Unseasonably dry conditions have enabled City of Dauphin Public works crews to progress well into the 2023 capital plan.

“Things are going really well. Our capital projects have all been started,” director of Public Works and Operations Mike Vanalstyne said. “We’ve got the majority of our capital sidewalk work complete, water main renewals have been ongoing and road work started two or three weeks ago.”

One of the higher profile projects has been the replacement of paving stones with poured concrete on Main Street sidewalks.

The plan this year was to complete the sidewalks on the east side of Main Street from 8th Avenue South to 10th Avenue South to progress the multi-year project and things have gone flawlessly, VanAlstyne said.

“We have all the downtown left to do, too. So I’m going to hope in the next four to six years we have it all complete,” he said, adding the weather has been a real boon for the crews. “It’s been great. It has let us get a lot of work done earlier than normal.”

But that does not mean that Public Works crews will be standing around with nothing to do.

“We have got lots of other projects and maintenance work away from the capital stuff that we can get caught up on a little bit,” VanAlstyne said. “There’s always something to do.”

Inter-Mountain Watershed District (IMWD) has been conducting important environmental work throughout the area for many years.

And last week, IMWD staff had the opportunity to share some of its successes with their peers from around the province when the district hosted a two-day tour of the area.

IMWD’s boundaries extend from the Rural Municipality of Mountain in the north to Riding Mountain National Park in the south and from The Municipality of McCreary in the east to the Rural Municipality of Riding Mountain West.

And with the district covering a total of 12,508 square kilometres, an area larger than Prince Edward Island, there was a lot to look at, said IMWD general manager Jeff Thiele.

“We started in Ste. Rose and looked at a lot of the bridges and waterways and shale problems we’re having down there and things we’re working on down there,” Thiele said, during a stop for a presentation at the farm of Ernie and Jan Sirski, northwest of Dauphin.

Get the full story in this week's Dauphin Herald!

The tender to find a contractor to lead the redevelopment of Main Street South has closed, but higher than expected estimates have resulted in further delays to the project.

“It’s closed, but it’s not awarded officially yet. We’re working out money,” City of Dauphin director of Public Works and Operations Mike VanAlstyne said. “It came in well over budget. I don’t have any indication why right now. We were somewhat surprised by the pricing, for sure.”

Originally estimated to cost $13.5 million, the 1.7-km project covers a section of PTH 5A from Whitmore Ave., south to Triangle Road, and includes surface reconstruction with the creation of a divided highway.

The plans call to improve safety in the commercial area by having all local accesses connect to service roads, and service roads connecting to PTH 5A at upgraded intersections. Those service roads will be constructed along both the east and west sides of highway from their existing points south to Triangle Road.

As well, a new intersection allowing access to Dauphin Market Place Mall will be developed, complete with traffic signals.

Included in the project is a new drainage system design for the south end, which had been estimated to cost $8.15 million which the city will debenture through the province.

“We’re trying to work the financing out on our end here and we’re just waiting to hear back from our provincial partners. We’re waiting on the province right now to see how they can help us out,” VanAlstyne said. “We hope to have something settled in the next few weeks, I hope, and see some dirt moving by the fall.”

All the effort put in to the fair and rodeo by members of the Roblin Agricultural Society and its volunteers has paid off.

From the exhibit hall and the King Farmer competition to the rodeos and the Roblin’s Got Talent contest, the weekend show was another successful one.

“It was good,” said ag society president Ellen Arnott with a chuckle.

Read all about it in this week’s Review.

Report of a person walking around naked in their yard.

Person was spoken to, who said they would wear a towel or a fern leaf until they can make the yard more private.

Check out what kept police busy over the past two weeks in this week's RCMP report.

A move to jump on the Star Search/Canada’s Got Talent/
American Idol band wagon was a great one for the Roblin Agriculture Society.

“I heard a lot of positive comments about the event. People really enjoyed it,” noted ag society president Ellen Arnott. “We weren’t even sure if it was going to go because we only had one person registered on Monday. But in the end we had eight competitors and two junior competitors so everything worked out.”

Find out who won in this week’s issue.

The RCMP Musical Ride is celebrating its 150th Anniversary this year and has been touring across Canada to celebrate. A former resident from The Pas and RCMP member, Constable Katherine Hansen, is a part of the RCMP Musical Ride and on this commemorative anniversary tour.
“I was born and raised in The Pas,” said Constable Katherine Hansen. “I lived in The Pas up until I turned 30 years old and went into the RCMP. I worked on The Pas Fire Department and The Pas EMS, with the focus on going into nursing, when I then decided to join the RCMP instead. I was accepted into training in 2009, and always wanted to be a police officer. I knew a lot of the police officers in The Pas and decided it was the best fit for me.
“I worked for the RCMP sine 2009 to 2019, then I joined the RCMP Musical Ride. I was stationed in Alberta in the communities of Fort McMurray and Viking, before I went into the training for the RCMP Musical Ride. I’ve been with the RCMP Musical Ride ever since.”

Experiencing a new country and culture is a life changing experience that everyone should embark on at some point in their lives. Recently The Pas Helping Hands 4-H have had a visitor from Japan come and experience live in the north. An exchange student, as part of a 4-H program, has been in The Pas for a couple of weeks, taking in all the sights and wonders of both the area and the province as well.
“This is the 36th year the Manitoba 4-H Council has partnered with the York Benimaru Foundation in Japan to host exchange students,” said The Pas Helping Hands 4-H Leader Cheryl Antonio. “Each year, 20 students travel from Japan to the USA for two weeks to learn English. This year, they were in Seattle, Washington, at the university.
“Then they come to Manitoba and spend two weeks with a 4-H host family. There are many wonderful sponsors for the program. Families are encouraged to welcome the students into their homes as one of their own, include them in the chores, encourage them to follow the same rules as their own children, and to also engage them with the ways of everyday life. Of course, we also love to show them the highlights of our province and hometowns.”

Almost every year there seems to be contestants from The Pas and Opaskwayak Cree Nation that make it to being semi-finalists in Pow Wow Pitch and this year again is no exception. Indigenous entrepreneur from The Pas, Desiree Streit, created a new product as part of her business that will help beaders to bead anywhere they like.
“I started friday.night.beading.club in November, because I had this idea that I wanted to sell some of my beadwork and share some of my work on Instagram too, but wanted to keep it separate from my other work,” said Streit. “I wanted to design and launch my BOO-zhee Board and friday.night.beading.club was a platform to do this from.”
Desiree’s BOO-zhee Board makes beading accessible to everyone, where ever they are. The BOO-zhee Board is a beading board with a lid that comes on and off, allowing one to access their beading supplies instantaneously, with no set up required. It allows beaders to take their beading projects on the go, without spilling beads or needing to space to spread things out.

Recently some University of Saskatchewan students, led by Dr. Alex Wilson, finished up their final trek of an Indigenous land-based education program. This program is the only one of its kind and garners interest from all over North America.
“The University of Saskatchewan Masters of Indigenous Land-based Education is a graduate program, which I’m a part of teaching, for educators doing land-based education in K to 12 schools and also in community organizations,” said Dr. Wilson. “They are in co-horts and there is one co-hort of 19 students that is just finishing their degree. This particular co-hort was one that I took on a canoe trip that started in Nipawin, Saskatchewan and finished up in Opaskwayak Cree Nation (OCN) as part of their last course.