If you are a lover of classical and orchestra music, you won’t want to miss the upcoming performance by the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra’s Fiddlers on the Loose coming to The Pas Regional Library.
“The MCO proudly presents an annual tour featuring our Fiddlers on the Loose outreach ensemble,” said MCO Director of Education and Community Engagement Suzu Enns. “The group is made up of six musicians playing violins, viola, cello, double bass and guitar/cajon. In my role as Director of Education and Community Engagement at the MCO, I design, plan, and manage our outreach tours, and I’m so excited to be visiting The Pas for the first time.

The Town of The Pas held their council meeting on May 24, just after their 2023 Budget Meeting.
Margaret Commodore, Chairperson for the Tri-com Recycling, spoke at the Citizen’s Period portion of the meeting to discuss the need for funding, why the town was not forthcoming and denied their request. In a letter that Tri-Com Recycling recently received, they were denied their request for an advance in the 2023 grant. Commodore said that they never asked for an advance, they asked for the money for services rendered.
Currently Tri-Com Recycling has $41,187.04 owing since the end of May and no funds to pay their bills. The fence that was needed at the center was budgeted at $66,684 and Tri-Com Recycling put a deposit down of $30,000.

A public hearing for the 2023 Financial Plan was held on May 24 in Council Chambers. It was an opportunity for the public to get information, learn about the financial situation, understand how tax dollars were spent and hear about the town’s short and long-term goals. Managers from various departments were in attendance to provide more information of what is going on in their departments.
The 2023 budget reveals a modest tax increase, but there have been some revenues, which have greatly helped to keep that increase as minimal as possible. The priorities in this year’s budget were to maintain and review levels of service in comparison to previous years; maintain create self-sustaining infrastructure and ensure available financial resources to participate in future federal, provincial and municipal grant programs when available.
For the 2023 budget, 1 mill will provide the Town of the Pas with $201,000 of revenue. Property tax values went up by $3 million, which is 1.52 percent increase in overall assessed property in the town.

If you grew up in The Pas and learned how to swim here, there’s a good chance that you had Mrs. Cherlyn Cain as your swim instructor. Cain has been a dedicated lifeguard and swim instructor in the community for at least 40 years. She got her start in learning how to swim at a much later age in life, but didn’t let that hold her back.
“The place I grew up as a child, there wasn’t a lot of bodies of water around except for a small creek by our farm,” said Cain. “We could paddle up to our ankles and when the water got deeper, our parents were very adamant about us kids not going near that creek.

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The recent drug poisoning in The Pas that cost one young man his life has sparked a movement and campaign to get young people to say no thanks to recreational drug use. Joseph Fourre recently lost his son Harlen, due to drug poisoning and he wants to change the narrative when it comes to drug overdose versus drug poisoning, and eliminate stigma of addictions.
“In light of the recent and tragic death of my son Harlen Fourre, Singing Red Bear, who was a victim as result of the tainted drug poisoning on April 27, we organized a Drug Awareness Walk in his memory in The Pas,” said Joseph Fourre. “I’m pushing through with a ‘No Thanks to Recreational Drug Use’ campaign. I want to give our youth and people who are going into summer, which can be a time for parties, some encouragement to say no thanks when presented with recreational drugs.

In an effort to books tourism in northern Manitoba, the Communities Economic Development Fund (CEDF) has recently launched one their newest development. CEDF has been creating economic development initiatives to strengthen the local economy and promote the north.
“We are a Provincial Crown Corporation and the lead economic development agency for northern Manitoba working for the Province,” said CEDF Manager of Programs and Projects Leann Brown. “Also we are the lead for the delivery of the Look North Action Plan that was approved by the provincial government in 2019. Our mandate is strictly looking at economic development throughout the north and trying to increase economy activity and prosperity.”

For many, being snarky or witty seems to be an art form that is most commonly spotted in memes on the Internet. A meme can be described as an amusing or interesting item that consists of a captioned picture with a witty or crude saying that is spread widely online especially through social media.
The Pas resident, Emma Halpin, has taken a twist and created a new art form in which she takes old decorative ceramic plates that have photos on them and creates snarky captions to put on them. This created a new venture for her, which she calls SnarkArt Ceramix.
“SnarkArt Ceramix was born after my mother was given a decorative ceramic plate with white beads on it at a craft swap in November 2022,”said SnarkArt Ceramix Creator Emma Halpin. “She gave it to me and I thought I could totally do this.”

On Monday April 24th all branches of Girl Guides including Sparks, Embers (formally known as Brownies), Guides, Pathfinders and their Guiders came together to celebrate Earth day and tidy up our community.
Girls gave up their weekly meeting time, gathered in pairs and set out to pick up trash.
Before heading outdoors girls had a brief safety discussion and were geared up with gloves, garbage bags and t-shirts thanks to Tim Hortons.
A total of 30 Girl Guides and 11 Guiders left from the Anglican Church heading towards Devon Park and the walking path collecting anything that didn’t belong to Mother Earth.

The tri-community area held a few different events to commemorate National Red Dress Day. KB Memorial, in partnership with MKO MMIWG Liaison Unit, hosted a Celebrate and Commemorate Vigil to remember the murdered and missing Indigenous people (MMIP) from the area.
Friends and families of MMIP gathered around a sacred fire to celebrate the lives, share stories and memories of their loved ones.
“The event went so much better than I personally could have expected,” said Gloria Ballantyne-Packo. “I went in with no expectations and it was so beautiful to hear the different stories from impacted families, and have that sense of community at the vigil. Seeing everyone with lit candles around the sacred fire, the sun setting at the perfect time, it was just a beautiful evening overall. There was about a dozen MMIP being represented and remembered at the vigil.”