen, who coaches one of the 13 and under teams, said they started their year in November with a couple of practices in Boissevain. He added the decision to run had much to do with the changing situation.
Southern Manitoba was treated to beautiful scenes last week as hoar frost turned the outdoors into a winter wonderland. Eight riders, including four from the Boissevain Lions Club, were able to enjoy the feathery frosted landscape in the Turtle Mountains during the annual Journey for Sight ride, raising money for the Lions Eye Bank of Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario.
Fighting a lack of volunteers, one board is taking over for two in a building they share in Boissevain.
In February, the new Boissevain Community Centre Board will officially take the reigns, with the old Beckoning Hills Activity Club becoming the new entity. The club, which operated on the upper half of the shared facility on South Railway Street, will be replacing the almost defunct Community Centre Board.
The departing president of the centre, Ernie Crowe, said there were only four members on the board, and only two active.
“I’m resigning to let the ‘upstairs board’ become operators of the whole centre,” Crowe stated. “I’ve been on the board for probably 20-25 years and everything went well up until five years ago or so.”