Shawn Bailey
Memorial dedication recognizes Dauphin’s role in allied effort
A little more than a year after he first had the idea to develop a memorial honouring Dauphin’s participation in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan and the thousands of airmen who trained at two bases in the community, Al Gray is preparing to unveil the fruits of his efforts.
Set for Aug. 27, the Airport Memorial 80 unveiling will take place in two parts, Gray said.
“We’ll be meeting at the cemetery at about 10:30 in the morning and we will be unveiling a commemorative plaque listing the names of the 15 airmen that lie at rest at Riverside Cemetery. They are 15 of the 49 that were killed here while training,” Gray said “As well, at the cemetery we will be dedicating two granite benches, one in the old veterans section where the airmen are buried and one in the new veterans section.”
Later in the day people will gather at the airport for a ceremony which will begin at 1 p.m., last for approximately 30 minutes and will culminate with the unveiling of the monuments.
“We are flanking the Barker Monument with two five-foot-by-three-foot pieces of granite. They will give the history of the Commonwealth Air Training Plan, they will give the history of the two air schools. And on the rear of both is going to be a list of the 29 airmen that were killed in service at the south airport at the service flight training school, and the 20 airmen that were killed at the bombing and gunnery school,” Gray said, adding the two schools trained 9,000 of the 131,000 airmen trained as part of the plan.
“That’s what we are doing to commemorate and memorialize Dauphin’s and Paulson’s role in the air training plan.”
Following the dedication, Gray has a special treat planned as three vintage military aircraft will be on hand courtesy of the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum in Brandon.
The Harvard, Tiger Moth and Cornell aircraft will sit on the apron for the public to inspect and will offer rides to those wanting the complete historic experience.
The cost of the flight for the Harvard is $400 while the Tiger Moth and Cornell are each $280, Gray said, adding those flying must also purchase a $30 museum membership which covers the flight insurance.
The fees are simply cost recovery and a tax deductible receipt will be issued, Gray said.
“These flights have to be pre-booked. They want at least four flights per aircraft booked and I’ve currently got four of the 12 flights a booked,” he said, adding he hopes to further include the aircraft in the days events by way of a low level flyover during the morning dedication at the cemetery. “These pilots are seasoned, well-practiced pilots. What they do is they fly these as the dedicated pilots and they fly these aircraft around to all sorts of air shows throughout the summer.”
The flights will begin at 10 a.m., however, the planes will remain on the ground during the airport ceremony.
Anyone interested in booking a flight can email Gray at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
“We’re going to encourage people to bring their lawn chairs because there’s only going to be a finite amount of seating available. If they want to bring their lawn chairs and set them up on the grass that’s fine,” Gray said, adding he is hoping for good weather. “It’s a mist or shine event. If there’s a torrential rainfall we do not have an alternate day. It’s going to be that day or not at all. The monuments are going to be there they may end up going without an official unveiling.
“This is definitely something that we’re really hoping is going to fly.”
Off to camp
Visitors to the local Tim Horton’s last Wednesday had the opportunity to help send some youths from underserved communities to a Tims Camp.
On that day 100 per cent of proceeds from the sale of hot and iced coffee supported the initiative.
As well, the public had and opportunity to support Tim Hortons Foundation Camps by purchasing a Camp Day bracelet for $2 or a pair of red and white camp-themed socks for $5.
The local restaurant also maximized its fund-raising efforts by selling raffle tickets and offering to wash the windshields of vehicles in the drive-through lane.
Camp Day has raised over $225 million in its 30-year history and has helped Tim Hortons Foundation Camps support more than 300,000 youth between the ages of 12 to 16 through a multi-year camp-based program.
Market time
Dauphin Farmer’s Market got a late start to the season this past week, although participation by vendors was minimal, with only two booths set up.
Market co-ordinator Joyce Huska says although she was expecting more vendors for opening day, the weather as of late has market gardens well behind schedule.
Anyone interested in joining the group as a vendor can contact Huska at 204-548-2244.
The market will run every Friday in the parking lot across from the Dauphin Active Living Centre until Sept. 25.
Fabulous finds for furry friends
Parkland Humane Society secured some much-needed funding through a two-day Garage Sale and Barbecue, Friday and Saturday.
The popular annual sale saw people enjoy a hamburger, chips and drink combo while they searched through a huge inventory of goods, hoping to find a special treasure.
Council candidates coming forward
With the registration period for those seeking council seats in the Oct. 26 general municipal election opening last week, Kirk Dawson has been busy.
The Senior Election Official for the City of Dauphin and the Rural Municipality of Dauphin said inquiries from prospective candidates and requests for registration packages have been brisk.
“There is tons of interest. (In the City) We’ve already got five registered and none of those are incumbents,” Dawson said. “We’ve had a few other inquiries beyond that. So for the first week basically, it’s under a week actually, it’s been very active.”
At this point, registered candidates for city council include Joe Houston, Ted Rea, Michael Winter, Carter Luke and Sharon Riehl while the mayorality is being contested by David Bosiak and Kerri Riehl.
In the RM two candidates have registered with incumbent councillor Tom Gibbs entering the race for reeve while incumbent reeve Ron Ryz has registered to contest for a council seat.
“Again there are a couple of other packages out, where we’re waiting for the registrations,” Dawson added.
Prospective candidates will have an opportunity to get a better feel for the job of an elected official when the City and RM hold prospective candidates forums, at the RM of Dauphin Office, July 13, at 7 p.m. for rural candidates and at City Hall, July 14, at 7 p.m. for city candidates.
At each forum municipal staff will lay out what is involved in being a councillor in terms of duties and time commitments while the two governments have partnered to bring in former Association of Manitoba Municipalities executive director Joe Masi as a keynote speaker each night.
“He’s been around politics for a long time and he’s going to be coming out and talking about what makes good councils and what doesn’t,” Dawson said. “It’s for anybody that’s considering running, to give them a little better perspective on what it might look like if they did put their name forward.”
While he waits for other registration packages to be returned Dawson is busy preparing for polling day. Currently he is hiring voting officials and assistant voting officials. About 30 people will be needed to assist with the city election while another 10 are required to help out in the RM process.
“These are the people that work at the polls on election day and the advanced polls.” he said, adding he already has an extensive list of interested applicants.
Anyone interested in getting on that list can contact city hall at 204-622-3200 or by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
“We’ll probably start phoning next week. We have a list of the people in the past and I’ve got several other people that have mentioned their names, but I can always take more names. It’s sort of a first come, first serve thing,” Dawson said. “We’ll certainly get their names down and as they go down the list we’ll make sure we consider them.”
The nomination period for both head of council and council positions runs Sept. 14 to 20 with Sept. 21 as the withdrawal deadline.
Advance polling runs Oct. 3 to 21, and election day is Oct. 26, with polls open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
A triumphant return for the GP-GV fair and rodeo
With the beautiful weather and the strong support from sponsors and the public, it is evident to Kevin Boese the return of the Gilbert Plains- Grandview Agricultural Society’s Fair and Rodeo was meant to be.
The society president said considering the event has not been held for two years, he could not be more pleased with the result.
“I think it went really, really well. The gates were busy. It was well attended, the stands were full and we had beautiful weather the entire time,” Boese said. “Everything went very smoothly.”
The two years off did present some minor challenges for organizers as some minor details went unaddressed.
“Considering that we haven’t had a fair for two years we had kind of forgotten how to run one, but in the end everything went very smoothly,” he said. “The beer gardens were full, the sun was hot and everybody had a great time.”
Participation in the rodeo was tremendous, Boese added, with more than 200 contestants registered, along with 18 chuckwagons and 13 chariots. That was a nice surprise for Boese, who worried the cost of travel might be too much for some competitors.
“With the high gas prices that we’ve been having I was a bit concerned about people driving and showing up,” he said. “But it didn’t seem too offensive. I noticed that a bunch of guys were carpooling together and they made it work.”
The results of the chuckwagon and chariot races is available on the Manitoba Professional Chuckwagon and Chariot Association website while rodeo results will be available soon on the Heartland Rodeo Association website, Boese said. On the fair side of the equation things went well with the trade show and craft show both proving to be popular stops. Also popular was the Show and Shine Car Show in the arena and the Manitoba Junior Hockey League champion Dauphin Kings booth which saw players displaying the Turnbull Cup and posing for pictures with fans.
Other fair highlights included the light horse events and kids activities centred around the petting zoo.
Boese said plans are to grow the fair side of weekend in the coming years.
“It was a great way to start out but it’ll definitely be better and maybe arranged a little bit better, so it’s very good for next year,” Boese said, adding the time away made organizers a little rusty, but things worked out in the end. “There was just little things that we maybe kind of forgot to do and just made it a little bit more difficult on the volunteers to try and kind of step up and do things on the go that we forgot. But we powered it through and it went very well.”
Like other events which have returned following the pandemic, securing volunteers was somewhat of a concern heading in, but the people involved made it work, Boese said.
“We definitely could have used a few more volunteers, But boy oh boy the ones that showed up, did they ever work hard to get stuff done,” he said adding dedication to, and support for the event is what makes it work “Everything just went very well thanks to all the volunteers and everybody that supported us and all the great sponsorships. We have a huge team of the sponsorships that we rely on throughout the Parkland and we just couldn’t do it without them either.”
That kind of support invigorates organizers, Boese said, and they are already back at work planning for next year.
“I already sent out a group message this morning about writing down ideas to get bigger and different for next year, so it’s fresh in our minds,” he said, adding the success this year shows organizers that people want to see the event continue.
“The stands were packed full both days. We had great attendance, zero complaints about any of that. It was very well attended.”
Dauphin’s Countryfest back in the groove: Ransom
Planning and executing a world class music festival is a lot like riding a bike - it doesn’t matter if you haven’t done it for awhile, muscle memory kicks in and everything comes flooding back.
At least that is the experience for Dauphin’s Countryfest organizers who brought Canada’s longest running country music festival back to Selo Ukraina after a two-year absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
There might have been some rust on day one, festival president Ann Ransom said, but by day two everyone was “back in the groove.”
“Of course, there is always going to be a few things where you think ‘right, I forgot about that’ or ‘how did we do that in the past?’,” Ransom said. “Everybody was pitching in and everybody was helping each other out. We have a really, really, really good team. Everybody rolls up their sleeves and everybody pitches in. When you need somebody you are never on your own. We work really well together, so it has made it a lot easier to shake off the cobwebs and get going again.”
In fact the return of the festival exceeded all expectations, Ransom said, adding she was cautiously optimistic heading into the weekend. Comments organizers received from patrons throughout the weekend were encouraging, Ransom said, adding the smaller crowd this year was a highlight for those attending and is something organizers will put on the table for discussion when it comes to the future of Countryfest.
“Because it was truly a unique experience that we hadn’t had before because we have always had the big, big crowds and that just doesn’t feel the same,” she said. “This a little bit more personable and it really just had a different vibe this year. And we would like to replicate that for future festivals.”
Of course, limiting crowds affects income and it is a fine balancing act to a combination that works, Countryfest general manager Rob Waloschuk added.
“We’ve made adjustments in some things like the entertainment, the production, all of that sort of stuff. We’ve tried to play both sides of it. We’re going to have less income we know that, so how do we how do we make it work on this other side? So we’ve been working hard at trying to do that,” he said.
One of the big changes this year was a return to a three-day festival with Thursday night set aside for an appreciation evening in honour of festival patrons who rolled over their tickets for Countryfest’s two-year hiatus in 2020 and 2021.
“We went back to what we originally started this festival as, a three-day festival. However, we made that Thursday available to everybody who kept their tickets,” Waloschuk said. “So many people came up to us and said ‘we just want to thank you for doing this for us.’ And I said to them that ‘we want to thank you for doing this for us. You saved us’.”
That nod to the past was a big theme of the 2022 festival, Ransom added.
“We had this whole ‘Return to the Hill’, but I think we also had a return to our roots. We have really found a core of people for our festival who will always come out and support us and we just really need to recognize that and thank them for it. Applaud them for helping us out and knowing how important it is to keep this festival going. “Those that really truly believe in the festival have shown up and lots of kudos to them. It has just been fantastic.”
Other changes made for this year around vendors and the use of tokens rather than cash for purchasing food and merchandise have, after some initial pushback, worked as predicted, Waloschuk added. It was always the plan to cut back somewhat on vendors to make things more viable for all vendors, he said.
“This year we knew would be a little slower than normal, so cut a few back and help those vendors that are here actually make more money. And that’s been successful,” he said, adding one vendor, a festival veteran, sold out of her weekend supplies by the end of Friday night, restocked for the weekend the next day and sold out again that night. “So that’s kind of been the story everywhere.”
Ransom added vendors are already signing up to return next year.
“From the festival patrons there has been lots of comments about the variety and the unique items that we have up there. Which is always kind of nice,” she said. “It’s great feedback for us because, of course, we changed something. We went a different way. We are just trying to stay at pace with other festivals and other events in what they are doing. And we are finding it works for us. It is good to see.”
Change is always hard, Ransom said, but the results speak for themselves.
“Obviously, we had to make money this year to keep the festival going. And we didn’t want to do that unsustainably, or by causing hardship for others, so we came up with a system that we thought would be fair and the feedback has been really good,” she said. “The vendors definitely bought into the process and are fully supportive of it. And it is great that they are already interested in next year.”
And that means big things for the community, Waloschuk said, reflecting on all of the development and support Countryfest has provided Dauphin over the last three decades.
“I just want to make sure everybody realizes how hard this organization has worked for this community and how much it means for this community. I think that gets lost sometimes and when it’s been gone for a couple years,” he said, adding the festival did have some difficulty securing volunteers this year. “All the local sponsors have stepped up, and beyond what they would normally do, absolutely stepped up in more ways than just their sponsorship, just to make sure this happens. We can thank them by doing certain things throughout the year and having a reception and stuff here. But I just want to thank them publicly like this.”
That support and confidence adds up to a bright future for Countryfest and the community.
“We are back, baby, and we are excited to be back,” Ransom said, “We are definitely alive and well and healthy and that bodes well for the city of Dauphin.”
Organizers, she said, are ready to go and feel like they have turned the corner.
“We will see some changes. The board of directors will be busy meeting after the festival, once we have all caught up on our sleep, just to debrief and say this worked well, we need to fix this. We are always looking at other festivals to see what they are doing and listening to our patrons. We are constantly trying to be innovative and change things, but also keeping our core values in place,” she said.
“We weathered the storm and we are starting to pick up steam and we are going to be in a good place.”
City, RM host AMM district meeting
Municipal representatives from across the Parkland were in Dauphin last week for the Association of Manitoba Municipalities’ June District meeting.
“It was a decent crowd with people from as far as Roblin and as close as Gilbert Plains,” Dauphin mayor Christian Laughland said, adding between 60 and 70 delegates attended. “People were excited to be back, because that’s the first one we’ve had since 2019.”
The district meeting is an opportunity for elected officials to discuss issues of common concern, such as the new RCMP policing, municipal insurance options, materials procurement and immigration.
But more than that, it is an opportunity to get to know other elected officials from the area, which can only really be done face-to-face and lays the foundation for future co-operation.
“It’s very important, not only from getting stuff done, but just the networking and talking to people,” Laughland said, adding he had good conversations with NDP leader Wab Kinew, Swan River mayor Lance Jacobson and AMM president Kam Blight.
“I wouldn’t do that on a virtual meeting, because at virtual meetings you just get down to business and unless you have a question, you’re not going to be talking one-on-one with people.”
As well as Kinew, the province was represented by Minister of Advanced Education, Skills and Immigration John Reyes, who gave a presentation on immigration to the province.
Most importantly, the meeting was an opportunity to debate and vote on resolutions to be presented to the AMM Fall Convention.
A number of resolutions were chosen to move on including one to lobby the province for waste disposal financial assistance, sponsored by Mossey River Municipality; a City of Dauphin-sponsored resolution calling on the province to encourage and fund all municipalities in developing community safety and wellbeing plans; a resolution calling on the province to make changes to Farmland Portioned assessment, sponsored by the Ste. Rose Municipality; a Roblin Municipality resolution calling for a review of the licensing procedures for internationally educated nurses; and a resolution calling for the wages of municipal personnel to be covered under disaster financial assistance, sponsored by Mossey River Municipality.
The meeting was also a chance to present RM of Dauphin councillor Dennis Forbes a 20-Year Service Award.
No mosquito fogging, says City
Manitoba’s two largest urban centres are gearing up to begin fogging operations for nuisance mosquitoes, but Dauphin residents will have to deal with the pervasive pests on their own as the City of Dauphin has opted against fogging as a control measure at this time.
“The City of Dauphin is not in a position at this time to fog our community in an effort to kill adult nuisance mosquitoes,” mayor Christian Laughland said, adding there is a lot of preparation for such an operation and its effectiveness is dependent on many factors, such as rain, temperature, the creation of buffer zones for residents who do not want their property fogged and time of day fogging occurs.
“Number one is we don’t have the equipment to do it, so we would have to hire someone to come in and do it, and we’d be looking at a significant charge in the tens of thousands of dollars. Cities like Brandon, they have their own pest control unit and we don’t have that here,” Laughland said.
Laughland added the City is currently exploring all aspects of fogging, from the costs of renting and buying equipment to proper procedures and planning fogging areas.
“Do we stop at the city lines, or do we start going outside into the RM because of the possibility of a 40 kilometer an hour wind blowing mosquitoes back in?” he said. “There’s been reports of places mosquito fogging and the mosquitoes coming back within three days. But then it’s been good and worked up to 14 days, too. So if we had to hire someone to come in and do it, would they be coming in every two weeks? Would they be coming in every week to do it? If we’re paying them that adds up pretty quick. So they’re investigating the cost of equipment and everything to do with mosquito fogging and just improving things down the road.”
Laughland said the situation is continually being monitored and fogging could be triggered by the right set of circumstances, specifically the appearance of the West Nile Virus. Should that occur, he said fogging efforts would be supported financially by the province.
One of the problems, he added, is that the province removed its mosquito traps from Dauphin a number of years ago meaning the City has to rely on data from other communities. For now, the City will continue with its annual larviciding efforts in an attempt to impact the appearance of adult mosquitoes by striking them in their larval stage.
“It’s going to be pushed to its maximum capabilities. As long as the staff at DRS are able to do it, they’ll be doing it to its maximum capacity possible to slow down and help drop the mosquito population,” Laughland said. “Again, they’re looking into research on how often can they do it. If they can do it say once a week they’ll do it once a week.”
There are also ways city residents can help with the effort by eliminating problem areas on their property. One of the most effective measures is to control standing water by changing the water in pet bowls, bird baths, wading pools and vases at least once a week. Ensure that rain barrels are covered with a fine screen and tightly sealed around the downspout and clean your yard of old tires, empty flower pots and buckets and empty standing water from children’s toys, eavestroughs, tarp covers and plant trays.
“Keeping your grass mowed is kind of a significant one,” Laughland said.
The City appreciates residents’ frustration, Laughland said, and hopes everyone can work together to reduce nuisance mosquitoes around the community.
“We were due to have a bad year for mosquitoes. The last two years mosquitoes have barely been noticeable it was only a matter of time before the mosquito population exploded. Hopefully this year is just a one-off,” he said.
Dauphin’s Countryfest returns to the hill after two-year hiatus
Dauphin’s Countryfest’s return to the hill is only days away and, after a two year absence, festival president Ann Ransom could not be more excited.
“It is just wonderful. We’re a little rusty, but it is so good. Being a community person in the City of Dauphin and working in the Parkland here for so many years, I just can’t wait to see that new money flowing in to give a boost to these poor businesses that COVID has just been so hard on,” she said.
In the past Countryfest has kicked off with a Thursday night party open to everyone. This year things will be a bit different.
“It’s a smaller Thursday kickoff,” Ransom said, adding the evening will be for those who have rolled their tickets over while the festival has been cancelled the last two years. “Just because we wanted to show our appreciation to those folks that knew that we were going to be struggling without having our big revenue, being the festival, for two years. It’s been a bit of a struggle and thankfully those people recognized it and said ‘hey we believe in you. We’re going to keep our funds in there.’ And really, we wouldn’t be where we are without those folks. So we just wanted to do a bit of an appreciation just to say thank you, you’re keeping us running.”
The festival hits full stride Friday with a Canada Day celebration “like no other,” Ransom said.
“We’re finally getting together and I just can’t wait to feel that energy off the amphitheater. People coming together, having a good time, singing along and just getting together with our friends. I’m already getting goosebumps,” she said.
Don Amero gets things started on the Club Regent Casino and Event Centre Main Stage at 3:30 p.m., followed by Jess Moskaluke at 5 p.m.
Washboard Union gets the evening celebration going, hitting the stage at 7 p.m., followed by Terri Clark at 8:30 p.m. Paul Brandt takes over the show at 10 p.m. to round out Friday’s entertainment.
“It’s just going to be a fantastic, nice way to kick things off,” Ransom said.
Saturday’s main stage entertainment gets underway at 2 p.m. with Nate Haller, followed by Jade Eagleson at 3:30 p.m. and The Reklaws at 5 p.m.
Chad Brownlee kicks off the evening at 7 p.m. followed by Dean Brody at 8:30 p.m., with Dallas Smith taking to the stage at 10 p.m. to round out the day.
On Sunday the main stage gets underway at 1 p.m. with Madeline Merlo. Tyler Joe Miller takes over at 2:30 p.m., followed by Doc Walker at 4 p.m.
Michelle Wright opens the evening show at 6:30 p.m., followed by Hunter Brothers at 8 p.m.
Johnny Reid closes out the weekend with a 9:30 p.m. start.
As always there will be lots to do away from the main stage with a full lineup of entertainment set for the Bell MTS Stage and Credit Union Corral Stage. And a full range of food vendors will carry on the Countryfest tradition of offering a wide array of culinary delights.
Ransom said basically all of the pieces are in place for the weekend, although additional volunteers would not be turned away.
“We’re still looking for volunteers here and there. But thankfully people have really come out. I understand it’s been two years that people haven’t really gotten together and I get that there might be some hesitancy in that. But we put a call out there for volunteers and, Dauphin being Dauphin, they have come out and supported us,” she said.
“It’s nice to see people coming back and wanting to volunteer. They understand how important Countryfest is to the community and it’s so great to see people coming out and just going ‘yep, we’ve got to make this happen.’ It just feels like a great big team effort.”
Ransom added there are still some tickets available for the festival, both day tickets and weekend passes, although she thinks that might change quickly.
“Tickets are going to be a hot commodity, especially when people start seeing what the weather’s like and once folks are starting to post on social media,” she said. “I think we’re going to see people going, ‘you know what, let’s maybe take a day from the lake and go and visit friends that might be up there’.”
Either way, Countryfest is back and that means big things for small groups and organizations fund-raising for their year’s activities or local businesses recovering from the effects of the COVID pandemic.
“So businesses out there in Dauphin just a heads up that we’re basically causing a population boom for the city,” Ransom said, adding the festival will provide exposure to other attractions in the area such as the Northgate Trails. “It’s always just nice to see that injection into fund-raising that’s not out of everybody’s pocket here in the city, but that’s new funding coming in. That’s always a nice little boost to all our great non-profits we’ve got in the Parkland.”