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The Gilbert Plains - Grandview Ag Society Fair and Rodeo is back this year on July 8, 9, and 10. President Kevin Boese says that after two years without a fair, they're ready to be back.

There'll be two days of rodeo and two days of chuckwagons, we've got a great number of chuckwagons and chariots coming. The kid's zone and everything will be there, so it's very exciting and I think everybody can't wait to get out and do some stuff.

The Ag Society is still looking for volunteers for this year's event, and you can sign up to help out here.

Details: Contributed by Sam Brownell; Published: May 4, 2022 - 6:00 am

On Sunday the Dauphin Rec Services held their first-ever Spring Market at the Rec Complex Curling Rink.

Tamara Kolida, Dauphin Rec Services Programs and Promotions Coordinator, said the event was a success thanks to all the vendors and residents that came out.

It was a great day. We had, I think, 36 or 37 vendors for the market then we also had the indoor garage sale. From the second we opened the doors it was packed in there. It’s hard to say how many people would have come through in the day but I’m gonna say in the hundreds for sure.

Tamara also said the event was a success and the timing worked fantastically with Mother’s Day being the week after.

I just want to thank everyone for coming out. The weather kinda worked in our favour it wasn’t a super nice day so everyone wanted to come indoors and shop. The timing was right with it was a week before Mother’s Day so I saw a lot of people shopping for their moms and their wives. All around it was a great event.

She also said the event exceeded her expectations and the event will be a yearly event.

It exceeded my expectations as well as all the vendors. The vendors were wonderful to deal with and there was nothing but compliments and good things to say by everyone. The public loved it and I think after being locked up for so long with Covid everyone was just ready to shop. I heard the vendors did really well and they all asked me to make this a yearly event so I think we will.

Details: Contributed by Eric Fawx; Published: May 4, 2022 - 6:00 am

Travis Laquette from Dauphin was sentenced in Dauphin Court yesterday, to 18 months for trafficking.

Laquette was arrested in April of 2020 after RCMP executed a search warrant at a home in the city and seized crack cocaine, a large sum of cash, a cash counting machine, and a high-powered rifle. He was 26-years-old at the time of the arrest.

Details: Contributed by Sam Brownell; Published: May 3, 2022 - 12:47 pm

This morning the Dauphin Chapter of the Knights of Columbus donated a cheque for $5,000 to the Parkland Ukrainian Family Fund.

The Grand Knight for the Dauphin chapter Ken Yakiashek said they hope that the families will feel at home when they arrive from Ukraine.

This being a Ukrainian Community, bringing in Ukrainian Refugees is a perfect fit. They’re not going to feel lost in this community because there’s enough Ukrainian-speaking people around them. From talking to the old pioneers that came from Ukraine the landscape is very similar to what it is back in Ukraine. I’m hoping these people will feel right at home when they get here.

The President of the Ukrainian Folk Arts Centre Jim Perchaluk said the hope of those involved in the fund is to support as many families as possible.

On behalf of the Ukrainian Folk Arts Centre and Museum and the many volunteers of the fund I thank the many organizations like the Knights of Columbus and the people in the parkland for their cash donations along with their many donations in kind such as furniture and household items.

All these donations will go to assisting the Ukrainian families coming to our community in the next several weeks and our goal is to provide support to as many Ukrainian families as our community will support through these donations.

After today’s donation the Parkland Ukrainian Family Fund has reached $145,000 in total cash donations along with many donations in kind such as furniture and household items.

Details: Contributed by Eric Fawx; Published: May 3, 2022 - 11:55 am

Dauphin Recreation Services has announced they'll be reopening the Kin Aquatic Centre Saturday, May 7th. The Centre has been closed since April 21st because of issues with the pools heating system.

They're currently in the process of replacing the pool heating system, however, the new system is still months away from arriving. In the meantime, the current system has been temporarily fixed so the centre can open.

Updated schedules for the Kin Aquatic Centre will be available later this week.

Details: Contributed by Sam Brownell; Published: May 3, 2022 - 9:28 am

The Manitoba First Nation Police Service announced the arrest of a wanted man on Sunday after responding to reports of a man with a firearm in a camper on the Sandy Bay First Nation.

With the help of the Amaranth RCMP and an RCMP K-9 Unit, the MFNPS were able to locate Beaulieu and arrest him without incident.

During the arrest, police seized 2 firearms including one that was reported stolen earlier after a break and enter.

23-year-old Ethan Markus Beaulieu is remanded into custody and faces the following charges:

Assault on a Police Officer
Weapons possession contrary to order and fail to surrender authorization x2
Resists/obstruct peace officer
Unsafe storage of firearms
Possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose
Possession of weapon obtained by crime
Possession of a firearm/prohibited weapon knowing possession is unauthorized – second offence

Anyone with information about this matter or any other matter is asked to contact the Manitoba First Nation Police Service at 1-833-978-0048 or by e-mail at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. You can call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1 (800) 222-8477 (TIPS) or submit an anonymous tip here.

Details: Contributed by Eric Fawx; Published: May 3, 2022 - 9:22 am

Last week the Manitoba Municipal Administrators held their conference and elected a new Vice President after their previous VP was elected as President.

Dauphin's own Nicole Chychota who is currently the Chief Administrative Officer for the R.M. of Dauphin was named the Vice President of the MMA after she was the only person nominated for the position.

Nicole said the honour of being named is incredible

You know it means a lot. As far back as we can find I‘m the first Vice President from the Parkland area to be on MMA so it’s quite the honour. It really gives me the opportunity to make connections with other levels of government. We work very closely with AMM and we have regular meetings with the Municipal Relations Department for the Province of Manitoba.

Nicole said that she looks forward to the role and working for the Parkland area.

It is a great opportunity to speak out on things that are happening specifically here as well in addition to the rest of the province. It’s nice to have that opportunity to bring our rural issues to the forefront.

She said the support she has received from everyone in the community and at work has been incredible.

I just want to thank everybody for all the support they’ve given me in this role. This is really about the people we get to work with. My staff are incredible and my council has been incredibly supportive and we couldn’t do it without all of you. I really look forward to representing Dauphin on a bigger platform.

Details: Contributed by Eric Fawx; Published: May 3, 2022 - 5:00 am

The Dauphin Community Curling Club held their first Super Bingo since 2020 this past weekend at the curling rink inside the Parkland Rec Complex.

Greg Thompson, the Curling Clubs treasurer, said there was an incredible turnout at this year’s event.

We had approximately 600 people show up to play bingo. I was really impressed with the turnout from the community both in Dauphin and the whole surrounding area. It seemed like everybody that had not played Bingo for a couple years all showed up so it was amazing.

Greg wants to thank everyone for coming out and said that the Super Bingo will be back again next year.

I would just like to say thank you to everybody who came out. I hope they all had a good time and enjoyed themselves. The Curling Club Bingo will be back again next year at approximately the same time. As a follow-up to this one the Dauphin Lions Club is going to be having a similar bingo at the end of May on May 28 and it will be in the curling rink as well.

All of the proceeds from the Super Bingo will go right back to the Curling Club to assist with everything from membership recruitment, to the junior curling programs and the capital projects at the club.

Details: Contributed by Eric Fawx; Published: May 3, 2022 - 5:00 am

The Dauphin City Council held a special council meeting tonight to discuss the City's 2022 Financial Plan. This meeting was also an opportunity for the public to bring up any concerns about the budget.

City Manager, Sharla Griffiths, gave a PowerPoint presentation breaking down the plan, some of the highlights include;

Taxation decrease of $200,000 from 2020. It is slightly up, 1.6%, from last year. The decrease over the past two years compared to 2020 is due to the government's Federal Restart Funding for COVID relief.
- From 2020 to 2021 it dropped by $301,000.
There is a continued level of spending on municipal infrastructures like roads, sidewalks, and water distribution.
There are no program cuts as part of this year's budget.
Year 2 of a multi-year project to improve drainage at the south end of Dauphin.

You can hear the full presentation of this year's budget on the City of Dauphin YouTube page here. You can see this year's financial plan from the City of Dauphin website here.

Details: Contributed by Sam Brownell; Published: May 2, 2022 - 6:32 pm

The Dauphin Friendship Centre hosted seven MLAs from across the province this afternoon. Representatives from DFC shared what programs they run with the MLAs, and what the provincial funding they're given goes towards.

Friendship Centre Coordinator Jarri Thompson said they were very happy to be able to share what they do with them MLAs.

It means a lot to us that they were here to learn more about our program since we have been laying the groundwork for the indigenous in our community for over 40 years. It shows them where their funding is going, and how well it's being put to use.

Friendship Centre 2 May 2

Back Row: The Dauphin Friendship Centre Staff

Front Row L to R: Greg Nesbitt (Riding Mountain), Hon. Reg Helwer (Brandon West, Minister of Labour, Consumer Protection and Government Services), Hon. Jeff Wharton (Red River North, Minister of Environment, Climate and Parks), Hon. Andrew Smith (Lagimodière, Minister of Sport, Culture and Heritage), Hon. Jon Reyes (Waverley, Minister of Advanced Education, Skills and Immigration), Hon. Kelvin Goertzen (Steinbach, Minister of Justice and Attorney General), and Wayne Ewasko (Lac du Bonnet, Minister of Education and Early Childhood Learning)

Details: Contributed by Sam Brownell; Published: May 2, 2022 - 4:36 pm

The Provincial Government is investing over $13 million dollars in upgrades to Provincial Trunk Highway 5A. Construction is expected to begin this summer and will be completed by the end of the year.

Premier Heather Stefanson was in town for the announcement and said it was an issue that has come up the last few times she was in the area.

It was certainly one of the number one issues that came up, so making it more of a priority I think just makes sense. From an economic development standpoint, but I think from just safety and many different standpoints.

The project will run 1.7 km along PTH 5A from Whitmore Ave south to Triangle Road. The project will include;

Surface reconstruction with the creation of a divided highway.
All local accesses will connect to service roads and service roads connecting to PTH 5A at upgraded intersections to improve safety.
Creating a signalized intersection at the local mall entrance.
Adding service roads to both sides of the highway.

Mayor Christian Laughland was also at the announcement and said the City has been working on the project for over 10 years, and it's really exciting to see the project happen.