The Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra presented “Good Grief” A Charlie Brown Christmas performance at the SVRSS this last Friday (Dec. 5). The group was up at 3 a.m. on Friday morning to make their way to Swan River to perform for the many in the Christmas spirit.

In most really small towns, when the elevator closes its doors, the rest of the town begins to slowly slip away. In Inglis, like so much else in their community, they took that as an opportunity and turned it into something amazing - a national historic site.
In fact, that’s where Haylan Jackson and Del Barber - the owners of The Shop met. “I was a touring musician and song writer for 20 years (he’s actually been nominated for three Juno awards) and was playing a show in the elevators. Haylan was a tour guide there. I fell in love with her. She ignored me for a little while and now we’re living just north of town and are raising two kids,” Del Barber explained. For him, this is a dream come true. “I was raised just outside of Winnipeg in St. Norbert and this is where I’ve always dreamed, I would live,” Del said. “My grandpa had a summer place up in the Duck Mountains and I’ve always wanted to find a place in Parkland to set down roots.” With music now more on the back burner, Del and Haylan were looking
for a way to keep the creativity going. “And my other love is cooking,” Barber said. So, what better place than Haylan’s hometown of Inglis – she’s the daughter of Carman and Donna Jackson – where generations of her family have built businesses and the community that they all love. About a year and a half ago, Haylan and Del checked into acquiring the building on Inglis’ Main Street that a few years ago was the home of The Prairie Grill, and prior to that, the Rose Bowl a much-loved restaurant and meeting place for locals.
“I don’t know if we’ve always had the idea of opening a restaurant but we’re always looking for ways to contribute to the community that we love so much.” Barber explained that with the changes in the music industry, it’s become increasingly difficult to make a living. “I was lucky to have found a way to pay my mortgage through playing music for so long,” he said. “And the reality of the economy of music no longer makes that feasible – especially with two kids.” This next step into the culinary world is now a way to still create art – much like his music - in a very home- grown way. With the ideas now flowing and the extensive renovations to the space well on their way, it was time to think about what to call the place. “We were dancing around a lot of ideas.
When Del was working on the renovations, he’d say "I’m going to the shop,” Haylan said. “And growing up here, everyone has a shop. So, everyone can relate to that. People here would say, go to Myles’ shop and everyone knows where that is. So, for us,
who are working on creating a warm and inviting meeting place, the name The Shop was a perfect fit.”
Over the last couple of weeks, The Shop has hosted a few soft openings. And, looking at Facebook postings, there have been rave reviews about everything from the pizzas - which are cooked on a wood fired pizza oven imported from Italy - to the lemon Creme Brule , and the salads with home made dressings to the herb dumplings; apparently, they’re amazing. Judging by the posts, The Shop is very family friendly.
There’s the added bonus that everything in The Shop will be made from scratch – including the sourdough pizza crust, the sauces and the toppings. The pizzas, Del explained as a hybrid of pizzas from Italy and those found in New York. “Still, it’s all very
Manitoba based,” Barber said. “We’re using flour from Manitoba flour mills, Bothwell cheese from Manitoba and Canadian tomatoes and as many Canadian ingredients as we can.” And a lot of those ingredients will originate in what Del calls their giant gardens. “I’ve been an obsessive gardener for a long time, as has Haylan,” Barber said. “Just like most people on the prairies do, we have a large garden and we’re trying to grow and preserve as much as we can and make that part of the ethos of our restaurant.” “I just think there’s an opportunity here to show off how much people love gardening and cooking so there will be nothing that’s packaged and warmed up.” Knowing first hand how communities like Inglis thrive by people working together,
Haylan and Del are also sourcing their meat from the area as well. “I just finished roasting a brisket for our smoked brisket pizza. That, we got from Nerbas Bro’s as well a bunch of meat from High Bluff Stock Farms, which is, of course, Haylan’s parent’s farm.”
Del says that the fact that they’ve been active in the community for a decade - and Haylan’s deep family roots in Inglis and the surrounding area, is very comforting. “We’re really happy to be doing this in a community that we know, where people are friends and who we know will help us figure out how to make this exactly what they want it to be.
After three highly successful soft openings, Haylan and Del will open their doors of their licensed establishment on Inglis’ Main Street on Dec. 11th.

In most really small towns when the elevator closes its doors, the rest of the town begins to slowly slip away. In Inglis, like so much else in their community, the residents took that as an opportunity and turned it into something amazing – a national historic site.
In fact, that’s where Haylan Jackson and Del Barber – the owners of the town’s newest business venture, The Shop, met.
Read all about it in this week’s paper.

Local Swan River product Riley McKay has spent the last two seasons with the American Hockey League’s Laval Rocket, but now, after entering the free agency process, has opted to move on from the Rocket to head south. Joining the Henderson Silver Knights, AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights.
“Henderson had shown interest in me and the General Manager of Henderson, Tim Speltz, was my GM in Spokane, said McKay.
He actually came to Swan River to meet my family when I signed with Spokane so there was a connection there.”
McKay spent parts of two seasons going up and down from AHL to the ECHL’s Trois-Rivieres Lions and Indy Fuel. Now he tests Henderson, who is the newest franchise to join the AHL, and a team that has hardly any experience in the playoffs, as the team has only made the playoffs twice in their four years of existence.
“Laval played a big part in helping me improve and give me the opportunity to play in the AHL. It was a great organization to play for and the rink and atmosphere are definitely one of the best in the league. I will cheirsh the memories and relationships I made there.”
McKay is headed into his fifth season as a pro, in his 168 games, he has scored 28 goals, 27 assists for 55 points, and he has totaled up to 563 penalty minutes.
“I will be sticking to the style of game that I’ve played my whole career. I hope to have a role on the penalty kill and provide some more offence this year. My goal this year is to help the team make playoffs anyway possible.”
McKay played some of his best hockey in Laval, being a part of their playoff push last season, to being one of the players that brought life to the game for the Rocket to get them back in it. A true momentum shifter who scored big goals, laid big hits, fought for the swing in momentum in this year’s playoff push only to come up just short of the ultimate goal.
“I think I will transition just fine. The Pacific Division suits my style of play and I can’t complain about living in a beautiful state like Nevada. It will definitely be different than I’m used to but it’s going to be a great experience and I’m excited to get down there.”
Henderson opens their season on Oct. 11 when they head down to Texas to face the Texas Stars before heading back to Henderson on Oct. 18 to face the Calgary Wranglers for their home opener.

Snowmobilers and others that like to traverse the north trails of the North Mountain Riders in the Porcupine Hills will soon have a brand new warm-up shack on one of the best look-out spots of that entire trail system.
A project that has taken two years to gain approval from relevant parties, such as Wuskwi Sipihk First Nation, Manitoba Conservation and Manitoba Historical Society, the North Mountain Riders have successfully fundraised for and are well on their way to building a warm-up shack at the Bellsite Look-out, only four miles from Hwy. No. 10 on their trail system, not far from the community of Bellsite.
“From there, you can see the community of Bellsite, all the farmland, all the way to Swan Lake and Lake Winnipegosis,” said North Mountain Riders President Bert Sutherland.
“This is an important shelter to have because it is in a pocket where we didn’t have anything else closeby for people to enjoy themselves. The next shack was at Olsen Lake and from Olsen Lake to Mafeking is an hour and 20 minutes. Now we have this gem in the middle of nowhere.”
The Bellsite Look-out shelter ended up costing the club only $66,000 in donations, sponsorships and grants to put it together, plus lots of donated materials. Labour to put it all together has been completely free and likely could have cost close to $90,000 if someone got paid to build it.
“I’ve probably put 80+ hours into it myself and I’m just one man,” said Sutherland.
Lots of the materials were hauled up prior to the spring melt, leaving the builders to get to work come spring time. As of the end of June, the exterior structure was done, with the next steps to be putting on the roofing material and weather wrapping the outside walls. Well on their way, the club’s plan is to have it weather sealed by fall and finished well before snowmobile season comes around.
And, this is not just some thrown-together shelter. In addition to the standard features of the warm-up shelter such as a wood stove, gas barbecue, AM/FM radio and a few places to sit down, the interior will be finished with tongue-and-groove pine boards, LED lights powered by solar panels, 110-volt electrical system that can be powered by a generator, fire pit and seating outside, and enough space to seat 30 people inside, roughly 480 square feet of room inside and another 480 square feet between the two attached decks.
“This will be our biggest shelter,” said Sutherland. “Our next biggest is our Whitefish Shack at 320 square feet.”
With the layout of the windows and doors on the front of the shelter, it will feel like it’s almost entirely glass, letting lots of light in.
“This has been something we’ve been wanting to do for a long time,” Sutherland added. “I know the community of Bellsite has a lot of interest in it. They’ve shown really good support. We’ve helped them with their poker derby before and this will bring a little more attention to their little town.”
While the project is coming along well, Sutherland also noted that more hands are always needed to do everything that needs to be done on the work. Even if you aren’t a carpenter, helping keep the place tidy or doing other tasks is appreciated.
“We can use all the help we can get,” he said. “We need bodies with gloves.”
If interested in volunteering for the project, contact Bert Sutherland at 204·734·0184.
Once the project is complete, the North Mountain Riders will plan a grand opening with any community members welcome to join, with a plan to provide a shuttle to the top of the hill for those that don’t have their own snowmobile. Keep an eye out in the late fall for an announcement for that.

It’s a year of infrastructure changes and more on the Swan River Valley Agricultural Society (SRVAS) Grounds as the board and volunteers prepare for this year’s upcoming NorthWest Round-up and Exhibition, taking place from July 25-28.
In addition to the previously announced repainting and refurbishment of the main grandstand – which also includes repair of the fencing at the top and installment of a new wheelchair ramp on the south side – one of the big projects this year is a brand new light horse arena to replace the old one. The costs were covered by a yet-to-be-announced corporate sponsor.
“We’ve had lots of volunteers come in to tear down the old one and put the new one in,” said SRVAS President Lesley Sembaluk. “The new design has more of a multi-purpose use which can be used for 4-H events, gymkhana and different activities.”
Sembaluk added that the posts and gates of the arena will be painted to match that of their corporate sponsor.
Some other upgrades and improvements will be to the heavy horse barn, to accommodate the horses and riders that will be arriving for the Musical Ride of the RCMP.
“They won’t be here in time for the parade on Friday morning, but they will be arriving Friday and performing Saturday and Sunday afternoons after the rodeo,” said Sembaluk.
Because costs of things like providing hay for the horses needs to yet be covered, people are able to Adopt a Horse for the Musical Ride and have their pictures taken to be displayed in the stalls of the heavy horse barn.
Sembaluk also noted that the Musical Ride of the RCMP is something that some of her committee members have been working on for several years, and is pleased they were able to bring it to this year’s event.
Relating to that theme, this year’s Swan Valley Chamber of Commerce parade will also be themed RCMP Musical Ride. The parade starts at 10 a.m. on Friday (June 26) and usually includes dozens of businesses, families and organizations driving their vehicles and floats down Main Street and back up Second Street North towards the SRVAS Grounds.
There will not be bouncy castles this year, due to the need to accommodate the Musical Ride of the RCMP, but Sembaluk added that they have brought in an outfit that will be providing a pony ride ring and a petting zoo, a new addition to the grounds this year.
There will be no Saturday night dance or musical performance this year, and the Friday night dance will see a departure away from Ken Thompson’s usual talents, as he was unavailable this year. Instead, Friday night will be more of a coffeehouse style event.
“We’re making it into a community showcase,” said Sembaluk, adding that a band will still be available, and liquor will still be served, but it will have more of that coffeehouse vibe, which proves to be a popular event in the area, often held at various locations in the Swan Valley.
Those that would like to sign up for the Friday night coffeehouse are welcome to contact 204·734·0940. Performers can also sign up at the door. It will take place at 8 p.m. at the Veterans Community Hall. Tickets are $10.
And, what often proves to be the biggest show of all and one of the biggest attractions of the NorthWest Round-up and Exhibition, this year will see the second ever Western Canadian Chuckwagon Championship and Western Canadian Junior Chariot Championship, which sees some of the best wagon and chariot riders in Western Canada competing every evening during the four-day event. Chariots are scheduled to take place at 4 p.m. every day, with chuckwagons at 6 p.m..
Entry to the grandstands is included with the one-pay gate admission to the Grounds.
Tickets to the North-West Round-up and Exhibition are $25 for adults, $15 for youth ages 6-17 and free for children five and under.
Adult and youth weekend passes are also available for $75 and $45.
Until July 19, early bird pricing is also available with discount code SAVE2024 at eventbrite.com or by purchasing at the SRVAS office located on the Grounds.
A historic noteworthy thing about this year as well is Sembaluk is the first ever Indigenous president of the SRVAS. As such, a Metis flag that was presented to last year’s president Austen Anderson by Northwest Metis Council Vice President Frances Chartrand will be erected on the grounds to fly all weekend long. The Metis flag, along with the Treaty 4 flag, the Manitoba flag and the Canadian flag will be flown during the opening ceremonies.
“Cree Star Gifts is going to be on site again this year,” said Sembaluk. “They were here last year and they were a big thing.”
Sembaluk also noted that a local organization will be starting up the Bingo booth again for the first time in a few years, highlighting that the money will be staying within the community.
More information on the NorthWest Round-up and Exhibition can be found on northwestroundup.ca or on the Swan River Valley Agricultural Society Facebook page.
“We’ll see how this year rolls out,” Sembaluk concluded. “There’s a lot of good changes.”

The new CT Scanner at the Swan River Hospital has been an investment well worth the while. It has been reducing both wait and travel times for people in the Valley to receive diagnostic services. The CT Scanner has been operational for just over a month and has completed over 200 scans.
“The new CT scanner in Swan River scanned its first patient on May 15, 2024, as part of training exercises, with the system formally coming online on June 17, 2024,” said a spokesperson for Shared Health. As of July 8, 2024, 283 patients had received CT scans in Swan River.
“In the first three weeks of operations, approximately a dozen scans per work day have been completed on patients who would have otherwise had to leave the Swan Valley area and travel to Dauphin, Brandon, The Pas or Winnipeg for care.”
Thanks to the local contributions, half of the costs of the CT Scanner was funded from the Valley, with the remainder from the provincial government.
“Community groups raised more than $1 million towards the $2-million-plus capital project, which includes equipment, installation and renovation of the space,” said a spokesperson for Shared Health. “Shared Health assumes ongoing operational costs.
An open house for the Swan River CT Scanner is being planned for the near future.

Sometimes, getting a front-row seat to a major moment in sports is just a matter of being in the right place at the right time. Just ask Swan Valley’s Will Munro.
When Tij Iginla was drafted sixth overall by the (newly relocated) Utah hockey team at last month’s NHL entry draft, Munro was there to share in the moment.
Iginla, son of NHL great Jarome Iginla, was a teammate of Munro’s last year with the Kelowna Rockets, and the two clicked almost immediately. This paved the way for Munro to be at the high profile hockey event in Las Vegas.
“When Tij first got traded from Seattle (back in 2022), they (the Kelowna Rockets management) put us together as we have a lot of the same interests,” said Munro. “We don’t do too much outside of hockey, and kept a low profile. Then we started to become fast friends, rode the bus together, and we started to hang out.”
Munro says with having such a high-profile father, Tij much preferred to keep a low profile, and stay out of the spotlight.
“But he’s serious about his hockey,” said Munro about Iginla, who put up 47 goals and 84 points in 64 games last year. “And if he wanted someone to talk to about things, I was there for him.”
Which led to last month’s NHL draft, which has become more elaborate as years have gone by. This year the league held the draft in the Sphere, the newest entertainment destination which includes a 360 degree video experience that has to be seen to believe. And as it happens, the Iginla family had one extra ticket for this year’s event.
“So Tij called me and said I have an extra ticket if you want to come down,” said Munro. Talk about a no-brainer.
“It was a chance to be part of an experience of a lifetime, so I hopped in on that,” he said.
As for draft day, Munro called it a “crazy experience”.
“You look behind you and there’s video – it’s 360,” he said. “We all sat down, and I met his father and his family. So when Tij was drafted, there was a big picture up on the screens of all of us. And there was one of me and him together on the screen, so that was a cool experience.”
Munro also got the chance to meet several hockey greats past and present at the draft.
“When we were on the plane coming back from Calgary I looked back and there was Adam Lowry, the Jets’ captain, on the plane,” he said. “I also got to the meet the owner (Ryan Smith) and general manager (Bill Armstrong) of Utah, so that was pretty cool.”
The three-day trip to Vegas was a bit of a whirlwind for the entire party. But of course being under the age of 21, Munro and Iginla couldn’t quite go everywhere in Las Vegas.
“I just kept a low profile, hung out at the hotel and enjoyed the hot weather – it’s a lot different from Swan River,” says Munro.
But, being part of the draft day experience with his friend was just the start of his adventure. The day he was to fly home, WestJet employees went on strike, leading to a bit of a diversion.
“I got the call around 5 a.m. from my mom saying your flights are cancelled except the one to Calgary, so we hopped on the flight to Calgary, and got stuck there for a minute as our connecting flight was to Kelowna,” he said. “Then we had to go downtown to rent a car (as the airport was sold out) and made the eight hour drive to Kelowna.
“When we got there I was able to see my billet family, which was good,” he added.
Munro then waited while WestJet dealt with their backlog, and ended up driving back to Calgary, only arriving back home in the Valley this past Saturday.
As for Munro’s hockey futures, that remains a bit of an unknown as his rights were released by the Rockets last week.
“I’m not too sure what I’m doing right now – I’m just waiting to see where everything falls into place,” says the 19-year-old. “I’m just going to keep doing my regular regiment and working hard. And when I find a place to play I’ll move forward with that. And what I really wanted was a fresh start and that’s what I’m going to get.”

Swan River’s Tyler Petelski will be representing Team Saskatchewan again at the U18 Women’s Tackle Football Tournament in Fredericton, New Brunswick this summer. Teams from all across Canada will be competing for the championship title.
Petelski started playing football in 2021 with the Moosomin Generals when she was in grade 8 and was part of the team when they won the Inaugural Prairie Girls Football League Championship. Last year, she made the move to play with the Swan Valley Regional Secondary School Tigers Football Team and was the only female on the team.
“It was definitely different being the only female player on the SVRSS Tigers football team this year,” said Petelski. “A lot of teams were really shocked to see a girl on the team. My whole team is very welcoming and inviting. They included me in all the drills and never set me aside or made me feel excluded. They saw me as a player who was just as good as they are and that really motivated me this past season.”
Petelski tried out for the first time for U18 Women’s Tackle Football Team Saskatchewan. At that time, she just made the minimum age requirements to try out and was one of the youngest players to do so.
“At my first tryout for Team Saskatchewan, I thought I did very poorly because I was very nervous going into it,” said Petelski. “The youngest a player could be on that team was in grade 9. There were only a few of us in grade 9 going into the tryouts. The tryouts were overwhelming and had a lot going on.
“When I made the team, it was like we all melted together as a team. We had a couple of days of training camp in Regina. I got to know the rest of the players there really quickly as we were together every second. There were lots of practices out in the heat, meetings and team bonding, before the championship.”
Petelski experienced her first experience competing at a national level with Team Saskatchewan last year. It’s a different level of the game as well and the energy going into it is much more intense.
“Playing at nationals is so energetic and there are so many people there that love football,” said Petelski. “You can tell they love the game. Everyone there is focused on one thing only and you can feel that. This level of tackle football is totally different.
“A player has to be quicker and stronger. You have to be more mentally focused going into it and there is a lot more training to do a month before you go. It’s also more physically draining once you get there to play because the temperature is hotter out there and the level of competition is harder.”
Petelski went to tryouts in May and June of this year and was selected with 22 other female players to be a part of Team Saskatchewan again. She will report to prep camp in Regina on July 16, and then fly out two days later for the championship.
“Last year I was way more anxious when I tried out, as I didn’t know what to expect,” said Petelski. “This year I was way more confident with my skills and had a whole year with Team Saskatchewan already. I had my year with the SVRSS Tigers, so I felt stronger, quicker and more mentally prepared. I wasn’t going to be as hard on myself if I dropped the ball or missed a block during a play as I would have when I first started. I feel more mature as well going in.
“I felt more confident this time around and knew what I had to do to earn a spot again with Team Saskatchewan. I also knew other players and the coaches already from last year, so I knew what they expected from me.
“I’m super competitive, so I don’t mind being one of the boys in that aspect,” said Petelski. “Last season was a really good experience and made me a better player. Making the U18 women’s tackle football team for Saskatchewan again this year was a result of that.”
The U18 Women’s Tackle Football Tournament will be held from July 20 to 28. Petelski is looking forward to taking to the field and showing just how far she and her teammates have come since the last time they were there.
“I’m really looking forward to that atmosphere of game day again. That’s really when a team comes together. There is so much adrenaline and motivation. Last year we didn’t win any of our games, so this year we want to really clinch that one game and build off the momentum from that and continue on from there.

Crystal Zamzow continued her season this past weekend (July 5-7) in Minnedosa at the Manitoba Women’s Golf Championships, finishing in the top three, which propels her for Team Manitoba for the Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship from July 30 to Aug. 2 at Royal Colwood Golf Club in Victoria, BC.
“I shot 74-74-80 for a +12 finish and good enough for third place,” said Zamzow. “I made a birdie on the 17th hole of the final round to have a stroke lead over the competitor in fourth, who was Cala Korman. It was probably the biggest putt and highlight of the weekend to maintain the top three in the tournament.”
Zamzow had been playing some good golf prior to the abrupt lightning delay that happened on Saturday. This led to the tournament carrying onto Sunday morning into the afternoon, which affected the many golfers having to play 27 holes in the same day. However, it didn’t seem to falter the Swan River product.
“My competitive spirit definitely comes out when it comes down to the wire,” said Zamzow. “I need to find that throughout a whole round going forward. My next tournament will be in Winnipeg for the Manitoba Junior Championship July 10-12 at Niakwa Golf and Country Club.”