For the second year running, the Major Pratt Lady Trojans have emerged as the MHSAA Provincial AA Volleyball Champions.

“Last year we only had one graduating player so we had six returning players and six new girls join us,” coach Tanya Thompson said “So it was very much the same girls who have been together for years.”

Throughout the provincials the lady Trojans were undefeated. In fact, this powerhouse team lost only one set in the semifinals. The Trojans entered the provincials ranked second in the province.

They played four round robin games defeating The Pas, Elton, Warren and Souris - each in just two sets. They came up against the Green Valley Pirates in the quarter finals - again, winning in two straight sets.

A win against Rosenort in three sets led to the final game where they hit the court against Flin Flon, bringing in the gold medal win in two straight sets. Kylee Peake and Alyssa Bily were chosen as tournament All Stars and Sunay Pieterse was honored as the Most Valuable Player of the provincial tournament.

Coach Tanya Thompson, who has coached them for years, said that the girls have had success throughout their entire season, coming out as the top team in all but two tournaments over the entire season - including a second place finish in a 32 team tournament in Regina.

“Most of these players have been together since grade seven and also for their club volleyball season for the rest of the year,” she said. “So they have a really good chemistry together both on and off the court - they’re just really good friends.” “They’re determined and they’re hard working but it’s more than just skill.” They bond so well on the court because they have such respect for each other and such great friendships off the court as well.”

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'Tis the season. Whether we like it or not, there’s plenty of snow and beautifully lit Christmas trees on all the lampposts on Main Street.

So we knew it wouldn’t be long before Santa and his friendly helpers from the MJHL Waywayseecappo Wolverines teamed up for the annual parade.

Last Thursday, the Russell and District Chamber of Commerce started off their Claus for a Cause Santa Parade and Food Drive. As the parade wound around Arsini Street past the Personal Care Home and off down Main Street, the Wolverines were once again on hand to pick up the non perishable food stuff from ‘watchers’ as donations to the Russell and Area Food Connections Group.

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Week after week, the Chase the Ace lottery has been the talk of the town. The talk changed to cheers as Marilyn Lee took home the jackpot of $17,140 after her name was drawn and the number she’d picked matched the envelope containing the Ace of Spades.

With almost a year since the lottery started this time, it’s been a bit of a long haul and the lines showed it. As the jackpot piled up, week after week, the lines at Twin Valley Co-op Gas Bar grew as people started to line up before 7 am every Monday morning for a chance at the tickets that went on sale at noon. On the Friday night of the draw, people started lining up at noon outside the bar doors at the Asessippi Inn to get in on the 30 tickets reserved for pre-sale there. But it wasn’t always that way, as Chad Preston, one of the event organizers pointed out.

“When we first started with the presale format, there were weeks when we were lucky to see 20 tickets sold, so that’s why we initially went with the 200 tickets,” he said. But that’s all changing now. “We’re reworking the rules and the licensing so we’ll now have unlimited tickets so the long lines will be a thing of the past.” As that might take a while, Preston is thinking that it’s possible the game won’t resume until early in the new year. But that remains to be seen - as does the location of ticket sales at this point. There will also be a few changes in terms of benefactors of the draw.

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The Major Pratt Senior Girls Varsity Volleyball Team have had an absolutely stellar season to date, winning all but one of the six high school tournaments they’ve entered.

The team is hoping to continue their success throughout the remainder of their season and their goal is to bring home the Provincial Championship banner for the second year in a row.

Provincials are set for Dec 1-3 in The Pas. While that record is due to the skill, hard work and determination of the ladies of Major Pratt, someone who hasn’t been talked about much is their coach Tanya Thompson who helped coach Team Manitoba to a gold medal in the 2022 Canada Summer Games for Women’s Indoor Volleyball (U19 age class).

Tanya says her admission into the Canada Games Women in Coaching Apprentice Program was a dream come true - even if Covid changed things up a little and definitely made the process longer. (Tanya found out she was accepted into the program in March 2020 and was originally supposed to be coaching as part of the games in 2021 which, because of the pandemic, was delayed until this past summer).

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It was one of those events that Covid cancelled - over and over again. But in the end, it was well worth the wait. On October 22nd, the George P. Buleziuk Centre was filled with laughter, song and dance - and even a wee bit of fire - as well over 400 people who enjoyed a wonderful evening out with friends.

The Caribbean Cultural event has been a dream of Patricia Kopetski and her friend Cheryl Lenderbeck for quite a few years, when Pat had the idea to bring the joy of her home land to Russell as a fundraiser for a number of local charities.

Originally, the plan to have Caribbean food and dance, came up in about 2019. But then, the social part of life was essentially stopped by the pandemic. From there, over the next couple of years, everytime it appeared that the Covid restrictions may be lifting, Kopetski was on the phone to one provincial department or another, looking to see what the social distancing rules might entail and when she might be able to book the entertainment from Toronto and finally hold the event she’d been dreaming of bringing to town.

While there were some tense times, wondering if it would all work out, when the date finally arrived, the hall was all but full and aside from a few glitches with the sound the system - and a fire alarm set off by the fire eating limbo dancer - the evening was still a fantastic success.

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When you walk through the doors of the newly opened Waywayseecappo FoodMart, it’s likely you’ll have to stop and take in the view for just a second or two....

It’s bright and inviting with large wide aisles and shelves that are big enough to house a huge variety of stock. Right inside the doors, you’re met by a deli serving delicious take out meals prepared in a kitchen that truly is stunning to look at, let alone work in.

If your sweet tooth is calling you, fresh bread, pastries and cookies baked daily also tempt you at the door. Dan Szwaluk, who has managed the Food Mart in Waywayseecappo First Nation for 28 years, said between the planning and a few Covid 19 induced delays, the new retail food store has taken a few years to become a reality. “I really appreciate the patience of Chief and council and all the residents,” he said. “But I do think what we ended up with was worth the wait.”

The goal from the start, he said was to make this new Waywayseecappo Food Mart a destination shopping experience – something like you’d see in the city, Szwaluk said. “And from the comments I’m hearing, I think we may have accocmplished that.” When the new Food Mart officially opens on Tuesday, Oct 27th, it will mark two years to the day that the sod was turned and construction began.

But talks started years before that.

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“Oh it feels so good to be back together!” No matter what Beef and Barley event you may have taken in, that was the feeling around town over the Thanksgiving long weekend.

In the more than thirty years since our annual Beef and Barley festival began, the first long weekend of the fall has long been thought of as a ‘regional reunion’ of sorts as students came back from their first month of post secondary studies and families gathered from near and far.

And boy-oh-boy, has the joy of gathering as one great big community, been missed. And to top it off, Mother Nature co-operated beautifully.... “People wise, it was bigger than 2019,” Tyler Kilkenny, one of the long time event organizers said in an informal post festival chat. “The amount of people who showed up this year who I haven’t seen at Beef and Barley functions in the past, was really great to see.”

While the week long event was fantastic, one of the most popular was the Charity Buckin’ Rodeo - followed by the Saturday Night cabaret featuring locally famous In Too Deep on the stage. “When we chose our bull riders to ride for various charities, we focused on age and what age group of people they were going to bring in, what area they were from - so we had two riders from Angusville, two from Inglis and Binscarth and a lot from the RM.

“We really wanted to represent everyone,” Tyler said. Another focal point, the trio explained was to get a really good variety of ages coming out to the rodeo and then staying for a while to take in the cabaret. “And we definitely did that,” Tyler said. “I would say at least 80 percent of the people stayed for the first set of the band and by the time the cabaret ended, I think that more than fifty percent of the people who were still there had been at the rodeo too.”

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