Area residents looking for general legal services have a new option to choose from thanks to a law firm from Swan River.

Vessey Law opened its satellite office in Roblin’s Cook and Cooke Financial building Wednesday (Sept. 13) and Devin Vessey is definitely looking forward to serving the community for many years to come.

Find out more in this week’s Review.

The community held its first ever Harvest Festival Saturday with hundreds of people taking in the pancake breakfast, the Craft/Trade Show, the Farmers’ Market and the children’s attractions.

There was also a full slate of contestants for the pie eating contest.

Check out the photos in this week’s Review to see what you missed.

If you are big into the theatre scene in Manitoba, chances are you’ve seen a play in which one of Roblin’s former residents has designed the sets for.

Brian Perchaluk has been heavily involved in the theatre scene in Manitoba for many years now. His career in set production and design has taken him to various theatres in Canada and has led to some prestigious awards.

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

Manitoba Agriculture reported Sept. 12 that harvest progress was at 51 per cent complete across the province, which is ahead of the five year average (42 per cent). Winter wheat and fall rye harvest is complete with yield reports are averaging about 60 bu/acre for winter wheat and 70 bu/acre for fall rye.

Roblin's FAITH group hit the field Wednesday to bring in this year's crop for the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. 

Details in this week’s paper.

It’s hard nowadays for people to understand how vitally important it is to locally grow and source your own food. Many of us rely on the convenience of what the supermarket and grocery stores offer, but The Pas Helping Hands 4-H took in a more hands-on approach to putting together a meal.
“The 50-metre Meal has been done around the world in many different shapes and forms,” said The Pas Helping Hands 4-H Leader Cheryl Antonio. “Shawn, from Round the Bend Farm and I have had a great 4-H farm relationship for a long time and we will quite often join forces to host events and activities. We were brainstorming one day and Shawn said he had been thinking about the 50-metre Meal for some time.

The Rotary Club of The Pas President Don McKay and Rotary District Governor Sonja Susut, visiting from Moose Jaw, SK, recently presented the Paul Harris Fellow Award to six deserving community members. The Paul Harris Fellow is the highest form of recognition a Rotary Club can bestow. It is presented to a Rotarian or a member of the community who has made an outstanding contribution to the community. The individuals recognized recently are:

A new CAO has been hired for the Town of The Pas and she has been busy getting acquainted with the community and assessing the needs of the municipality. Bola Adedoyin started in her new role earlier last month and has settled into the community. She comes with vast experience in administration from a few different levels.
“I came from Brandon and before that I lived in Saskatoon before I came to Manitoba about 13 years ago,” said Adedoyin. “I’m originally from Nigeria in West Africa. I studied in Nigeria and the University of Manitoba up to the Ph.D. level. I worked at the Federal University in Nigeria, University of Manitoba, Manitoba Bureau of Statistics, Assiniboine Community College, and now the Town of The Pas. I have more than 20 years, of work experience.

A series of cabins in the Valley has had quite an extensive history in the community and surrounding area. They became part of a few different family businesses and upbringings for some of the former local residents. The Moon Glo Cabins were another set of cabins in the Valley that tourists frequented before it became part of the Crescent Park Motel.
The Fosters ran the Moon Glo Cabins and resided on the property while raising their children.
“My dad was George Arthur Foster and my mom was Muriel Lavina Foster (Johnston),” said Lynn (Foster) Hall. “They were both born in 1906 and my dad was born in England. He came over to Canada when he was three years old. My mom was born in MacGregor. There were eight children in our family: Merceda (Mickey), Wilfred, Raymond, Donald, Glen, June, Douglas and then myself.
“I was born in 1946, and that’s when my family moved into town from the farm. My father and his brother-in-law built the majority of the Moon Glo Cabins. The Birchwood Cabins used to be our competitors.
“From what I can remember, there were about 10 cabins, but I don’t how many there were originally when they first started,” continued Hall. “We lived right on site in a huge four-bedroom with a full upstairs and downstairs. The home had a huge stretch of property attached to it.”
The Moon Glo Cabins didn’t have private bathrooms within each cabin but still had a fair number of amenities for the time period.
“The cabins were red with white trim and, I believe, there was a central bathroom or shower house with the ladies on one side and men on the other, with a hot water tank in the middle,” said Hall. “People were able to shower and use the flush toilets, but in the winter, my dad had to drain the hot water tank so it wouldn’t freeze up. There may have been outhouses on the property earlier on, but I’m not entirely sure.
“There was no running water in the cabins, but there was a cook stove to keep warm and my dad supplied water. There was a little table with chairs, dishes, and utensils that families could use to eat. Each cabin usually came with two beds and I remember making lots of those beds over the years.
“A lot of couples first started off their married lives in those cabins,” said Hall.
There was a lot of space for other recreational activities where the Moon Glo Cabins were. The Foster family had tons of animals on site for kids to play with and lots of yards for them to play games.
“We had a nice big lawn area that had swings on it and kids played crokinole out there,” said Hall. “My dad kept an immaculate lawn, with the grass and trees well-trimmed. There was a stone archway that had a sign above it saying Moon Glo Cabins. He had that made, with the pillars made of big boulders or river stones cemented in. That archway was the entrance to the property. We had a great big Caragana hedge from the house we lived in right down to where the archway was. There was always lots of yard work for him to do and he loved it.
“We also sold fuel there, British American Gas, and the tourists, especially Americans, stopped in back then. Some would even stay.
“There was a barn behind that had lots of room for people to park their boats and stop,” continued Hall. “Dad always had Shetland ponies or horses in the barn for kids to ride on. There were other animals including rabbits, dogs, and cats and in the beginning, we also had a cow. We raised a lot of Collie and Labrador dogs. My dad really loved animals.
“Behind the first row of cabins, there was a summer kitchen that people could use to cook their dinner or meals.”
Running the Moon Glo Cabins was literally a full-time job for the Fosters. There was always lots of work to be done to get the cabins ready for the next round of guests and visitors to stay there.
“Both my parents had their work cut out for them in the mornings with the cleaning of the cabins and making the beds for the next guests,” said Hall. “For the longest time, my mother did all the laundry herself with a ringer washer and hung out on the line. Eventually, they got the linens sent to Dauphin when that service became available for some of the businesses in town.
“We still had to make the beds and have lots of stock on hand because you couldn’t wait for the clean linens to come back. It took about three days for the clean stuff to arrive back at the cabins.”
The Fosters built a new house closer to the cabins, with an office attached to it. This change began to reshape the business.
“Eventually our parents built a new house, down towards where the gas pumps were,” said Hall. “We had a sign up that said for customers to beep the horn when they wanted to get fuel. Customers would honk their horns and, if dad was in the office, he would tend to them, if not, we would come down from the house.
“So, when the new home was built closer to the pumps, it was a two-bedroom home with a basement, then an office attached to it for the business. There was another unit attached to it for guests; it sort of started to take shape and look like a motel.
“My parents became good friends with a lot of the guests who stayed there. I can remember a couple would look after the place if they went away somewhere. Then I believe my parents moved into a house in town around 1970 or 1971 and that’s when they sold the cabins to the Waltons and it became Crescent Park Motel.”

Members of the community joined with the Mental Wellness and Suicide Prevention Committee for a community walk on Friday (Sept. 8) to raise awareness about suicide prevention and recognize World Suicide Prevention Day on Sept. 10. Participants also received information and materials to help them engage in personal awareness activities. Suicide remains a major public health problem in the world, with approximately 12 people in Canada dying from suicide every day. Suicide is also the second leading cause of death amongst youth and young adults between the ages of 15-34.

It’s coming down to crunch time for those players hoping to crack the roster of the Dauphin Kings.

Dauphin played three preseason games, last week, starting with a 2-1 shootout loss to the Neepawa Titans, Tuesday, in a game which feature all-rookie lineups for both teams.

Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley said the rookies on the ice in that game played very well and had a lot of energy.

“We directed over 100 shots and had 65 and lost in a shootout. But at the same time, both goaltenders were really good,” he said. “We saw some speed, some energy, some hard work. It was a great game by our young kids.”

The next night against the Swan Valley Stampeders saw each team dressed some veterans, along with prospects hoping to make the team.

The result was a 5-0 Kings victory.

Hedley thought the back pressure was outstanding, as well as the work ethic and compete level.

“I really liked our speed and our work ethic. And we were fortunate enough to get some goals half way through the game,” he said.

The final game of the week was a rematch in Swan River, Friday.

After a slow start, the Kings picked it up, erasing a 2-0 first-period deficit to skate away with a 5-2 win.

“I thought our back end controlled the game. The two American kids (Trey Gnetz and Karson Raymond), both were very good. And I thought Wicks (Nolan Wickham) and Brooksy (Aidan Brooks) were good. Baxy (Anthony Bax) and (Naaman) Hofer, I thought they controlled the game and really limited the opportunities,” he said. “I think they had five shots in about 35 minutes between the last five minutes of the first and five minutes left in the third. So I’m very happy with the effort.”

Even after falling behind 2-0 after the first period, the Kings still worked hard and created some opportunities and were rewarded for their efforts.

The veterans are starting to step up their play, especially on the blueline.

“I think it’s just a matter of getting into it. We’ve just got to get a little more urgency, a little bit more compete and using our speed the way they can,” Hedley said.

After skating over the weekend, Hedley hopes to cut down to about 28 players for the final two preseason games, Friday at home against the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League’s Melville Millionaires, and Saturday in Virden against the Oil Capitals.

Defenceman Ryan Gower has been reassigned to the Kings from the Western Hockey League’s Prince Albert Raiders and will skate with the team this week.

Hedley said the two remaining preseason games will be a good test for those still trying to make the cut.

“The one thing that we really have to get back to from a couple years ago, and I really shouldn’t say we didn’t last year, but I think the consistency needs to be there with the compete and hard work. They’re both choices,” he said. “The skill you have to work at, but they’re individual choices on how hard you work, how hard you compete, how many stick battles you win. It’s all an amount of effort and decision to work hard. The exhibition season has shown that our vets have come back with a purpose and they’re working hard and it’s contagious. Our young guys are working hard and, you combine that with some skill that we have, it’s going to be an exciting year.”