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The Annual Parkland Chamber of Commerce Street Fair and Dance returns next week with events all day long on Thursday, July 28th. Chamber Executive Director Stephen Chychota says they're moving the street fair to a new location they've had their eyes on for a while.

"It was something that was considered in the past before, but one of the major issues with the street fair is the access to power, so once we found out that the CN Park area was sufficient now with some upgrades that happened, we kept exploring the idea." said Chychota, "We'll give it a trial run this year, hopefully, it works out well, and the addition of having CN Park as the backdrop to everything should be really nice."

The day gets going at 7 a.m. and is going to be filled with food vendors, merchants, a kids zone, musical acts, and a beer gardens.

"One of everybody's favorite elements, we're going to start things off in the morning with the Fort Dauphin Museums Pancake Breakfast," said Chychota, "looking forward to starting the day off that way and having fun all the way throughout."

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The municipal election is over three months away, but the candidates for the City of Dauphin are already preparing. For the first time since 2010, the election for Mayor of Dauphin will be contested, as Kerri Riehl and David Bosiak have both announced they'll be running.

Both candidates are hearing about issues from people around the community, and working on plans to address those issues to the best of their abilities. Riehl spoke about meeting with elected officials at all levels of government to share ideas.

"I was able to meet with Wab Kinew, the leader of the official opposition for the legislative assembly who represents the NDP," said Riehl, "I've talked to the MLA, and just this week I had lunch with the Member of Parliament. That one was very exciting for me. One of my passions when I was on Council and Deputy Mayor was, I certainly would like to see a restorative justice center here, built in Dauphin, and that was the focus of our conversation with the MP."

Bosiak also spoke about some of the issues that have been brought to his attention.

"The issues that seem to be common place in the sense of economic development, you know, Dauphin has to grow," said Bosiak, "The issues related to the perception of crime, and is there more crime or not, is Dauphin a place that people want to live? It's been a variety of things that have been brought to my attention and I don't think there's any one overwhelming issue."

The candidates were also both asked about the labour shortage that the City and the Parkland as a whole are facing right now, and how they might address that if elected. Bosiak talked about making Dauphin a place where people want to live, and the things that come with that.

"Affordable housing, can people find a place to live? Can families be here? We have good education, we have a good healthcare system, but can we connect the people to the jobs. I think we have to create a climate where people want to work again, and I think that by making Dauphin a great little place to live, we might be able to address that issue." said Bosiak, "One of the responses I've had to a lot of people was, there's very rarely one specific answer to any of the issues that are brought forward."

When asked the same question, Riehl focused on education and making people want to come back to the community after their done getting an education.

"I'm an active business owner and it's a problem I face every day, I don't have enough staff," said Riehl "I think it all ties together to education, providing opportunity locally to obtain an education. For instance in Yellowknife when I was there, people moved out to get educated, to get a degree, they never came back, and that was me. I left in '85 to go to university, then I joined the RCMP for 27 years, had another life, and came back. If you send people away, it's very difficult for them to return."

The election takes place on October 26th province-wide, and people have until September 20th to register to run for both Mayor and Council.

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The grand opening of the Oksana & Quinn Dutchyshen Memorial Splash Park will take place tonight at 8 p.m. in the campground area of the Gilbert Plains Country Club.

It will feature the official ribbon cutting and sign reveal.

Board Member Kimberley Perih is excited about the grand opening.

"Every board member is elated to have it open. It's been a long time coming... To have it up and running — especially when it's this hot out — for all the kids to use, it's quite a feat," Perih said.

The splash park was named in honour of Gaylene and Wayne Dutchyshen's granddaughters — Oksana and Quinn Dutchyshen — who were killed in a two-vehicle collision north of Dauphin in August 2019.

The driver of the other vehicle has since been charged with impaired driving causing death.

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The Parkland Horseman's Association had a successful Saturday of races, despite the challenges they had. Early last week the PHA had to make the decision to move their races due to poor track conditions in Ste. Rose.

Then they had to cancel races on Sunday due to extreme heat because they were concerned for the safety of the horses, racers, and visitors. PHA Secretary Faye Soucy said despite all the challenges, they were so happy to see all of their fans out on Saturday.

We were really happy with our turnout, we're happy that we had all of our fans come through the gates, we were happy to see that all of our fans followed us through even though we had a track change.

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Old September is a specialty coffee store and cocktail bar in Gilbert Plains and the one-stop shop has recently been featured.

Also featuring a floral design studio, the shop was featured by Travel Manitoba as one of 10 things to do in Manitoba. Kayla Luky said she was thrilled when she first found out.

"Travel Manitoba reached out to me about featuring the shop," said Luky. "It's nice to get some exposure, it's a great feeling."

The shop is open from 9:30 to 4:30 Tuesday to Saturday and is closed on Sundays and Mondays. So if you're looking for something new to do in Gilbert Plains, there's another option for you.

"Gilbert Plains is a great place to be," said Luky. "We have many different offerings and Old September is a great place to start. We love seeing new people in the shop."

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North West Regional Immigrant Services (NWRIS) is a settlement agency funded by the federal and provincial governments to provide settlement and integration services to newcomers to Swan Valley and The Pas. The goal of the organization is to make sure newcomers have the help they need to integrate and stay in the community for the long term, which in turn helps the area deal with the ongoing labour shortage. 

Gillian McGrath, executive director of NWRIS, said that every newcomer they've had recently is currently employed.

"We do have local employers who ask us if we know of anyone suitable for their workplace and we refer people where possible," McGrath said.

McGrath also said that they've had around 30 Ukrainians — adults and children — arrive recently and every single one of them that wanted to work is currently working, even if they don't speak English.

"We found them employment with employers that had staff that already speak Ukrainian and they were willing to pair them up to have an employee," she added.

More information on NWRIS and the services they provide can be found on their website.

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UPDATE: As of 7:47 p.m., the severe thunderstorm watches that were in effect for many communities in the Dauphin - Russell - Roblin - Winnipegosis and Ste. Rose - McCreary - Alonsa - Gladstone areas have ended.

The previous update follows:

As of 5:24 p.m., the severe thunderstorm warning for Riding Mountain National Park has ended.

The third update follows:

At 5:09 p.m., Environment Canada issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Riding Mountain National Park.

The severe thunderstorm warning for the R.M. of Dauphin incl. Sifton and Valley River is no longer in effect.

More information on the severe thunderstorm warning for Riding Mountain National Park can be found on the Environment Canada website.

The second update follows:

As of 4:52 p.m., the tornado warning for the R.M. of Dauphin incl. Sifton and Valley River has ended.

As of 4:23 p.m., the severe thunderstorm warning for the Gilbert Plains Mun. incl. Ashville has ended.

The first update follows:

At 4:21 p.m., Environment Canada issued a tornado warning for the R.M. of Dauphin incl. Sifton and Valley River and Riding Mountain National Park.

More information can be found on the Environment Canada website.

The original article follows:

Environment Canada has issued multiple severe thunderstorm watches, as well as a severe thunderstorm warning, for Dauphin and surrounding areas.

The severe thunderstorm watches are currently in effect for many communities in the following areas:

Furthermore, there is also a severe thunderstorm warning that is currently in effect for the Gilbert Plains Mun. incl. Ashville and the R.M. of Dauphin incl. Sifton and Valley River.

According to Environment Canada, they are tracking a severe thunderstorm capable of producing quarter-sized hail and wind gusts in excess of 90 km/h.

They also said that at 3:33 p.m., their Doppler radar indicated that this thunderstorm was located about 10 km northwest of Ashville and was moving toward the southeast at 20 km/h.

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The Parkland Crop Diversification Foundation's getting ready for its annual field day on July 27th, and they've got some great things planned for the day. There will be two field visits and lunch, with industry specialists speaking during the sessions.

James Frey, an Applied Production Specialist for Manitoba Agriculture, works with the Foundation, and he says it'll be a very informative day.

"In recent years we've been looking at test grass as a crop, and that's pretty new to Manitoba, fairly unknown, so it's a great opportunity for people to come out and see that," said Frey, "It has quite a lot of forage potential."

Frey says this is the first full field day they've had since 2019, as the event was canceled in 2020, and they only held a smaller field event last year.

"We're really looking forward to a return to the way things were with some ninety people or a hundred people in attendance in pre-pandemic years," said Frey, "That's definitely our hope, to see quite a lot of feet in the field."

PCDF Annual Field Day Flyer July 27 2022

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Grand Valley Strawberries — a pick-your-own strawberry farm located right outside of Brandon — was hard hit by hail and almost 40 millimetres of rain during a storm last week.

According to George Neudorf, who operates the farm with Barb Neudorf, many people from Dauphin visit the farm to pick strawberries and then sell them here in Dauphin.

He estimated that around 40% of the crop has been badly damaged and said that the bruised strawberries will be sold at a reduced price.

"We'll still get some out of it. People are coming... and they make jams and there's nothing wrong with the berry itself... but there's still a lot of damage," Neudorf said.

He expects the farm to remain open until the season ends next week.

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UPDATE: The heat warnings have ended.

The original article follows:

Environment Canada has issued multiple heat warnings covering Dauphin and the surrounding areas.

They are currently in effect for many communities in the following areas:

According to Environment Canada, humidex values reaching 35 are expected for the next 3 days and daytime highs between 30°C and 35°C and overnight lows of 16°C and warmer are expected over the next few days.

They also said that humidity will also be a concern over eastern Saskatchewan and southern Manitoba, where humidex values are forecast to approach 40 throughout the weekend.

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The ongoing labour shortage has forced the Town of Swan River to temporarily suspend its stray animal program.

According to Derek Poole, chief administrative officer of the Town of Swan River, the program was mainly about giving traps to residents with stray animals around their properties and offering to help them catch the animals with the help of a by-law officer. Once it has been caught, the animal would then be transported to the local vet board building and they would be housed there until they're adopted.

Since they don't have enough staff to be able to look after the animals on evenings and weekends, the Town had no choice but to suspend it.

"A person can buy their own traps and deal with that animal... it's just [that] the Town is not providing those services right now," Poole said.

He also said that the Town will be meeting with the Swan Valley Vet Clinic and the Animal Protection League to discuss the matter in the coming weeks.

The program will remain suspended until an agreement on how captured animals will be cared for on evenings and weekends has been reached.

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