A locally Indigenous owned business and entrepreneur is in the semi-finals for the national Pow Wow Pitch competition.

Sipie’s Mobile Wash started up five years ago with a unique concept to the Parkland area and has been going strong ever since.

Read the rest of the story in this week’s Review.

As part of the Manitoba government’s ongoing effort to help families make ends meet, Premier Heather Stefanson on Wednesday unveiled an $87-
million Family Affordability Package to immediately provide families with children, seniors living on a fixed income, and Manitobans who are hurting the most, with benefits to help ease the burden of rising costs and high inflation.

“We know that many Manitobans are hurting right now and having a hard time making ends meet,” said Stefanson in announcing the help.

More in this issue.

This year’s Opaskwayak Indigenous Days (OID) Princess was one who had both talent and a message to deliver.

16-year-old Juliana Bignell was crowned OID Princess and she is ready to represent OCN to the best of her capabilities. 

“I feel really proud to be crowned OID Princess,” said Bignell. “I also feel honoured to be this year’s OID Princess, so I can represent the community as best as I can. “I will speak up for those that can't be active and advocate during bully awareness week. Also, I’ll be available to anyone if they need a friend, for I personally know how the impacts of bullying can affect a person and I never want anyone to experience that."

Get the full story in this week's Opasquia Times!

In 2017, approximately 11 lives were lost each day in Canada due to opioid overdoses and the crisis continues to grow.

The last day of August is known as International Overdose Awareness Day and a community organization is trying to share more knowledge about this epidemic, to prevent more lives from being lost. “Play It Safer Network's International Overdose Awareness Day event is today, which is the designated date to honour those who have been lost to drug overdose,” said The Pas/OCN Play It Safer Network Coordinator Krista Tooley.

“It also helps to reduce the stigma around drug use and to raise awareness of the toxic drug supply crisis across the nation."

Read more in this week's edition of the Opasquia Times!

The Pas Fire Department responded to a late night structure fire over the weekend.

On Saturday at approximately 12:49 am the department received the report of the fire on Bignell Ave.

According to Duty Officer Matt Pecar, the structure was fully involved with the adjacent structure starting to catch fire. 

“Crews brought the fire under control,” Pecar noted. He added the first structure was a wooden shed was a loss while the second structure had extensive damage to the side and roof.

This week features the follow-up to last week’s story on the former Swan River band called The Group.
As The Group kept playing more gigs, Hornbeck and his band members began earning some money, from what started out as just a hobby. Hornbeck recalls the first big ticket item he purchased with his money earned from playing in The Group.
“We had a strict policy that each band member was responsible for looking after replacing and maintaining their musical instrument,” said Hornbeck. “After each gig, we would pool the money together and divide it equally. We all bought our own stuff with the money we earned over the years and we were quite proud of ourselves. Each time we bought better and better equipment. As I look through the array of photographs over that time span, we had some pretty decent-looking equipment towards the end of it.
“I ordered myself a British set of Premier drums from Scalif’s, just like the ones Charlie Watts of The Rolling Stones had.
“I can also recall, one day I had accumulated $52 dollars in my bank account, so I went over to Emerson Barnard’s Jewelry store on Main Street, and I asked what they had for rings,” said Hornbeck. “I wanted to buy a ring and he showed me some. I picked one out, had it sized and paid $50. I’ve still got the ring and wear it. It’s gold with a red round ruby like stone in the center of it and is my Group ring forever.”
It wasn’t long before The Group decided to do some recording locally in the area. They caught the attention of a well-known DJ in the area, and he helped them to record some songs in studio at a radio station in Dauphin.
“There was a radio company in Dauphin that had a DJ named Ron Waddell, The Ugly Duckling,” said Hornbeck “He was quite popular with the music he played. Waddell invited us to do come down and do a recording at the studio. We travelled to Dauphin and recorded some songs. That was quite the experience for us.”
Hornbeck has quite the elaborate collection of The Group memorabilia to this date. He has the performances documented through a series of videos and photographs.
“I have the name of the band, The Group, on the bass drumhead, still today,” said Hornbeck. “It’s one of the main artifacts I’ve kept over the years. I printed it myself onto the drumhead. From then on we were The Group. I have hundreds of photographs from our time together and several framed in my home in chronological order. The entire story of the Group is documented within those photos.
“I still have my wooden block for the drum kit, the cowbell and a handful of drumsticks from our days together. I used to go through a lot of drumsticks back then from banging on the drums so hard. I would throw my broken drumstick into the crowd and people would be scrambling to pick it up as a souvenir, I guess. I always had an instant grab for replacement sticks at hand. Garry Pederson of the Guess Who, taught me that.
“I was so fortunate that I got all the band members to sign the drumhead before some of them passed on,” said Hornbeck.
Even fans of The Group hung on to some time-honoured memorabilia from the band’s glory days.
“Dennis and Maureen Bowles were always in the front of the stage during our performances,” said Hornbeck. “I even have them on the home movies. Dennis went on to buy my parents’ home. One day he told me to come by the house and he had something he wanted to show me. I hadn’t been back to the house after my parents had passed away. So I went over and there in the rumpus room, where The Group played and practiced, on the door, perfectly intact with black friction tape was our band name still glued to the door, along with the artifacts on the floor. Dennis said he couldn’t bare to take it off.”
Hornbeck recalls The Group getting together for a reunion and doing one last performance together.
“Our very last performance was in 2003, here in Swan River at the Legion Hall,” said Hornbeck. “The High School Reunion Committee asked us to get together for their program. At first, the guys weren’t interested in getting together, but eventually we did. We all met the night before at Glenn’s basement, where his band called Kind of Country, would practice. We only played about two or three songs and got caught up musing about the past. The guys were having a good time reminiscing.
“The night of the big concert where The Group was to entertain over 300 people, we played three songs and then Jimmy asked, out of the blue, if anyone remembered a certain song. Then all of a sudden it all came back and we were playing music we hadn’t played together for 45 years. The dinner became a dance floor again and it felt magical.
“We have all of that performance, the crowd and interviews with members from The Group all filmed and I have it on DVD thanks to Jim Makichuk,” said Hornbeck.
The Group band members all went their separate ways after 1967 and their band is listed as one on the Manitoba Music Museum’s webpage with photographs going back to that time.
“Jimmy Hooper became a solo performer,” said Hornbeck. “He would play his acoustic guitar and sing, despite not singing in The Group. He has since passed on and the funeral was held in Hudson Bay, SK. An old friend, Jim Webster and I made the trip out for his funeral. There were artifacts of his life all across the stage and wall-to-wall music tributes.
We were ushered in and seated amongst his family at the front.”
Aaron Burnett went on to become an elementary school teacher and then realized his musical calling was still prevalent. He started playing rhythm guitar and doing lead vocals for Salvek Hanzlik’s bluegrass band in Winnipeg. The band parted ways and Barnett formed another bluegrass band called Ain’t No Mountain Boys that toured around Manitoba and northwestern Ontario. From there he moved on to join the Keystone Bluegrass Quartet, which became a popular band.
Burnett decided to record an album in 2002 and received a Juno nomination. He released a second bluegrass album with the musical backing of the Dry River Boys. He now plays traditional bluegrass music in a band called Prairie Grass.
Glenn Kerestes went on to marry Marilyn Shaver of Swan River, raised a family and became a loans officer at the Swan Valley Credit Union. He kept his love of playing bass guitar by playing in the band Kind of Country. Kerestes passed away last year on Nov.18, 2021 at the age of 74.
Raymond Fulford entered the medical profession and went stateside for a while. He now resides in Winnipeg, designing amputee prosthetics.
Gord Hornbeck is 74 now and winding up business in the Valley. He and his companion, Dale, are happy with growing old together and keeping busy.

The Swan Valley Museum held their Harvest Festival on Sunday (Aug. 28) with a packed crowd taking part in the games and activities.

The council of Russell Binscarth met on Aug 25th in council chambers in Russell for their second regular meeting of the month.

This meeting drew 29 spectators to the chambers and the lobby of the buildng.

While Councillor Baseley brought a number of questions to the floor the highlight - which will be dealt with later in this acticle, were the delgegation to council brought forward by Mrs. Jamie Bradshaw, as printed on page 2.

Councillor Cadieux also fulfilled a promise made at the last meeting after Len Derkach brought an issue to floor with a delegation pertaining to a resolution brought forward by Councillor Cadieux that banned Mr. Len Derkach and Mr. Nick Foisy from running in the upcoming election. (See coverage of this meeting and Derkach’s delegation in Aug. 16th issue of The Russell Banner.)

Read more details in this week's Russell Banner!

The Russell Ag Society unveiled their new ground’s sign in preparation for the celebration of 141 years.

Russell Ag Society is very excited to see the arena grounds being utilized more as the next generation of parents and youth are growing and becoming more involved.

Membership continues to grow, as the Ag Society actively has around 40 members or 17 different families. The Ag Society is coming alive again.

They were very excited for the weekend of festivities planned and all the excitement that comes with full grounds. The arena remains to be used by many Ag Members for practice as well as the many events that are starting to come back to the Ag Arena. With the growing interest and the revival of rodeo in our community also comes many benefits and opportunities.

The Ag Society grounds extend from the north side of Russell Swimming Pool and encompass the ball diamonds all the way to the back alley of Mather Street.

Get the full story in this week's Russell Banner!

The Dauphin Kings took the first step towards defending their Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL) championship when the reigning Turnbull Cup titlists hosted a rookie camp, this past weekend.

About 50 players hit the ice at Credit Union Place, hoping to impress the coaching staff enough to earn and invitation to this weekend’s main camp.

According to Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley, the team limited the number of players at the camp to include their list players and draft picks, as well as mostly local players.

Hedley like what he saw on the ice.

“I liked the work ethic, I liked the compete, I liked the speed. They’re working hard,” he said, adding Carter Zalischuk had a great camp and some of the local players such as Cohen Smigelsky and Sam Swanton also had good camps. “We’ve got a good cycle of good talent coming up through the ranks in the Parkland and we’re hoping these guys can end up wearing our crest sooner or later,” Hedley said.

About 16 players will join the team’s main camp, which will be held, Sept. 2 to 4, culminating with the JoFo Cup intrasquad game. Hedley said there will be similar numbers at the main camp, enough for three teams.

“It should be some great competition and should make for some great speed and some good entertainment next weekend,” he added.

Some players, such as local products Kyan Grouette and Zalischuk, will be notably absent from the main camp because they will be attending Western Hockey League camps.

“It’s going to be interesting, because main camp could be totally different two or three weeks down the road depending on who returns and who doesn’t,” Hedley said. “But I know we have some good talent coming in. Some good imports coming in and some good kids from Manitoba, so it should make for some good entertainment next weekend.”

A lot of focus will be on the Kings as defending MJHL champions. With the bar set at a high level, Hedley wants it to stay there.

“People look around and say we’re going to be in tough this year. But at the same time, we thought that last year. We lost some real good players the year before with (Grady) Hobbs and (Kolby) Morrisseau. And our top six guys were all gone,” he pointed out. “And the guys came in and filled in and did a great job.”

Hedley feels the defence will be a strength like it was last year, led by Owen Wareham, who turns 20 in October. After the experience of playing at last season’s Centennial Cup, Dauphin’s coaching staff saw what it takes to compete at that level.

“Speed is your key ingredient. You have to be able to skate, you have to move the puck. Playing fast. So we want that in our main camp,” Hedley said. “We’re going to talk to our guys before we start. The compete level and the speed and just the ability to move the puck as fast as you can and to get to hard places as fast as you can is going to be key. And that’s what we’re going to focus on in main camp.”

The Kings will play four preseason games this year, the first coming, Sept. 6, in Swan River against the Stampeders at 7 p.m., followed by a game, Sept. 7, when the Kings host the Superior International Junior Hockey League’s Wisconsin Lumberjacks at 7:30 p.m.

Dauphin will then travel west to face the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League’s Melville Millionaires, Sept. 10, and the Yorkton Terriers, Sept. 11, with both games in Melville.