For the past two years, volunteers of the St. Elijah Pioneer Museum have been working to restore the St. Elijah Pioneer Church, one of two designated heritage buildings on the museum site in Lennard, just north of Inglis.
Some 26 volunteers spend more than 300 horus to complete the work.
Read all about it in this week’s issue.

There is something to be said about strength in numbers, especially when facing a crisis. When it comes to firefighting, that statement couldn’t be truer. When fire departments need a hand fighting a fire that may be challenging or growing in size, they often call on other neighbouring fire departments to assist.
It is better to have a mutual understanding of providing assistance and that can be done through a Mutual Aid Agreement.
“Mutual Aid is a formal agreement between fire departments, or other emergency services, to help each other out when an incident is too big for a single department to handle on its own,” said The Pas Fire Department Fire Chief Byron Shangraw. “Think of it as a pre-arranged agreement between neighbors to lend a hand when needed.”

NHL star and former resident, Connor Dewar, received a community-wide heartfelt acknowledgment for his achievement in becoming an NHL player. A sign was erected in the community, promoting Dewar’s hard work and dedication to the sport and achieving success in it.
“This has been in the works for the last three years,” said The Pas MMF Vice President Judy Mayer. “We’ve had conversations with the mayor regarding this. We felt this was important because when you drive to Flin Flon, you can see the big sign that says ‘Home of Bobby Clark’. Clark was a homegrown boy from Flin Flon who made the NHL.

In between rainshowers and thunderstorms this month, some of the Swan Valley’s grain producers have been getting out in the fields and taking off some of their crops. Pictured here, RanHart Farms from Minitonas harvests a cereal crop along Hwy. No. 10 East.

After a dry summer with very little precipitation, the taps were turned on during the last couple of weeks, with 71.9 mm of rain being reported in Swan River between Aug. 11-17, or 132.3 mm total if extended to Aug. 6. Only two days in that time period experienced no precipitation at all. Pictured here, a rain gauge in the Municipality of Swan Valley West shows the local precipitation over an approximately 36 hour period last weekend...

Darlene Jackson loved her community. If there was a fundraiser to be held or a way to showcase her community, she was always right there to help out.
Like many in the area, the Inglis Grain Elevators National Historic Site was close to her heart. That same sentiment is what drives the Darlene Jackson Memorial Golf Tournament where all of the proceeds to help fund the day-to-day operation and on-going maintenance of the Inglis elevators, which were lovingly named the Prairie giants, by the locals years ago.
Pick up this week’s Review to find out more.

The Chief and Council have established a $5,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest and conviction for the recent acts of violence against our community members. OCN has witnessed an increase in criminal activity that is unprecedented in our Nation’s history. Acts of violence are occurring more frequently, with youth often initiating random attacks on others.
These acts have included the use of various weapons, and the suspects are committing these crimes in groups of more than one. Manitoba First Nations Police are currently investigating these incidents and are asking for the public’s assistance for any witnesses to come forward and share confidential/anonymous information.
The public is asked to please report any tips to the anonymous TIPS line. Your information is very important and could help reduce criminal activity and violence against our own community members.
Finally, we ask all parents to ensure their children/youth are at home and abiding by the curfew by-law, 1998-01. Ultimately, parents are responsible for the care and custody of their children at all times.
Anonymous callers may call 1-833-978-0048 and email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Opaskwayak Cree Nation has a strong and proud history and will continue to take a stand against all forms of violence against any of our community members. Our community should be a safe place for all to live.

This month seems to be a time for festivals in the tri-community. Another great event coming up is The Pas Community Renewal Corporation’s (TPCRC) Street Festival. It promises to have something for everyone to either purchase or an activity to do.
“The Street Festival welcomes vendors of local and home-based businesses, rummage sale tables, and organizations with information booths,” said TPCRC Community Engagement Coordinator Holly LaJambe. “For kids, we have carnival games, a bounce house, face painting, henna, bubbles, and sidewalk chalk. There will also be a complimentary treat concession, a DJ playing music, and button-making. We’ve invited Emergency Services to offer tours of their vehicles when they are able.

The Pas/OCN Chamber of Commerce is looking to recruit some new board members to help promote local economic development and bring businesses owners together in a sense of collaboration. The board has some core values that they follow to advocate for its members.
“The primary role of a board member is to serve as a community champion for our tri-community, guiding the chamber in its mission to educate and develop the economic, civic, cultural, and social welfare of our citizens,” stated The Pas OCN Chamber of Commerce Board Members as a whole. “Board members are expected to attend meetings, contribute to policy and budget decisions, and evaluate programs that serve our members.

There are those folks who have an eye for design and a talent for making it happen when it comes to home renovations. Cheryl and Derek Gorski are just those two. They took their love of renovating and decorating, and turned it into a business here in the Valley.
“My husband, Derek, and I have always loved renovating,” said Cheryl. “We’ve always renovated our own houses and both originally came from families who had carpenters.
“A couple of years ago, some of our friends came to us because we’ve always done renovations and they couldn’t find anyone to renovate their bathroom. They had guys come out and give them a quote, only to turn around and tell them they couldn’t do it anyway. Then they found another guy who said he could do it, gave them a quote and it’s been two years later, and he now won’t get back to them.
“Derek was working for a farmer at this time, and they begged him to do this during the slower time,” said Cheryl. “So he took a month and renovated their bathroom. They absolutely loved it and Derek showed his boss the photos. His boss was building a brand new shop and needed a second-floor mezzanine, so he asked if he could build it over the winter. So he built that. All the guys my husband had been working with told him he needed to do this as a business on his own. So, he wound up doing just that.
“Now, I had been working at the Swan Valley Credit Union since we had moved back. I’ve always loved interior design, decorating and renovations. Growing up, I wanted to major in interior design, but there were no options for that back then in the Valley. I’ve always been interested in it, just never majored in it, but dabbled in it.
“Derek and I have always worked well together, so when he was convinced to go into doing a business where he did renovations, we both went into it,” said Cheryl. “We found a lot of people didn’t know what they exactly wanted when it comes to renovations, but knew what they didn’t want. I go into it by asking the questions and finding out what they want. Then I show them some options, order the supplies and materials, and Derek would do the work.”
This started the concept of Zylo and Bloom Interiors. The Gorskis’ business offers several options in blinds, area rugs, custom cabinetry, hard surface countertops, doors, cabinet hardware and handles, wall and floor tile, LVP, laminate, engineered hardwood, carpet, specialty ceiling tile, and more. With the option to also have these products installed.
“I ended up going to the Home and Gift Show with Rachel Stober from Three:30 Paper, Décor and Gift in January,” said Cheryl. “I realized there was this whole new world and I found it amazing. That catapulted our dream of getting into the design aspect of things.
“After I came back from the Home and Gift Show, I tried looking up some of these companies online to see all their inventory, and I couldn’t, because you have to be part of their network and distributors. They want to supply businesses rather than deal with individual sales.
“We found a lot of time when we were doing the renovation aspect, that we wanted to support local, but couldn’t find a specific product a customer wanted, it wasn’t available and couldn’t be ordered in,” said Cheryl. “I would have to go find it somewhere else and I didn’t like that. I wanted to get it in town and found that a lot of our customers and clients felt the same way. They were also getting stuff out of town. This led us to wanting to be able to carry these items in town or be able to bring them in.
“We are signed up with Viana Inc. for area rugs; Canarm and DVI Lighting, and many more brands for lighting; we will have a large variety of industry leading quartz manufacturers for countertops as well as Laminam and Dekton; wall and floor tiles and flooring by Julian Tile, Ames Tile, Primco and an exclusive dealer of MSI Surfaces.
“I also got approached by someone about ordering and installing blinds, and that also helped start this process,” said Cheryl. “They knew we were signing up with a few different companies and asked if we had signed up for blinds. At the time, we hadn’t, even though we’ve ordered and installed a lot of blinds for clients. They asked if we would consider doing that, and it was something I was interested in. So we signed up with Graver and Maxxmar Window Fashions.
“We’ve also signed up with some lighting companies, because that was another big one that I couldn’t get nice ones. I found that most people want something different.”
Zylo and Bloom is opening up their shop at 519 Main Street in Swan River. They felt that having a physical in-store location was the best way to display these products and serve customers. They had a soft opening on Monday (Aug. 11).
“I’m the type of person who needs to look at and feel the texture of things like tile and fabric before I know if it’s going to work or not,” said Cheryl. “I need to see what I’m getting, which became one reason why we decided to open up a storefront. Then I thought about doing consultations in people’s homes, but it’s awkward to carry in samples to and from places.
“Right now, we are trying out some working hours and doing a soft opening to see what works best for this type of business. We are open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday afternoons, to see how it goes.
“If someone comes in and is asking about something, we want to be a place that gets it for them,” said Cheryl. “If we don’t carry it, if at all possible, we will try to get it for a customer.”
For those interested in seeing some of Derek’s finished products, check out his YouTube Channel, Gorski Woodworks.