Due to the significant rainfall, the City of Dauphin's wastewater system has reached capacity.
Although all lift stations and pumps are operating as designed, they cannot keep up with the volume of water entering the system.
Residents are being asked to reduce water use until further notice immediately. Your co-operation is critical to reducing strain on the wastewater system and minimizing the risk of sewer backups.
Please help by:
* Postponing laundry and other water-intensive activities
* Delaying the use of dishwashers
* Limiting unnecessary use of showers, sinks, and toilets
* Ensuring sump pumps discharge directly outdoors and are not connected to the sanitary sewer system
The situation is being closely monitored as this weather event continues.

On June 30, att 9:40 a.m., the Rural Municipality of Dauphin declared a State of Local Emergency due to significant and unprecedented rainfall causing overland flooding.
Public Works crews are actively monitoring the situation and responding to calls as they are received.
We caution our residents not to cross flooded roads and be prepared to evacuate if necessary. Please limit travel to only necessary situations.
In case of emergency, please call 911. If it is a municipal emergency, please call the RM of Dauphin Emergency Line at 204-701-8523.
For further information contact:
Reeve Ernie Sirski 204-638-1833
CAO Grady Stephenson 204-638-4531

The Gilbert Plains Country Club is set to host two Golf Manitoba tournaments this week, with close to 100 golfers from across the province taking part.
The Diamond Athletic Men’s Mid-Amateur Championship and Diamond Athletic Ladies Amateur will take place, July 1 to 3, at GPCC.
Scott McCallum, GPCC general manager and golf professional, said the tournaments coming to Gilbert Plains came about after the facility hosted the golf event during the 2024 Manitoba Summer Games.
“I think they were quite impressed with the product, so they wanted to bring another event out here,” he said, adding champiosnhip tournaments were confirmed in December.
Hosting the events will be great advertising for the golf club.
“Obviously, its the recognition to have probably 100 of the better golfers in the province come out to play your golf course and then, hopefully, go back and tell their friends what a great facility we have. It’s really good that way,” McCallum said.
The board and staff, McCallum said, have been working hard to get the course in the best shape possible.
“I can’t say enough about the grounds crew and what they’ve done to the golf course to prepare for this event. It’s always exciting times,” he said, adding the course is in fantastic shape.
“We’re obviously watching the weather pretty closely, praying that we dodge some of the big cells that are coming. But it will be in good shape,” he said.
The grounds crew paid special attention to some of the smaller details, such as getting the greens to a certain speed.
“All those types of things are things that you pay close attention to,” McCallum said.
A number of local golfers will be taking part in the men’s tournament, while Swan River’s Crystal Zamzow will be one of the favourites to win the ladies event.
There is an expectation that McCallum and his staff have for the golf course, but they don’t really feel any added pressure in hosting the provincial tournaments.
“Pressure is just what we put on ourselves. But we want our golf course to showcase well,” he said.
“I’m just looking forward to a good week.”
Early Tuesday afternoon, Golf Manitoba announced the cancellation of both tournaments due to severe rainfall, widespread overland flooding, and the forecast for additional significant precipitation. Several roads between Neepawa and Gilbert Plains have been impacted by flooding, and the Rural Municipality of Gilbert Plains has declared a State of Emergency.
Any decisions and potential rescheduling of the championships, will be communicated as soon as they are finalized.

Although Sunday’s headline show was shutdown early due to an emergency weather alert, it was another successful Dauphin’s Countryfest and president Duane McMaster couldn’t be happier.
McMaster said this year’s ticket sales were stronger than last year, although the final numbers have yet to be tabulated.
“More than twice as many tickets were sold this year than last year. So we’re happy with ticket sales,” he said.
“I’ll never say I’m totally satisfied with ticket sales. Unless I don’t have any left to sell, I’m not totally satisfied.”
McMaster was pleased with how the weekend had gone heading into Sunday’s performances, noting there were few problems.
“Everything has gone smoothly at the gates. What problems we have had have been relatively minor and dealt with efficiently by the staff and the volunteers,” he said.
The entertainment, McMaster added, was fantastic, noting there have been a lot of positive comments about the shows.
Although he doesn’t know the numbers, McMaster was impressed with the crowds in the amphitheater, noting the stands were close to, or at capacity, both Friday and Saturday.
“That was a great crowd (Saturday) night. And it was so great to see everybody out there having a great time. I posted online, I said it’s been a few years since I’ve seen the stands looking like that. It was really great to see it back like that,” he said.
“Countryfest has been around for an awful long time and we just love having a huge crowd, people here enjoying what we work every year so hard to present to them.”
New to Countryfest this year were metal detectors at the entrances, which were part of a partnership with Manitoba Provincial Exhibition.
“Obviously, we can’t afford them on our own, so we did make an annual arrangement to do that, again try and promote safety in our venue. Make sure people aren’t bringing in stuff that shouldn’t be present in the area,” McMaster said.
Along with a new and larger VIP tent, Countryfest also had new vendors and activities including a poker derby, miniature golf and a horse shoe pit.
McMaster noted there were also the old standard favourites, such as helicopter rides, a flip cup competition and perogy eating contest.
“Everything has been really good. I always strive to offer a different and better experience to our patrons from year to year,” he said.
With rain forecast for Saturday, the schedule for the main stage was adjusted with performers hitting the stage earlier than advertised.
“That was pretty challenging. I’m not really heavily involved in the production side of it. But going in and working with Rob and Shelley (Waloschuk) and the production team a little bit when we tried to adjust the schedule, there’s an awful lot of moving parts and that was quite a challenge,” he said.
“It would have been nice if we didn’t have to make that change, but we managed to pull it off and everything worked out. We got everything done.”
McMaster feels they lucked out, because rain was forecast for Saturday and Sunday, but it held off until Sunday’s final main stage show.
“It’s been a really good year. (Saturday) night’s entertainment was just phenomenal. I’m sure (Sunday) is going to be fantastic and Friday night was great,” he said.
“I believe that pyro and everything with Jelly Roll’s show, that was pretty much next level. We may have raised the bar at Countryfest. It’s going to be hard to top that one.”
One of Countryfest’s goals has always been to promote local Manitoba artists. That was the case when Dauphin’s The Wet Towels was the first band to perform at Thursday’s kick off party.
“I loved that. We’ve always tried to develop and promote local music, Manitoba music. We used to have the talent contest years ago. We still do the Battle of the Bands up here. I think last year we had a Battle of the Bands in Winnipeg for a chance to play up here,” McMaster said, noting local bands The Wet Towels, Revolving Doors and Kate’s Outlaw, which has two albums out and made their main stage debut last year, all performed at this year’s Countryfest.
McMaster said it is sometimes a struggle to book performers, especially big name acts, because they are often in such big demand.
“It’s quite something for us to be able to say, ‘performing for the first time at Countryfest.’ That’s a bit of an oddity for us,” he said.
McMaster was most impressed with the concert experience provided by Saturday headliner Jelly Roll.
“He’s a pretty amazing individual. Watching that and seeing how he interacted with the crowd and the crowd interacted with him was pretty special. I think it was pretty cool to be there for that,” he said, adding it was a special moment when Jelly Roll recognized a fan for celebrating 7,162 days of sobriety.
After being invited for a number of years, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew and his wife Lisa, who used to live and practice medicine in Dauphin, attended this year’s event.
After his show, Jelly Roll threw his hat into the crowd. Kinew was the first to get to it and he immediately gave it to a young fan sitting in the front row, bringing the youngster to tears.
“That was really cool. It was nice to see them here and just enjoying the show and being regular people. Out here to have a good time like the rest of us and enjoy some good country music,” McMaster said.
With the challenge to book entertainers, planning for next year began two months ago.
“You have to start planning that far in advance, because there are already people who are booked for that weekend. When you get to the bigger names, there’s a lot of demand for them,” McMaster said.

George Panko can not help but be impressed with the community’s connection to agriculture and how that connection manifests itself into the incredible support received by the Dauphin Agricultural Society (DAS) at its annual fair and exhibition.
The DAS president reflected on that support as the 2026 fair wound down around him this past weekend.
“Our core is the agriculture part of it and it’s just nice to see all the participation. Everybody comes to Dauphin this weekend and it’s great,” Panko said.
“It’s the excitement of bringing agriculture back to the community and and then tying in with the midway. That’s always fun when the midway is full, the lights are flashing and the music is going and there’s lots of cotton candy and everything else. It’s been a huge success.”
While that success was evident in the crowds which flocked to the gates on all four days of the event, Panko’s measure of success extends beyond the number of tickets sold.
“Our Friday, for being the last day of school and considering the weather was kind of hit or miss, our gates were strong. Saturday is always our big day and then Sunday is a little smaller day, but people come out and all the activities are here,” Panko said.
“So the attendance is great and we appreciate the community and the communities around us coming to our fair, but our participation in all the events has increased year after year. The 4-H show on Thursday night was a huge success. Over 50 kids, over 70 animals. The light horse show had over 75 entries over the last three days. We have 21 chuckwagons here and 16 chariots. They’re putting on a heck of a show. It has just been great.”
That success was also not guaranteed with the weather forecast looking threatening leading up to the event. Panko said he stopped checking weather maps early in the week before he drove himeself crazy.
“What’s going to happen is going to happen,” he said.
“There’s nothing you can do about it.”
In the end, Mother Nature co-operated for the most part, as a brief downpour Friday afternoon, which delayed chuckwagon races for less than an hour and sent midway patrons scrambling for a few minutes shelter inside Credit Union Place arena. Rain predicted for Saturday did not materialize and Sunday, although cool and overcast, remained relatively dry.
Panko was pleased the weather co-operated with all of the organizers and volunteers, who work tirelessly to make the fair and exhibition happen each year.
“Our committee, they work hard all year long to put this all together. Our board of directors, we meet once a month to make the plans. Hats off to them because they’re volunteers. They’re in the community. They don’t have to be there and they come out every month and they come out at fair time. It’s just amazing,” he said.
“And the volunteers that come out and help and also the businesses that give us sponsorship. Without them we we wouldn’t be able to put the fair on. Without their support, we wouldn't have fairs.”
Not being ones to rest on their laurels, Panko said the team is diving right back into planning for 2027.
“Come Sunday night, we look at where we had the highs and lows and if we need to fill a gap somewhere or something like that. We’re working on it basically year round,” Panko said, adding new people with new ideas are always welcome to join the fold.
“We’re always looking for different ideas, different changes. If there’s people out there that have any ideas, they’re more than welcome to come and join a meeting.”

Former Valley resident and world-travelled photographer Sujee Quon made a pilgrimage back to China. Her goal was to record her family history and connect to where she was born, and connect the stories her parents once told her to the actual places where they happened.
“I was in China this year for a month from January into February,” said Quon. “I have been back to China several times, but this was my first time back by myself without the guidance of mom and dad. My dad, Chuck, died only two years ago and my mom is starting to lose her memories. I have always wanted to record my past and my history. I knew it was time to record whatever I could now.
“I’ve travelled to several areas of China: Beijing, Yunnan, Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou over the years. This time, I focused on the province of Guangdong, where I was born. I spent time in the country and in the cities.
“All these facts were a confluence that led me to go to China this year,” said Quon. “First, to start discovering my heritage, my village where I was born. I wanted to meet my cousins and connect with them.
“In 1949, during the communist takeover, uniting the country was imperative and the People’s Republic of China declared Mandarin as the official language of China in 1955. I do not speak Mandarin. I can speak Chinese, but only the Village Dialect or Toisanese. It is substantially different from Mandarin, especially the tones. It is not common to hear this dialect now. I have always wanted to learn to speak Mandarin. So, the trip became a trip of discovery and at the same time, I booked myself into a school and attended daily one-on-one Mandarin classes.”
It has been Quon’s dream to tell the story of her parents’ origin and how they came to Canada. She also wanted to see how much China had changed over the years, since her family had left the country.
“I have always wanted to tell the story of my mom and dad,” said Quon. “Their immigration story is not unlike thousands of other Chinese or other immigrants who survive the difficulties of adapting to a foreign land, a foreign language and different social standards. I have been recording their stories for a long time and as I mature into an elder, I see how their successes reinforce my view that Chuck and Jean were both resilient and creative people.
“My first trip was in 1979 with mom and dad, my husband, sister and 9-month-old daughter. Back then, we were given a three-day visa. It took almost a year to stretch that to five days. There was no tourism, no restaurants, no shops, only a sea of bicycles. Wherever we went, groups of Chinese people would surround us, follow us, stare at us. It was simple curiosity. We looked foreign and so different, but our faces were Chinese.
“Over several trips, I have observed the unprecedented rapid evolution of China,” said Quon.
“My second trip in 1993, China was just opening as a market economy. People were finally allowed to hold more than one job. The proliferation of small businesses on the sidewalks and every tiny booth was overwhelming. There was a distinct hum in the air. Even taxi drivers asked about jobs and business opportunities.
“By the time we returned in 2005, sightseeing tours were plentiful,” said Quon. “Hotels and wonderful food were readily available. People were dressing in fashionable clothes. Everyone on the streets walked with purpose. Shanghai was already large and bold. Cars were replacing the sea of bicycles.
“By 2015, I could see the change everywhere. The look of a better life with better living standards was evident. The cosmopolitan life was prevalent.
“My 2024 trip was like landing on another planet,” said Quon. “Roads, trains, flowers, parks, food, everything was easily available and plentiful. The cities were densely populated. We travelled through miles of towers of apartments. There was a sea of cars on eight-lane freeways. Architecture was glamorous, imaginative and bold.
“I did not expect this much change. Infrastructure, vast, clean roads and parks, flower-lined freeways. Pay by phone was the only way, from the fruit carts on the street to the luxury designer stores. There was so much to see. Technology was evident everywhere and provided a lifestyle for every level of the population.”
Quon was amazed at what she saw in China and how much it had changed over the years. Despite its high population, she marvelled at the country’s cleanliness, efficiency and safety.
“What impressed me most was the density of people both in the country and the city,” said Quon. “The towers and towers of apartments continued for miles. Yet things were amazingly organized, extremely clean. There was a sense of calm and efficiency. Despite the massive population, I never felt intimidated, scared or crowded.
“Subways, trains, airports, anything public was hyper clean and ran with precision. When the signs say the train is arriving at 10:15, that is the exact time it arrived. Sidewalks and roads were wide and well-maintained. I was very impressed that all signs everywhere, even in public washrooms, were in Chinese and in English.
“The safety and security in China were remarkable,” said Quon. “Even in Hong Kong, when I was visiting my Canadian cousins who also have homes in North America. They told me they felt safer in China than in Canada. It is very safe. I never felt threatened even when walking in crowds or at night.”
Quon came back to Swan River to share her stories, experience and photographs from China with others at a presentation called China 2026 Through My Lens, which she did at the Swan River Library on June 25.
“My stories from this trip come from people that I spent time with,” said Quon. “There were my country cousins, the city cousins, the teachers at the school, the wonderful service people in all the hotels where I stayed, from the shopkeepers, restaurant servers, and hair salon staff. I talked to everyone. Everywhere I went, I was treated with respect and kindness. In fact, I am overwhelmed at the kindness and help that was extended to me wherever I went.
“In the evenings, when I took my walks, people sauntered and chatted, and children played yet stayed close to their parents. I never felt unsure or unsafe. I have returned with an impression of happy and content people. My photo presentation will illustrate this.
“I’m not a political body or even a social activist,” said Quon. “I’m simply an artist, a photographer and a storyteller. What I will present will be what I saw, what I experienced and what I was told. Through my stories and images, I want people to make up their minds about the country.”
Quon has a big project in mind for her photographs and trips to China. It is something that she wants to do to pay tribute to her father. This will all tie into a new book and exhibit for her in the future.
“I have a project that is close to my heart,” said Quon. “It is also something I want to do to honour my father and his father. I want to return to my village to restore our home. This work is being documented through this first trip and the following trips as the project takes shape. The culmination of this will be a new book and an exhibit in Quebec.
“In August, I return to Quebec and then on to North Carolina, where I will be attending Beyond: The BBSI Experience, a 10th anniversary gala of a great nonprofit organization that I am proud to support called Ballet Boys Summer Intensive Program.
“In September, I return to China with a small team to begin the process of the village restoration,” said Quon.

Numerous Swan River businesses including New Era Ag Technologies, Grazier Custom Manufacturing, Swan Valley Co-op, Spruce Products Ltd., The Brick, No Frills, Swan Valley Credit Union and the Town of Swan River held an appreciation BBQ for all those affected by the flooding and the volunteers who helped. The event took place on the corner of 10th Avenue South and Spruce Street in Swan River. Mayor Lance Jacobson helped organize the event, with the support of several businesses. Everyone in the South Industrial Park area and houses nearby were grateful for everyone’s help during the flooding. Many local residents came out for burgers, hot dogs, and drinks. Pictured here, Mayor Jacobson helps cook the meat. 

A series of thunderstorms Sunday night spawned a violent tornado in the Rossburn area and brought stormchasers to Roblin.
While Environment Canada confirmed a tornado did touch down near Rossburn, reports of a possible tornado near Roblin had not been confirmed. The tornado near Rossburn was reported at about 7:59 p.m. local time.
More in this issue.

If you love comic books and have always wanted to attend a comic con event but couldn’t, well, one is in the works for the tri-community. Comic cons are a great way for comic book enthusiasts, collectors and hobbyists to get together and share their knowledge and passion for their favourite comic books and memorabilia.
“A Comic Con is a convention for those who have a love or passion for all things comics,” said Antonio. “Each one is unique in many ways, but the themes are universal. They can be about comic books, sci-fi, fantasy, anime, video games, and pop culture.

The Pas-Kameesak MLA seat has been vacant since the recent passing of Amanda Lathlin. Recently, three people have stepped forward to run as The Pas-Kameesak NDP candidate for the upcoming by-election.
Jennifer Flett was a Public Servant with the Government of Canada for 20 years and was very familiar with what is expected of a government in terms of spending, transparency, responsibility to the public and following policy. When she moved home to OCN/The Pas/RM of Kelsey area, she became involved in local politics with OCN. Flett ran for the Vice Chief position in 2016, was successful and served a three-year term. She then ran for a Councillor position and was lected into that position from 2019 to 2021.
Flett has been involved in the One North group that negotiated and successfully helped the sale of the rail line that now owns the Arctic Gateway Group. She was also part of the negotiations group that completed the Trappers and Fisherman Compensation with Manitoba Hydro and helped the Opaskwayak Education Services get a new, modern playground that is not only for the schools but for the community at large, including the tri-community area.