Although numbers continue to drop slightly each year, those involved in Donor’s Choice in Boissevain, and the organizations collecting the money, continue to find the effort worthwhile.

The annual disbursement was held on Monday, October 19. The 26 charities on the list shared a $53,917 pot. This was down just over $2,000 from the $56,000 collected in 2025. Donors Choice Chair Barry Lamb acknowledged the slight drop, but said the board was still happy with the results.

“We’re still very pleased with the generosity of Boissevain-Morton citizens,” Lamb said. “We topped the $50,000 mark. The last two or three years has seen a consistent drop $2,000-$3,000 a year. As I’ve said in the past, it sometimes just takes one donor to leave the community and that can diminish the money coming in.”

Lamb said there were many possible reasons for the donations going down. For one, there is a fair bit of economic instability, and no one is safe from increases at the gas pump or grocery store. As he said “disposable income is not so disposable anymore”. Also, in Boissevain-Morton, there have been a few special projects going recently. He pointed to the ongoing playground project at Boissevain School as an example of a very worthwhile effort that has been grabbing the attention of the community. There is also the ongoing work collecting funds for a new arena. These are important local projects that people have been sending their charitable dollars to.

A community development board serving three municipalities paid tribute to many of the people who make their area go and grow at the beginning of the month.

On October 3, the Crocus Country Economic Development Corporation had its second annual Crocus Awards Night in the Pierson Community Hall. With the theme “Growing Our Future”, board member Cindy Horrigan explained the idea of the awards is to “celebrate the businesses, organizations and people who make Crocus Country a great place to live, work and do business.”

“In a rural region, much of the work that keeps our communities strong goes unrecognized: the business that has served families for generations, the employee everyone relies on, the volunteer who is always there. The awards give us a chance to say thank you publicly and to show what our region has to offer,” Horrigan explained.

Horrigan said the idea for the awards came from two community-minded individuals. Camiel Serruys is a Crocus Country Board member and Terri Alphonso is from Studio T Video Creation and Design, who is contracted by the corporation to do marketing and promotion.

Although it may have come later than originally planned, the harvest for the Boissevain-Morton-Whitewater Growing Project will once again help those in need around the world.

On October 9, seven combines and eight trucks hit the field at Fairfax. According to Mitch Bohrn of the BMW board, they found a day of opportunity amid questionable weather, and were able to take advantage of it.

“The harvest was great,” Bohrn stated. “It was a little later than we had hoped, but this has been a tough fall for everyone. We had a good day, and people were able to get out and get it in.”

The crop this year was canola. It was chosen for crop rotation reasons. Bohrn said it looked good. Some canola in the area had been tamped down due to rain, but theirs looked better than most. The field also was dry enough to do the work.

Usually, the project’s harvest day is started at noon with a lunch and then the equipment hits the field. This year, they started at 10am, with the harvesters coming in for lunch, and then finishing up after.

“It made for a shorter day, and we knew there was weather coming so we wanted to get done before that.”

Two famous names in local hockey were given the highest honour in the sport in Manitoba this past weekend.

On October 3 at the CanadInns Polo Park in Winnipeg, Bob Caldwell of Deloraine and Ivan Strain of Boissevain were among the Class of 2026 for the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame, both impacting the sport in different but equally important ways.

A retired high school teacher from Deloraine, Caldwell has been involved in hockey for more than four decades. His coaching career spanned a wide variety of ages and levels, from U7 to NCAA to international hockey, impacting players and the game along the way.

He focused on “repetition, self-discovery and enjoyment” and not only coached, but also helped develop coach training. Caldwell helped create Canada’s National Coach Mentorship Program and was a coach mentor with Hockey Manitoba, holding coaching seminars around the country.

The second phase of the Boissevain School Playground project is nearly complete and planning is moving forward for the third and final development.

Perhaps calling the new work on the north side of the school a “playground” is a bit of a misnomer. The basketball court and pickleball court is aimed at the high school students as well as the public at large. However, it is the second part of the Boissevain School Playground Committee’s commitment to upgrading the area for all to enjoy.

Committee Co-Chair Heather Janssens said they were planning to get the practical work done this summer, but Mother Nature got in the way. However, JCI out of Brandon was able to get out early in September and the work has gone quickly.

“They’re getting some colour on there now,” Janssens stated. “We were hoping for the first of July, but once they were able to get out there, they moved quickly.”

There is still work to be done, and Janssens said she did not want to put a completion date on. The backboards and nets need to be put on the basketball side, the nets on the pickle ball courts, laying some lines down, and various other jobs need to be completed.

The project was called “Create a Court”. Built on the old tennis court area, the idea was to create something that would give high school students, who are often overlooked, a place to go out and get exercise while enjoying the outdoors.

“The space was not getting used, and now once this is done, it can be used all the time.”

The International Peace Garden will be celebrating the 90th anniversary of its earliest structure by giving it the face-lift it needs.

The CCC Historic Lodge will hit that birthday in 2027, and according to Peace Garden CEO Tim Chapman, this important structure needs some work.

“The lodge will be 90 years old next year,” Chapman explained. “Its bones are in good shape, but it needs some work. We want to make sure it is as up to date as possible.”

The lodge is not only historical for the Garden, but part of a larger story. The “CCC” in its name stands for the Civilian Conservation Corps. This was created in the depths of the Great Depression by newly elected US President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Like other related agencies like the Tennessee Valley Authority, the CCC was created to give jobs to the great number of unemployed under the New Deal while developing key infrastructure. The CCC focused on areas like roads, bridges and parks, which is where the Peace Garden fit in.

As Chapman said, about 200 members of the CCC worked in the Garden from1934 to 1941. As well as the lodge, completed in 1937, they also built roads, fire pits and the lake later called Lake Udall. Although it was an American government project and therefore only worked on the south side of the area, they did use lumber from the Duck Mountains for the building.

A talented Boissevain student athlete will be participating in a prestigious hockey coaching program this year.

In late September, Hockey Canada and U SPORTS announced the cohorts of 22 participants in the 2026-27 Creating Coaches Program. Grace Glover of the University of Alberta, a Boissevain native, was one of five Manitobans who will be on the ice learning more about coaching this time around.

With motor oil in his blood, and plenty of experience, Mike Atchison found the time was right to open a garage in his hometown.

Nor-Del Ventures opened its doors on September 1. The proprietor was happy to put a dream into practice.

“This was something I always wanted to do,” Atchison explained. “I finally took the plunge.”

Atchison, a Deloraine native, said mechanics was something that was always a part of his life. His father Dale was a mechanic, and so he grew up around vehicles. He began in the trade after high school in 2001 at Maxwell Motors, where he worked until 2016. He later spent time at RC Auto & Repair in Hartney. He said it was time to go on his own.

“Sometimes you just have to go for it.”

The fits and starts of harvest this fall continue as the pattern of problematic weather the southwest has seen all growing season is ongoing.

Earlier this past week, farmers in the area were able to get back on the fields after more delays. Sun and wind meant slightly drier conditions. In a version of the phrase “make hay while the sun shines” producers headed out to their fields to take off what crop they could before the next shower.

The problems with harvest are the latest in a long line of weather issues. Early on, there were a couple of heavy-duty dust storms. On May 14-15, the area was hit with winds of up to 119 kms an hour, which pushed dust across roads and fields. As well as damage to trees and power lines, it filled ditches and moved soil from one field to another. It was a harbinger of more to come.

At the end of June, parts of the area were hit with massive rain, which created flooding situations. In Boissevain and area, for example, on June 29 more than six inches of moisture fell in less than two hours. The community was flooded out with plenty of water damage. Deloraine and other communities faced similar situations. This of course extended outside of the communities, swamping many fields.

Then in early July, the hail hit. Golf ball to baseball sized ice fell for around ten minutes in parts of the area, wrecking roof and vehicle alike. Again, this took a toll on crops in some spots, particularly as the storm headed east.

It might be 25 years ago, but for those who lived through it, 9/11 memories become raw in a hurry.

This was obvious at the ceremony held in the International Peace Garden on September 11. In front of the wreckage of the Twin Towers, transported to the Garden in 2002, dignitaries and the public remembered that fateful day in 2001, when airplanes smashed into the World Trade Centre in New York City, the Pentagon outside of Washington DC, and another crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. It was the marking of a poignant quarter century since the Islamic terror attack.

One of the memories focused on throughout the day was the heroism of first responders in New York. This made the choice of emcee for the event poignant. David Pankratz, MLA, was a firefighter. He said there was something about having that experience that gives a greater understanding. When a siren goes off, you go.

“You don’t know what you’re going to or what you’re going to find, you only know someone needs help,” Pankratz stated. “On September 11 of 2001, firefighters, paramedics, police officers, military members and ordinary people as well ran toward danger while everyone else ran away.”

He said they gathered at the Peace Garden to remember not only 3,000 lives lost, but also those who responded with great courage.