Doug Zywina
Stoney Point Beach gets a new play structure
Thanks to a grant from the Building Sustainable Communities Fund, the RM of Dauphin was able to build a play structure at Stoney Point Beach.
A grand opening of the play structure was held, Aug. 1, with councillors, along with Dauphin MLA Brad Michaleski in attendance.
RM of Dauphin CAO Nicole Chychota said they had applied for the grant more than a year ago.
“Once we got that grant, it was full steam ahead to start planning this project,” she said, adding once the equipment was acquired, it only took two days for staff to put together.
Noting Stoney Point Beach is a popular campground for area residents, Chychota said there has been activities and play structures for kids missing from the beach for a long time.
"So this was a really good addition. Something the last council talked about. This council was extremely supportive of the project, as well. And we really wanted to just make this place a little bit more special than it already was,” she said.
The RM received another grant from the Enabling Accessibilities Fund, which will be used to build an accessible shower-washroom facility this fall.
There are currently more than 20 camping sites at the beach, featuring a mix of RV sites, as well as tenting sites and a boat launch.
“It’s a wonderful spot. The lake is always great. It’s great for fishing. The beach is lovely to play on. We did the boat launch a few years ago. That was new,” Chychota said. “So we’ve really focused on trying to make this area special and doing what we can to add value for the visitors and the citizens of the RM. It’s beautiful to see it come to life.”
Chychota thanks all the sponsors and RM staff and council for helping to make the new play structure a reality.
Larger crowds, great weather help make CNUF a success
The 58th annual Canada’s National Ukrainian Festival (CNUF) is in the books and it could not have gone any better.
CNUF president Kayla Gillis said the weekend went better than expected.
“Our crowd (Saturday) was phenomenal. The stands were packed. We ran out of alcohol and we had to get more, which is a good thing. We ran out of day passes, which is a good thing, as well, too,” she said. “It’s been phenomenal. The support from everybody coming out, the support from the community, all our volunteers, it’s been amazing.”
The weather, Gillis added, was fantastic.
“It’s been a little breezy, which is great because it’s fairly hot. But the weather has been fantastic for this year,” she said.
Although the final attendance numbers are not in yet, Gillis estimated this year’s crowds surpassed last year’s numbers.
The highlight of the weekend for Gillis came Saturday night, watching Shumka Ukrainian Dancers from Edmonton dance on the main stage.
“And seeing the stands completely filled. And at the end, when we did (the finale), everybody put their cell phone light on and everything was lit up. It was beautiful,” she said.
Gillis had the opportunity to meet with some of the Ukrainian refugees displaced by the war in Ukraine. She met with groups from Regina and Winnipeg, as well as some of the families who have relocated to Dauphin, who volunteered at the festival.
“The ones that joined us last year and came for this year and said it was bigger and better, which was great to see. And the ones that just joined us for this year, they said it’s phenomenal how we can make a party happen and still keep our culture and heritage going,” she said.
Work on next year’s festival has already begun with some talent already booked.
“It nevers ends, the planning. We’re already looking ahead to the 60th, too,” Gillis said.
Gillis wishes to thank everyone who attended this year’s festival, as well as all the entertainers, sponsors and volunteers.
“Just thank you for everything,” she said.
MMF to train Ukrainian refugees in early learning childcare
The Manitoba Métis Federation will educate and employ up to 25 Ukrainian newcomers to work in the child care profession after receiving $1 million in funding from the provincial government.
Wayne Ewasko, Manitoba’s Minister of Education and Early Childhood Learning was in Dauphin, Aug. 1, to present the funds to Frances Chartrand, MMF Minister for Early Learning and Child Care.
Noting it is an exciting time for MMF, Chartrand said the initiative is part of a commitment MMF made to the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC)
“We wanted to make sure that we could train 25 Ukrainian refugees in early learning,” she said. “So now we found out that they’re going to have a 140-space childcare centre in the city of Dauphin and the work force is so slim, not inly in the province of Manitoba, not only in the Parkland, but right across Canada. So there’s probably about 300 vacancies in the province of Manitoba. So it’s exciting times that we can help train and then they could learn about the Métis culture, learn the language and are able to sustain their homes and make sure that they can care for their families. So it’s exciting times for us.”
Chartrand said they reached out to local contacts to learn where refugees are located, adding there will be a community townhall in Winnipeg.
Classes, Chartrand said, will be held at the Métis Community Centre in Dauphin, as well as in Winnipeg, with both featuring a mix of Ukrainian refugees and Red River Métis citizens, with training to begin in October.
“So we’re doing intake right now. We met with the Ukrainian Canadian Congress and we’ve met with about 38 Ukrainian refugees in Winnipeg. So we’re doing a call out in the Parkland and the surrounding area and we’re going to try and get a class ready here,” Chartrand said.
The first four to six weeks, Chartrand said, will be teaching the refugees English and about Manitoba and Canada.
The following four to six weeks will be spent learning the Métis culture, followed by 18 months of learning the early learning childcare program.
“I think this is an exciting time and I’m so excited that our province is finally seeing and following our path, making sure that we could find employees to work throughout the province,” Chartrand said.
Mavericks are victorious in return to the pitch
The Dauphin Mavericks have been yearning to play a game this season after Rugby Manitoba failed to come up with any opponents for the local men’s rugby squad this season.
But the Mavericks were able to hit the pitch for an actual game thanks to the Winnipeg Wasps, who made the trek north for a friendly match, Saturday afternoon.
Dauphin took advantage of the opportunity to play again, scoring a 56-31 victory over their Winnipeg counterparts.
Mavericks president Codi Harrigan said the game was confirmed on Friday.
“We were hunting down the refs. So it ended up being that one of their players and myself reffed it,” he said.
Harrigan said a few new players had shown up for practice last week and they committed to play the game.
“And they were able to get on the field. Right off the bat, they showed us their skills and they definitely came out to play. They helped us a lott,” he said.
One of those players, Daniel Evans, led the Mavericks with five tries.
“That was a huge debut for him,” Harrigan said.
Given that the Mavericks haven’t played much at all this season, one might expect the team to have been a bit rusty. But the only aspect of their game that showed any rust, Harrigan said, was their conditioning.
“Our ball handling was great. Our set pieces were great. It’s just the conditioning that we need to work on,” he said.
At this point, there are no other games scheduled other than the King of the Hill match against the Brandon Barbarians later this fall in Brandon.
Harrigan appreciated the Wasps for coming out for the match.
“They support us a lot, so it was nice,” he said.
Harrigan invites anyone interested in playing rugby to come out to practices, every Tuesday and Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Kin Field at the Vermillion Park Sportsplex.
Dream is now a reality for Vermillion Growers Ltd.
A dream that was conceived eight years ago was realized, last Thursday, when Vermillion Growers LTD., hosted the grand opening of its greenhouse facility.
Vermillion Growers Ltd., uses an innovative, fully-automated control system for growing vegetables under glass greenhouses. The greenhouse showcases industry-leading Gakon Netafim irrigation and greenhouse technology that reduces the amount of water and energy used by 50 per cent.
Phase 1 of the operation is a 10-acre glass greenhouse that will grow vine tomatoes for distribution to central Canada. It will employ close to 35 fulltime staff.
The greenhouse was the brainchild of John “Lucky” Deschauer, who came up with the idea eight years ago.
Deschauer explained he was doing construction in Dauphin in the winter right before Christmas during a snowstorm.
“And I’m looking at my guys working and we’re trying to close up the building and put windows in and I said, ‘what am I doing this for? It’s time to do something different with my life.’ So I started looking for other opportunities to enhance the community,” he said.
Since he always enjoyed greenhouses, Deschauer began looking into modern greenhouses and spent some time in Leamington, Ont., home of Great Lakes Greenhouses, and traveled to Netherlands, Germany and Belgium to learn about the greenhouse industry.
“And once I discovered what it’s all about and how it impacts your food security and how it creates jobs, I decided I wanted to give it a try,” he said. “And, literally, from that point on, I committed a lot of years of my life to learning, discovering and, finally, building a greenhouse.”
Deschauer received a lot of community support when plans for a greenhouse were announced, support he appreciates.
“It means a lot to have community members get behind you. Our city and province have been very good working with us. And I look forward to working more with them on our expansions,” he said.
With the grand opening celebrations now behind them, Deschauer said it is time to get to work.
“Now it’s time for the grow team to hustle, find good employees to work, work with Assiniboine Community College in training the people. Basically, utilizing our youth to make careers. Keep them in our community,” he said. “We’ll be doing a basic apprenticeship program with qualified students through the ACC Brandon and Dauphin facilities.”
Deschauer said it was a momentous day for him and his family.
“It’s very satisfying to have accomplished this,” he said. “I’m looking forward to the future. I’m looking forward to expanding this, working with the city in the development of affordable housing and things like that.”
An announcement on Phase 2 will be made soon, Deschauer said.
John’s sister Maria Deschauer, Vermillion Growers managing director, said a project of this magnitude, which they did not realize at the time, takes a long time to put together.
“There are a lot of parts and pieces to get this project up and running,” she said.
All three founders - John and Maria, along with Mark Kohan - were looking for something meaningful to do that would also be good for the community.
“And that’s where we decided to act upon Lucky’s vision, Lucky’s idea to do this,” Maria added.
With the facility now open, Maria said it was an incredible feeling to finally see it become a reality.
“When you pour so much time and energy into a project, it’s so satisfying to see it finally come to fruition, just knowing that this project will be employing so many people in the community,” she said. “It’s a huge relief, also, that we are now at this stage and actually operating in a sense, because we’re setting up for the plants to arrive shortly.”
Plans are to expand the facility to include growing peppers and cucumbers in the not too distant future.
“If all the stars align, we are hoping that we will be adding another five acres next year,” Maria said, adding they are currently working on getting the facility completely finished and ready to receive plants. She anticipates planting will be done in early September with the first harvest in early November.
“So we will be having fresh tomatoes in our local stores in November,” Maria said, adding she is grateful to the community for its support. “Without their support and their investment, this project wouldn’t be here today. And also just to mention that the opportunity is still there to get involved. We’re very, very grateful for it,” she said.
Dauphin deputy mayor Christian Laughland said the opening of Vermillion Growers means a lot to the city.
“It’s both the beginning and the end of a great journey for the city. Of course, with the opening it’s the end of the construction for the first phase and the beginning of something so great for our community,” he said. “Being a big fan of tomatoes, I’m really excited for this, but I know a lot of people that were at the event and others in the community are so happy and thankful that the group has decided to build and invest in Dauphin and create over 30 jobs to start.”
Laughland added the opening of the facility marks the start of many big things for the community with a number of improvements and additions coming in the near future.
“The next few months and years are going to be very exciting for Dauphin,” he said.
Provincial rugby teams prepare for Westerns
The U16 and U18 provincial boys and girls rugby teams were in Dauphin, Saturday, to prepare for the Western Canadian Championships, Aug. 3 to 6 in Calgary.
Each of the teams were to have played an exhibition match against the Saskatchewan provincial teams, but they ended up cancelling.
To help fill in for the missing Saskatchewan clubs, local high school players were recruited to practice with the provincial teams.
“Just to come out and join and get the boots back on, get engaged again, just act as basically a filler so we could have some opposition and be able to run against each other. And just keep working on our strategy and working on our system,” said U18 girls coach Shawn Sarkonak.
The teams will practice in Winnipeg, July 29, where they will once again working on their skills and drills, tweaking everything prior to leaving for Calgary. The four provincial teams feature 22 players from the Parkland.
Sarkonak feels this year’s provincial team is ahead of where it has been in the past, because the team has had more time to run together.
“It’s not been the way we’ve historically ran it, where we would have the Man-Sask regionals, where you’d have your regional teams playing and that’s where you’re making your selections to fill 24 spots for Team Manitoba,” he said. “We’re a little ahead of that curve where we were running as a long list Team Manitoba when we went to the Alberta Regional Championships. They were able to run together and then we were able to trim that down to 24.”
As a result, the team has already had five games together. Previously, the team wouldn’t play its first game until Westerns.
“So I feel that we are more on the front foot, because, as the tournament goes on and we literally get to the last game, that’s really when you see the girls gelling and you just wish that was the start of the tournament,” Sarkonak said. “So that was the aim this year. So when we get to Calgary, we feel that we’re going to be running as a team and we’re going to be really gelled and we’re looking for good things to happen.”
Faith Burtnyk from Brandon, Bree Walker from Ste. Rose and Dauphin’s Emma Fox were selected to the top 55 players for U18 Canada West.
“They will be trimming it down based on performance at Westerns in Calgary. They’re going to be having a top 40 camp in Shawnigan Lake, Aug. 14 to 20 and then from there, they’re going to pick a Canada West team that will compete at the NA4A competition, I believe, it’s at Christmas time, down and around San Francisco or San Diego,” Sarkonak said.
The competition will feature four teams - Canada West, Canada East, USA West and USA East.
Tycholiz, Messinbird win ladies scramble
Forty golfers took part in the two-person ladies scramble, Saturday, at the Gilbert Plains Country Club.
Gail Tycholiz and Martha Messinbird were crowned champions thanks to a countback after they tied with Theresa Gulak and Stephanie Remniak, as well as Trudi Binkley and Mackenzie Binkley. All three teams finished with an 84.
Dona-Leigh Davis and Lisa Hale won the first flight, shooting an 86. Pearl Maksymetz and Jan Nakonechny were second, one shot back and in third place was Amber Tarrant and Carrie Brook with an 88.
A countback awarded first place in the second flight to Pauline Murray and Beth Tarrant, who finished with an 89. Jenna Wreggat and Julie Facey were second after shooting a 90, while Donna Dowsett and Donna Stevenson were awarded third place on a countback, shooting a 92.
The third flight went to Susan Glasgow and Karen Paulson on a countback after they finished with a 92. In second place was Donna Campbell and Heather Ready with a 99 and Verna Vanrobaeys and Betty Hanson were third with a 101.
Stevenson won the closest-to-the-line contest on no. 5, while the closest-to-the-hole winners were Hale on no. 9 and Murray on no. 17. Brook won the longest drive on no. 12.
Thiessen, Day earn battle belts
New champions were crowned at the sold out Battle for the Belts golf tournament, Sunday at the Gilbert Plains Country Club.
Jay Thiessen and Kolby Day combined to shoot a 59 to claim the championship belts, finishing one shot ahead of runners-up Chad Facey and Shawn MacQuarrie. Bob Gilroy and Christian Laughland were awarded third place on a countback, with a 65.
Winners of the first flight on a countback were Earl Thompson and Larry Nepinak, with second place going to Bailey Reichmuth and Kale Bombak. Both teams finished with a 67. In third place was Cole Kopytko and Taylor Fletcher with a 68.
A countback gave first place in the second flight to Dave Campbell and Curtis Campbell over runners-up Clint Baxter and Blair Johnson, while Lloyd Campbell and Rylan Campbell were third. All three teams shot a 71.
The top three teams in the third flight also finished tied after carding a 73. First place went to Scott Lynxleg and Merv Lynxleg, with Josh Yaschyshyn and Keenan Yaschyshyn in second place and Brock Nixon and Carl Bicknell in third.
Chris Porter and Kaine Morran won the fourth flight on a countback, carding a 75. In second place, also with a 75, was Dylan Ushkowski and Mitchell Prawdzik, and in third place was Troy Caruk and Shaun Caruk, also with a 75.
Shawn Sarkonak and Jamie Hodgson shot a 77 to win the fifth flight on a countback over runners-up Fred Letain and Gerald Musey, while Ian Brezden and Jordan Pernarowski were third, also with a 77.
In the sixth flight, a countback awarded first place to Colton Stadnyk and Richard Eliuk. In second place, with an 81, was Jamesa Morran and Lincoln Morran, while in third place, with an 82, was Dustin Dawson and Jodi Ganchar.
The most honest golfers were Megan Morran and Vander Morran.
Closest-to-the-hole/line winners were Mark Odut on no. 4, Ted Wojtowitz on no. 9, Dale Murray on no. 14 and Regan Hedley on no. 17.
Prospects signed for next season, four move on from Kings
Even while the 2022-23 season was ongoing, the Dauphin Kings were looking to the future, signing some prospects for the upcoming season.
The signings started with Brandon product Skylar Ramsey, who scored 15 goals and added 12 assists for 27 points in 43 games with the Brandon Wheat Kings of the Manitoba U18 AAA Hockey League, last season.
The Kings then signed goaltender Austin Seibel, who compiled a 16-10-1 record with a 2.95 GAA and .926 save percentage with the North Okanagan Knights of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League, last season.
Seibel was not the only goalie the Kings signed as they also inked Luke Swanson, who played high school hockey at Bloomington Jefferson High School, last season, where he put together a 3-22-1 record, a 4.17 GAA and .890 save percentage.
The Kings signed another high school player out of Minnesota, defenceman Karson Raymond, who played for St. Michael-Albertville High School. He scored three times and added seven assists for 10 points in 24 games.
Markus Olson was the third high school player from Minnesota to sign with Dauphin after he put up 38 goals, 48 assists for 86 points in just 27 games with Bagley-Fosston High School.
Gavin Nemis from the Rink Hockey Academy’s U18 team based in Winnipeg was signed by the Kings after scoring seven goals and adding 19 assists for 26 points in 32 games.
Forward Rylan Gage signed with the Kings after tallying 21 goals and 38 assists for 59 points in 44 games with the Yellowhead Chiefs of the Manitoba U18 AAA Hockey League, last season.
Morden’s Rhett Perrin signed the Dauphin after a season with the Moose Jaw Warriors in the Saskatchewan U18 AAA Hockey League, where the forward scored eight goals and added 18 assists for 26 points in 43 games.
Trey Gnetz had two goals and seven assists in 30 games with Cretin-Durham Hall, a high school in Minnesota, before he signed with the Kings.
Recently, Dauphin signed Gabriel Bugeaud, a forward from the Notre Dame Hounds of the Saskatchewan U18 AAA Hockey League, where he had 11 goals, 22 assists for 33 points in 40 games.
The latest Kings signing is forward Elias Eisenbarth, who played last season with the South Alberta Hockey Academy U18 Prep team. In 31 games, Eisenbarth scored seven goals and added 13 assist for 20 points in 31 games.
Four players from last year’s Kings squad will move on to play college hockey next season.
Captain Owen Wareham will attend the University of Manitoba, where he will suit up for the Bisons. Last season, Wareham was fourth on the Kings in scoring, with eight goals, 29 assists for 37 points and he was the only player to play in all 58 games for Dauphin.
Forward Mason Smith will take his talent to the Liberty University Flames of the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA), a Division 1 school.
Smith was second in team scoring with Dauphin, last year, notching 17 goals and assisting on 26 others for 43 points in 54 games.
Dauphin’s leading scorer, Matthew Gough, will suit up next season for the Adrian College Bulldogs of the ACHA Division 3.
Gough topped the Kings with 27 goals and 29 assists for 56 points in 55 games. He was Dauphin’s only player with more than 20 goals.
Deepkaran Hans, who joined Dauphin early in the season, has committed to play next season for the Marian University Sabres of the ACHA Division 3.
Hans played 41 games with Dauphin last season, scoring 13 goals and 12 assists for 25 points.
No sell out but Countryfest a “tremendous success”
This year’s edition of Dauphin’s Countryfest may not have sold out, but given the heat of the three-day festival, organizers feel it was a tremendous success.
Prior to Sunday’s evening main stage entertainment, Countryfest president Duane McMasters was pleased with how everything went this year.
“We had some pretty fantastic weather. We had a couple sprinkles of rain here and there. The heat has been pretty intense. So far no problems with that,” he said, adding the crowds were great all weekend. “I’m hearing nothing but good things about our entertainment. Haven’t really had any security incidents. In all honesty, it’s one of those things where you spend so much time trying to get here and then you get here and you’re amazed when it goes well.”
That just proves when you having a good team and doing a lot of hard work ahead of time makes things happen when the event finally does roll around, he added.
This year, organizers focused on bringing in more Indigenous artists, the result of a partnership with Indigenous Music Manitoba to develop an Indigenous artist showcase.
“We’ve got a lot of great musical artists like Mitchell Makoons, Nelson Little, Desiree Dorion obviously is a local name. (Sunday) we had the Ivan Flett Memorial Dancers, the Throat Singers, which I’ve never seen before and I thought it was really awesome. It was pretty cool,” McMaster said, adding he hopes to continue in the future.
“We definitely did deliberately do that. We just wanted to showcase our Manitoba talent. We wanted to showcase the Indigenous talent. Just to show what we’ve got here in Manitoba.”
McMaster hopes to continue that showcase next year.
“I think it would be fantastic. I loved having them on the main stage here and everybody was really thrilled to actually be appearing on the main stage at Dauphin’s Countryfest. It’s a little bit of a prestigious thing. We’ve been around long enough that that’s sort of a pretty exciting place to be,” he said.
Although the final numbers won’t be known for a while, McMaster was pleased with the weekend’s attendance.
“The stands have looked good. Our numbers are good this year. We’ve had great attendance at the shows, up top has looked good. We’ve had a lot of people coming through the gates. Overall, I think things are looking really good,” he said.
Because this is his first year as president, McMaster is just happy everything went well.
“Whether it was real or imagined, I felt like there was a bit of pressure on me, because I’ve never done this before in this position. So I’m just happy that things are actually flowing smoothly,” he said, adding he only got to watch one act, catching half of Snake Oil’s show, Saturday night.
Relieving some of the pressure is the work of the board to make things run as smoothly as it did this weekend.
“We have such a fantastic team here. I’m one of 13 directors on our volunteer board and all of them just do a ton of work. Then we’ve got our office staff, we’ve got out summer students, we’ve got our site crew. No one person can take credit for anything out here. It’s a team effort for everything,” he said. “And it always blows my mind that, at the end of the day, we’ve got maybe a dozen paid employees at our peak and our 13 board members and we make this happen with a whole bunch of volunteer support from our community. I’m so proud to be part of the group that makes this happen.”
Even though this year’s festival was still going on, discussions for next year’s lineups had already begun.
You have to start looking at entertainers a year out, McMaster said, so organizers have already had some preliminary discussions with some entertainers.
McMaster appreciates the support the festival has received year after year.
“Our volunteers who come out and support us. All of the people that come back year after year and buy tickets and come see us,” he said, adding he saw some people from Texas in Vermillion Park, last week, who came to Dauphin for Countryfest. “It’s unbelievable that people would come that far to our little event out here in Dauphin. So thanks to everybody,” he said.