The Skippy L has been a historical part of the community’s history since it was built in 1936. It was built as a riverboat to carry out freight and passengers along the Saskatchewan River. The Skippy L was the longest serving craft of its type and ceased operations in 1977. In 1989, it was designated as a Provincial Heritage Object and put on display in Devon Park.
Since then, the Skippy L has seen better days. Years of neglect have taken its toll and now the Provincial Heritage Object has become an eye sore that is chained up with a fence to keep people out for safety reasons. It’s been the talk of a few town councils, but no decisions have been made in terms of preserving, restoring or demolishing it. It’s a task that the current Town of The Pas Council now faces.

In the summer, many people look forward to different opportunities to dine out, whether it be eating at patio restaurants, drive-ins or food trucks. Now The Pas has another opportunity to get some homestyle cooking from a food truck vendor setting.
“I had been considering opening up a mobile concession booth for some time now and wanted to bring something different to The Pas and area,” said Taste of Home Owner and Operator Ken Johnston Jr. “There have only been a few operations like this in The Pas in the past ten years, and then an opportunity came my way and I was able to purchase this one in Saskatoon.

Owning a piece of Swan River’s history can be an amazing and rare find. This is the case for Valley-born Jason Beasley of J-Ride Customs.
Beasley acquired the old milk truck from Crescent Creamery that was used in the Valley to deliver milk and cream to people. It was a treasure he stumbled upon while taking a drive out in the country.
“I have family in the Valley and was actually born in Swan River,” said Beasley. “I was cruising around with my Aunt Nancy Thomas and Uncle Bob Thomas. They have land up in the Pretty Valley area and on the way, I spotted the old Crescent Creamery milk truck just off a gravel road, in a field. It caught my eye and we stopped, because any kind of old vehicle gets my attention right away.
“My uncle stopped and I went and had a look at it. It was in rough shape and there wasn’t even a frame underneath it. It’s a 1954 International Metro Milk Truck and it’s a rare find. My uncle knew who owned the land it was on, so I called them up and I made a deal with the owner. My brother was coming back up to Swan River in a couple of weeks because my grandmother was moving to Winnipeg, so we put all of her stuff in the Metro and put it on a trailer and brought it back.”
Beasley is an avid retro vehicle collector and has dedicated his time to restoring many classic cars, trucks and antique automobiles. Through his business J-Ride Customs, he does all the custom work himself and has a dedicated YouTube channel that has videos of him doing the restoration work for people to see.
Restoring the old 1954 International Metro Milk Truck was challenging for a few reasons. It was in really rough shape; the parts were impossible to find and basically no longer exist.
“I just love old vehicles with all the curve detail they have on the body itself,” said Beasley. “I had to do some research because it was missing so many parts. It looks like someone was just gutting it and using it for parts at one time. There was no frame or motor in it when I bought it.
I had to find out what would fit underneath it the best with the least amount of modifications to it.
“I ended up buying a 2009 Dodge Durango and used that frame for underneath it, including the motor and transmission. Now it’s an all-wheel drive vehicle. I wasn’t able to find any of the old parts for it, so I had to customize and make my own. I had to make my own body panels and everything for it. On my YouTube channel, I have videos of myself making parts for this.
“Sure, it would have been nice to go to somewhere like California to find potential parts for this old milk truck, but you just can’t do that with these types of vehicles because there’s just not a lot of them around,” said Beasley. “You have to make do with what you can.”
It took some time for Beasley to find the right parts that would work with the old Metro milk truck.
He spent a lot of time researching what would work best. Once he had the materials, he began working on it through the winter and on side, amongst other projects and work he had coming into his shop.
“I owned the old Crescent Creamery milk truck for three years before I even did anything with it,” said Beasley. “That’s how much time it took to research and make parts. I work on big projects like this in the winter months. I have a decent size shop and the tools to work on stuff like this. I actually started working on the milk truck last fall to get to where it is now. It’s not totally finished, but did a fair amount of work to it, plus I have three or four other vehicles I was working on at the same time. Plus, I have other vehicles coming in for servicing as well.
“I’m going to bring the milk truck back into the shop for the winter and hopefully finish it. It’s not going to be all pristine; I’m going to leave the original paint and the mural on the side of it. That is all going to stay and where I put the new parts, I’m going to blend the paint to make it look older as well, to match.
“I’m also going to put the seats from the Dodge Durango inside the Metro Milk Truck, so it will have three rows of seating inside,” said Beasley. “I’m also using the dash from the Durango as well, because it’s got this nice woodgrain look to it.”
Restoring the old 1954 Metro milk truck has been a topic of discussion for people of all ages and from everywhere, not just the Valley. Many people remember a time when milk and cream were delivered to their home using milk trucks just like this.
“It’s a real conversation starter that’s for sure,” said Beasley. “A lot of older people remember these types of milk trucks from back in the day. They tell me how they got their milk and cream delivered back then in these trucks. My mom recalls that as well.
“Then I have all these delivery people and Amazon drivers who come here and they are just drooling over this old milk truck. People always ask if they can take pictures and are just blown away by it.”
Beasley has always loved classic automobiles and that led him to learn how to restore them. Some of the restorations he sells, and others stay part of his permanent collection.
“I have certain ones I keep after I’m done restoring them,” said Beasley. “I have a Corvette that I bought when I was 19 years old and a few Novas, Chevelles, cab over pick-up trucks in my collection. I’ve always been car crazy my whole life and I blame it on the band ZZ Top. I’m all self-taught when it comes to the autobody and restoration work.”
Beasley has plans for the 1954 Metro milk truck once it’s finished. It will become part of his permanent collection.
“Once it’s finished, I will keep it because it’s nostalgic to me, and is a part of my history and Swan River’s as well,” said Beasley. “It pulls on my heartstrings a bit. I plan to keep it and potentially take it and put it in car shows. I put a trailer hitch on it so if I want to pull a trailer and my Harley on the back, I can do so. There are a lot of options of things I can do with it now.
“It’s in the plan for me someday to show these restorations in car shows and even down in Arizona. I’ve had lots of people wanting to put old Crescent Creamery milk truck in the parade in Swan River for the rodeo, but it won’t be done for then, but likely next year it will be.”
To see more of Beasley’s restoration work and projects, you can watch videos on his YouTube channel under J-Ride Customs.

Every year at Opaskwayak Indigenous Days (OID) many are eager to win or be gifted one of the traditional leather vests that commemorates the event in the community. These vests are made by Indigenous artists, and this year was a collaboration of two extremely talented and local ones.
“Shauna Ponask and I submitted a bid for the vests and we were selected to do them,” said Tyler Tobacco. “She’s a big part of the whole process too, and a great artist as well.”

If you’re out on the hunt looking for Bigfoot, you just might find him in the tri-community. Noah Head has taken to wood carving and creating various likenesses of Bigfoot as a hobby. His hobby grown and now his wood carvings are in demand.
“I’ve always been interested in arts since high school,” said Noah Head. “About ten months ago, I thought I would give carving wood a try. I’ve dabbled in sculpture, painting and drawing before, but I’m finding wood carving rewarding. I’ve been sharing my work with people online and they really respond to it. I only started carving sculptures about 10 months ago as a hobby and something to keep busy with.”

The Pas Rotary Club decided to recognize some former club members who have recently passed, by memorializing their efforts and service through dedicating a bench in their memory. The club has been raising money to purchase and install benches throughout the community.
“Our rotary club has for over 15 years now, as part of our service, town beautification and recreation purposes, purchased and installed a number of concrete benches along the walking trail,” said The Pas Rotary Club Member Kent Whaley.

Simon the Scientist is back again in this year’s Pow Wow Pitch semi-finals and his platform for learning and teaching science has grown significantly in this last year. Simon Monteith, spent a good portion of his time teaching science experiments and lessons via YouTube, but now has branched out to a lot more teaching and demonstrating to a classroom audience.
“This year, I’ve done a variety of different things,” said Simon. “I reached out to school divisions in the north, like Frontier School Division, and done monthly STEM sessions during the school year. I also did some work with Let’s Talk Science.”

Oscar’s Place is providing a very much needed service in the tri-community as an emergency shelter. It has been faced with some challenges such as not enough space to meet all the demands for emergency shelter and finding casual and on-call staffing, which has not been uncommon for make organizations and work places.
“Oscar’s Place currently is a 12-hour overnight emergency shelter, which is open from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m., 365 days per year and provides individuals who require safe overnight services with a warm space to sleep, a warm meal, laundry service, public washrooms, and shower facilities,” said Canadian Mental Health Parkland and The Pas Region Chief Executive Officer James Wigley. “As an overnight emergency shelter, both male and female clients can spend the night who are 18 years of age or older.