The peacock statue commissioned by the Beautification Committee arrived in Souris on Thursday morning, July 7. Its “roost” is the east entrance to Victoria Park.
It took approximately 1 1/2 hours to drive the 2,000 pound bird to Souris from where it was built in Brandon.
The statue took artist and builder Chad Hebner 630 hours over three months to complete. Working on the statue inspired Hebner to develop a plan for “The Peacock Project”, a mental health awareness campaign that will include clothing and children’s books focusing on mental health, with some of the proceeds of the sales going back to the Beautification Committee.
It was a well-appreciated return for the Boissevain Fair in 2022.
After the event was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic, it made its return to the summer schedule on June 25-26. Along with traditional activities, a few new ones were added which helped organizers bring people to the Boissevain Fair Grounds.
Ag Society Secretary Treasurer Nicole Fordyce said they were happy with how everything turned out.
“The crowds were pretty good,” Fordyce stated. “Sunday turned out to be a beautiful day, which brought out a lot of families.”
A proposed hog operation near Deloraine was the focus of attention this week. About 50 people attended a public hearing hosted by The Municipality of Deloraine-Winchester on Monday, June 20 for HyLife Markers Mark proposed hog operation 4.5 miles southwest of Deloraine on SE 1/4 17-02-23 WPM.
The proposed operation would be located on a multiplier site with four barns, one barn with 3,750 nursery hogs and three finishing barns with 7,600 hogs. The location is two miles east and one mile north of the junction of Hwys 21 and 251.
There is a 23-step process for Hylife to obtain the Conditional Use permit for the proposed hog operation. This Public Hearing marks the 20th step.
Gord Weidenhamer, reeve of the municipality chaired the meeting and called on Sharla Dillabough, Regional Manager of Brandon Community Planning Services to provide a brief overview of the Technical Review Committee’s (TRC) approval process.
The situation for bees in Manitoba and the rest of the country could have implications much beyond the honey harvest in 2022.
Beekeeping has always been a bit of a challenge, but this year keepers have found it worse than usual. Reports of massive and widespread losses have created problems for the industry beyond what most have seen and recovery could be a slow process.
Don Glover of Boissevain has been beekeeping for around 40 years, and has seen plenty. This past calendar year was beyond what he has ever experienced.
“This is the worst year I have ever seen,” Glover stated. “I lost my total hives last fall.”
Glover said he used to have 150 hives and was cutting down to about 100. However, around the time he took off his honey crop last year, his bees were done.
He feels there were several different scenarios that hurt. The Varroa mite attacks bees, and Glover feels they played a big role, getting out of control. Although all of his bees were not dead before the winter, when he put them away for the season, they could not survive.
The old saying “keep on trucking” no longer applies to Boissevain Transport Ltd.
For the first time since 1961, the trucks have not been moving as John, Ken and Chris Arthur head to retirement. It has definitely been a long haul, and one that has contributed a lot to Boissevain. However, it comes down to being time to pull over to the side.
Ken said there were many reasons. Regulations have been changing for the trucking business, and not for the better. They started to have some trouble with equipment, which if replaced, would tie them in again for another decade. As they have been in the business for many years, another ten years was not in the cards. They actually held off their decision until after COVID had settled down.
“What are you going to do, sit at home?” John asked. “You might as well be working.”
Deloraine welcomes SJL Massage Therapy to its business sector. Sara Jean Lavineway used her initials in naming her endeavour, which is located at Morningstar Inn.
“I painted, hung pictures and shelves, added some plants, added a desk and turned one of the rooms into a little office. I’m very happy with how it turned out,” she said.
Lavineway is originally from Erickson, where she spent most of her upbringing outside, enjoying being at Clear Lake, hiking, biking, walking her dogs, camping and fishing. She graduated from Erickson Collegiate in 2008.
First it was two years of the pandemic. Then it was inclement weather. Now, however, regular soccer has returned to Boissevain.
Another casualty of COVID, the Boissevain Soccer Association is back on the pitch. The sport, growing in Boissevain and in the area was off to a slow start in 2022 with the snow and rain, but they have finally been able to get the balls and goals out. Under 12 President Niki Harper said they did have to make a move in order to start up.
“Yes, the fields are still not usable even this week due to moisture and soft ground, and don’t want to damage the ground, so we didn’t start until May 16. We had to move to the school and beside Tiny Turtle daycare to accommodate the field conditions. Our usual start date is the last week of April.”
Soccer was not able to have a regular season in neither 2020 nor 2021 due to the pandemic, although Harper said they were able to hold a few day camps and other events. It was frustrating, she said, as they went through all of the registrations just to shut down.
With one long running story ending, a new one is beginning at the bakery in Boissevain.
After 41 and a half years, Ron and Sharron Fikkert are stepping away from Boissevain Bakery. It will be moving ahead as Boissevain Bakeshop under new owner Alannah Moody. It would be quite accurate to say this is a change that did not happen suddenly. In fact, its roots go back more than a decade.
The Fikkerts’ arrived to take over Tommy Turtle Bakery from Brian Clark back on December 1, 1980. From that time, they established a top-notch reputation for their baked goods. They also moved the business on a pair of occasions, building their current home in 2008. It has been a long time with a lot of memories. However, the time has come to move on.
“Why not?” Ron asked. “It seemed to click in the old body ‘it’s time to quit.”
Moody joined the staff before Christmas. However, this started a long time before. The Fikkerts’ said she showed an interest in the bakery about the time they built their new building, if not before. The seed was planted, even though the soil was not yet fertile.
The community of Deloraine and many in the hockey world in Manitoba and Canada are mourning the loss of Brian Franklin who died May 5, 2022 following a brief illness.
Franklin was a born leader, as he showed during his many years in local government. He served 24 years of public life. He was a Town of Deloraine councillor from 1995-1998, followed by 16 years as mayor from 1998-2014, and four years on the Municipality of Deloraine-Winchester council 2014-2018 during the transition of the amalgamation of the Town of Deloraine and the Municipality of Deloraine-Winchester.
Debbie Adams was employed by the Town of Deloraine for 30 years, and a large portion of them were with Franklin as councillor and then as mayor.
“For the eight years that I was CAO, he assisted in so many ways. I could always count on him to provide his opinion, roll up his sleeves and dig in, whenever he was called upon. He had many hats that he wore but I don’t think I ever heard him say, ‘I don’t have time’, he just always seemed to make it work.”
The Southwest Cougars of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League hosted the U18 AAA Telus Cup Western Regionals in Virden, April 28 - May 1, 2022, coming up short in the final.
“Our season was a challenging one,” said Cougars head coach Troy Leslie. “We had a great start going 8-0 and we were extremely happy as we had a relatively young and inexperienced team at this level. There are 11 players born in 2006 on the roster and only two players born in 2004. Ultimately our start helped us reach the playoffs.”
He added that the team was very committed to a strong defensive style of play knowing they had very good goaltending.
“We were inconsistent at times and had difficulty winning games that we were winning after two periods against some of the better teams in the league. There were also nights where we played extremely well, playing very well against the better teams in the league.”
The thrill of a Christmas morning in his childhood is being relived by Jamie Smith of Boissevain and he is hoping to bring that experience to more community members.
People of a certain age group will remember the lights and sounds of the pinball and video arcade, where quarters were the currency and an afternoon could stretch through an evening of fun. Smith is recreating this at his home, keeping his memories alive.
“For me, this all started on a Christmas morning when I was 13 years old,” Smith stated. “My brother and I woke up to a Haunted House (pinball machine). Dad and mom purchased it for us. Dad used to drive around with Les and Russell Tripp and take games en route. They would put the machines in the places and that’s how I got into it as a kid. It was there on Christmas morning and I was addicted from there.”
In high school, he sold the Haunted House machine, and was out of the activity for many years. When COVID hit in 2020, he could not do his car racing as the tracks shut down. He sold the new car and used the funds to purchase the pinball machine Sound Stage from someone in Portage. He brought it in and it did not work. Smith opened it up and figured out how to fix it. From there, he found he liked to tinker with them and once he made it work, it sparked his interest.
A full 100 years was celebrated by Laverne Tufts, his family and his friends on April 16.
A come and go celebration was held on Saturday at the Shamrock Centre in Killarney. A large crowd, around 100, including all four of his children and their spouses turned up for the special event. There were no activities, just a lot of visiting between guests and the longtime member of the Boissevain community. Those in attendance could also look at displays of his woodworking, military medals, history books and biography projects by his great grandchildren.
By the evening of Tuesday, April 12, residents of Manitoba were seeing the start of the blizzard we all hope is the final farewell to winter.
The most anticipated storm of recent history is the result of a Colorado low, which moved from the south, dumping snow across Saskatchewan, Manitoba and moving into northern Ontario. Concentrating along the Canada-US border initially, it moved north as it pushed west. By Wednesday morning, communities in our area of the province were covered with a white blanket with more to come. High winds, gusting up to 70 kms an hour were making sure the snow kept moving, making travel dangerous. Most highways in the province were closed. Both Turtle Mountain and Southwest Horizon School Divisions cancelled classes on Tuesday evening.
The return to the ice after waves of COVID was a successful one for the Westman Wildcats.
The area female hockey squad completed a three game sweep of the Winnipeg Ice to win the Manitoba Female Hockey League Championship, winning the final game in the best of five 5-2 on Friday, April 1. This was no April Fool’s joke, however, and Wildcats Assistant Coach Megan Robertson said everyone was thrilled.
“The win was exciting,” Robertson stated. “To win a league title at our home rink in front of a packed Hartney Arena, it was incredible.”
The Wildcats, made up of young women under 18 from our region, finished the 2021-22 regular season third out of eight teams. Their first playoff round was against the Central Plains Capitals, the sixth place team, which they won in three straight. In the second round, it took four games to take out the Yellowhead Chiefs. The ‘Cats won the first two games of the final against the Ice by scores of 3-2 and 3-1.
The only fieldstone building remaining in Deloraine is undergoing some renovations. Originally the Presbyterian Church, but currently occupied by the Prairie Skills Centre, the building was constructed in 1896 and was designated a municipal heritage site in 1994.
According to an article published in the “Deloraine Meets the Millennium” history book, the congregation had decided to build a solid, permanent house of worship in Deloraine. The minister challenged the congregation to bring in stones from their newly broken prairie fields, one stone at a time, week by week, as families came to church. When enough had been gathered, the stone masons set to work and erected the building of their dreams.
Those watching longtime Boissevain lawyer Michael Waldron return to his office after April 1 can be forgiven for wondering about his retirement.
Waldron, who has practiced law in the community since 1980, is pulling down his shingle next month. Retiring from his practice has been on his mind for a while, although he said it is harder to do when you own your own business and have clients to look after.
“You plan for it, but it is easier to keep going,” Waldron explained. “It is time now. There was a combination of things, but I think it was just time. There was nothing pushing me to do it, which was great.”
Waldron took his education in Winnipeg, and after law school, moved to Brandon to do his articling, which must be completed before one is a qualified lawyer. He worked with the Crown office. After his year, there was no position there for him. However, he met lawyer Ross George, whose cousin Harry ran the J.A.H. George law office in Boissevain. In 1980, he started his first job as a qualified lawyer.
It might seem strange nowadays to have professionals from the city come out to rural communities to practice, but Waldron said his class “filled up” the rural positions. Sheldon Lanchberry in Deloraine was an example. He himself always planned to do the same.
“I made the decision to come to the country. I felt I would like the life better.”
Pool plans, a look into a future arena and the official introduction of a new committee were the main takeaways of the Investing in Recreation Open House in the Boissevain Legion on March 16.
The Municipality of Boissevain-Morton held the meeting with the community to present the work they have done on developing recreation opportunities to the public and receive feedback from the community in return.
“We are exploring and sharing new developments in recreation in our community,” explained Deputy Mayor George Heide.
Over the last few years, the municipality has been working on a new recreation review for the community. One of the developments from this review was the morphing of the old Boissevain-Morton Recreation Commission into the new Parks & Recreation Board, with new members. The group recently held their first meeting and are working with Parks & Recreation Director Sam Dyck to move forward.
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Being able to play hockey this year and host provincials was not enough for the U11 team in Boissevain. They had their storybook ending.
There was only a period to go in the gold medal game in the Boissevain Arena on Sunday, March 6 and there was no score on the board. Anything could happen and anything did. In an exciting third frame, Boissevain was able to outlast their Brandon rivals, and take the championship on home ice. A perfect end to the perfect provincials.
“It was really a lot of fun,” said Boissevain Coach Derek Kempthorne. “It was really special for the kids, they really enjoyed it. They really bought into everything, and were really focused and worked hard to put on a good show.”
Kempthorne said they had a good, talented group at the beginning of the season. Due to numbers, they had been two teams in their earlier years. There was a feeling they had a good shot at winning provincials, a tournament they only learned they would be able to host about a month prior.
Souris’s inaugural “Rink the River” shinny tournament held on Saturday, February 26 was an incredible success. The river and river bank were alive with people from the start time of the first puck drop at 11:00am to the final game at 7:00pm.
The teams came from Brandon, Hartney, Reston, Morden and Souris.
In addition to the players, there were many spectators at the event. The food tent offered hotdogs and hamburgers, another fundraiser for the Souris Dog Park, sweet treats from 49 Degrees and silent auction prizes. There was a 50/50, raffle and door prize.
The weather was perfect for the event, which cast a festive, celebratory feeling throughout the day. Fire pits warmed those who started to feel a bit of a chill.
If you are prepared and have done the work when opportunity knocks, dreams can come true. This was the case for Ashton Bell during the past seven months. She was captaining the University of Minnesota Bulldogs Women’s hockey team when she was selected to centralize with the Canadian Women’s hockey team in Calgary to prepare for the IIHF World Championships. She made the cut for Team Canada and they went on to win the gold over the US. Then it was back to centralization and choosing the Olympic team. Again Bell made the cut and another dream was realized. The dreams kept coming as Team Canada went undefeated in its round robin play and through to the finals. They faced their longtime rivals the US and edged them 3-2 to win the gold medal.
Throughout the competition Team Canada could always be seen smiling, though it might be said it is easy to smile when you are winning. Bell said the team was a very special group who loved being around one another every day and had so much fun together.
Carman and Pat Tufts want everyone to know that they are thankful for the 32 years of support they have received, from the community of Souris and beyond, to grow the business known as Tufts Machining from its beginnings in a two-car garage in 1989 to the two buildings on Highway 2 West currently totalling 13,600 square feet.
The Tufts moved to Souris in 1977, purchasing the old Shell service station that once stood where the new hotel is now. Carman ran the business for two years and then went to work for Frank Lang at Lang Motors for the next 10. After Lang Motors closed, Tufts worked from his garage on both automotive work and machining.
Tufts purchased his first industrial lathe in 1992. The machine is still being used at the shop to this day. In 1993 Tufts formed a partnership with his brother Leonard. Tufts Machining kept growing.
While still working out of his garage, part of the business involved a portable machine so they could do onsite repairs. In 1993 the brothers were contracted to do repairs on the Trans Canada Pipeline by Rapid City. After a day of creating the tools they would need for the repairs, they headed up and worked nearly 36 hours non-stop. Leonard took the day shift and Carman the night until the job was completed.