1946 – 2026 Watching Steinbach Grow: Pasteurized milk delivered daily

SEPTEMBER 5, 1952—Every morning, without the benefit of franchise or bylaw, Steinbach Creamery delivers 700 to 800 quarts of fresh milk to Steinbach’s 2,100 citizens. The milk is pasteurized, some is homogenized, and tests from 3.5 to 4.6 percent butterfat. It is produced on 11 of the districts leading dairy farms, all of which are inspected periodically by the Red River Health Unit sanitation inspector.

A dozen years earlier, the town cowherd would take the cows down Main Street, blowing his bugle for all to hear, announcing it was seven o’clock and time to bring the cows to be taken to the community pasture. Practically everyone had their own cow.

But even before the cowherd hung up his horn, and before the common pasture was made into a farm, commercial enterprise was at work.

A.A. Regehr made a sharp bid to take over the milk business, erecting the present Steinbach Creamery building. A 180-foot well was drilled to supply running water to cool the milk and provide water to wash bottles and milk cans. Equipment included bottle washers, cooling vats, and sterilizers. It was quite an ambitious undertaking under the circumstances, and during the first year, deliveries were only 200 quarts per day.

RM of Piney looking for community feedback with housing survey

The RM of Piney is looking for residents to participate in a regional survey regarding housing in the municipality.

“The RM of Piney does a housing survey every few years, (it) wants to keep sort of a pulse on what demand is looking like, where the gaps are, (and) what people are looking for in the future,” said Monique Chenier, economic development and tourism manager for Sunrise Corner for the RMs of Piney and Stuartburn. Chenier is helping to facilitate the survey.

The survey will ask 19 questions looking at demographics, what people’s current living situations are, the types of housing residents are looking for (seniors, multi-family rentals, single-family homes), and other housing related questions.

Chenier said the majority of housing in Piney is single-family owned homes with a “handful” of rentals mostly as duplexes.

Mennonite Heritage Village hosts Manitoba Day celebration

Spectators braved a cold wind to listen to former Olympian Michelle Sawatzky-Koop sing the Manitoba Song as the provincial flag was raised at the Mennonite Heritage Village on May 9, part of the museum’s Manitoba Day celebration.

Close to 600 visitors attended the event that saw heritage demonstrations, free Manitoba Day cake and welcoming speeches in what is the museum’s first event of the season.

Manitoba Day is officially on May 12, but a weekend celebration was planned to honour the 156 years Manitoba has been a province to allow more of the public to attend.

MHV executive director Robert Goertzen shared the importance of the day, which recognizes the moment the Manitoba Act received Royal Assent in 1870, making Manitoba the fifth province in Canada.

Donated painting honours Filipino artist

A painting created by an artist who once called Steinbach home was donated to the Mennonite Heritage Village.

In a ceremony coinciding with Manitoba Day, senior curator Garth Doerksen accepted the art piece from donors Gerry and Shirley Klassen. The painting, a winter scene of a windmill, was created by Juan Vicente Costales Artates, known in the Steinbach area as Vic Artates. Doerksen described him as a pioneer of sorts, as he was the first person born in the Philippines to call Steinbach home. He and his wife moved to Steinbach in 1967 where he became a lab technician at the Bethesda Hospital. He later moved into other work such as real estate and relocated to B.C. Artates, born in 1941, still lives in the Philippines.

1946 – 2026 Watching Steinbach Grow: Town status leads to urban amenities

With the incorporation of the Town of Steinbach came an explosion of civic pride and progress that saw little time wasted in adding urban amenities that were in keeping with the new status of the community.

In short order, the town had a paved Main Street, an enlarged hospital, running water in a number of homes and door-to-door milk delivery, just like a big city. Residents got together to build a curling rink, which benefited both the community and neighbouring farmers who could be expected to do a little shopping when they came to town for their favorite winter recreation.

A number of churches made a concerted effort to help the aging population, with the purchase of the invalid home on Hanover Street and construction of a replacement, just off Kroeker Avenue, some time later.

And like the larger urban centres that dug up city streets, practically as soon as they were paved, Steinbach’s growing pains included a couple of years of less than passable roads while indoor plumbing made its way into Steinbach homes.

St Adolphe School parents ask SRSD for new play structure funds

St Adolphe School parents are asking the Seine River School Division board to come up with funding and apply for a provincial grant to build a new play structure, after the school’s previous play structure was removed last year.

Members of the school’s parent advisory council presented a plan for the $200,000 play structure to the school board and asked for $46,000 during a May 12 meeting. The previous play structure was removed from the Kindergarten to Grade 8 school in June 2025 when an inspection deemed it unsafe.

“Seeing it empty was very disheartening for myself, and for the kids in the neighborhood and the family in the neighborhood because a lot of them didn’t know. But it also kicked (the council) into action to realize we needed to do whatever we could to get them a new playground,” said Michelle Prairie, the council’s president.

Her eight-year-old son attends the school and told her multiple times that he misses the play structure, she said, adding that its been hard on all students.

Graduating Pistons Quizi, Noad, announce college commitments

A pair of key contributors to the Steinbach Pistons from this season have announced where they will be continuing their hockey careers.

Chris Quizi will be heading back south, suiting up for the University of Wisconsin River Falls Falcons in the NCAA Division III. The 2005-born goaltender joined Steinbach this season after four years with four different junior A programs in Ontario and Alberta.

It was a tough season, injury-wise for the Bradford, Ont. goalie, as he was injured early in the season and was knocked out of the playoffs after a hard collision during the team’s MJHL semi-final loss to Virden.

Despite being limited in his playing time, Quizi was still nominated for the league’s top goaltender award, posting a 21-5-2 record and a save percentage of 0.917.

Hanover parents group opposes anti-Islamophobia action plan in schools

A parents group in Hanover School Division has voiced its concerns about teaching the provincial anti-Islamophobia action plan in schools.

“I would clarify myself that we are not here to criticize any religion, beliefs, or any…cultural groups,” said group spokesperson Jaimin Bhatt to The Carillon shortly after giving his presentation on Tuesday to the board of Hanover trustees.

“We particularly support safe, respectful, and inclusive schools for each and every kid in (the) Hanover district. Our concern is focused, basically, on one principle, that is maintaining religious neutrality, as well as (a) non-sectarian education system in public schools.”

The province’s anti-Islamophobia action plan for kindergarten to Grade 12 took more than a year to create with input from national and provincial Islamic organizations, the Manitoba Teachers’ Society, the department of education, Islamic youth representatives, and Islamic associations.

COLUMN: Village News – Mystery in a bottle

Museums are often places of certainty—spaces where artifacts are carefully labeled, stories are thoughtfully interpreted, and the past is presented with clarity. Yet behind the scenes, not every object arrives with a neat explanation. Sometimes, museums receive items that raise more questions than answers. These mysterious artefacts, stripped of context over time, offer a different kind of experience: one that invites curiosity, imagination, and even a bit of detective work.

This spirit of inquiry is at the heart of a new exhibit, Mennonite Medicine: Cures and Curiosities 1800–1950, opening Saturday, May 23, in the Gerhard Ens Gallery. Among its many intriguing objects is a large glass bottle that holds a compelling secret—one that visitors themselves are invited to help unravel.

The artifact in question is an apothecary bottle once owned by Katharina Born Thiessen (1842–1915), a remarkable midwife and practical doctor. Trained in Germany in midwifery, chiropractic, and naturopathy, Katharina brought her knowledge across continents. She practiced first in Imperial Russia (in what is now Ukraine), later in Kansas, and eventually near Winkler, Manitoba. There, she continued her work caring for families and communities until her retirement in 1907.

Katharina’s life story speaks to resilience, skill, and the vital role of community healers in a time before modern medical systems were widely accessible. Yet despite what we know about her training and work, one particular detail remains elusive. The bottle she once used—carefully preserved and passed down through her family for over a century—contains a liquid whose purpose is entirely unknown.

New St Adolphe K to 8 school tops SRSD capital project list

A new St Adolphe school and more classrooms at three existing schools topped Seine River School Division’s five-year capital plan as the division’s growing student population continues to push existing schools to capacity.

The school division released the request list sent for provincial approval during its April 28 school board meeting. A new 350-student kindergarten to Grade 8 French immersion school in St Adolphe was highlighted as the most urgent need, with the division asking for project approval by the 2027/2028 school year.

Superintendent Colin Campbell told The Carillon the existing St Adolphe school, which offers both English and French immersion education, is at capacity and class sizes will increase if there’s no new space. The school has 339 students as of May 5, according to the division’s data. Student enrolment across the division has grown by 800 students from 2020 to 2025, with 140 students joining as of November.

“I think with the large amount of new homes that are being built in that area, it’s only a matter of time that we are beyond capacity in that school, and then it becomes a learning detriment for those students, where learning in a class of 20 students is significantly different than if there’s 30 students in a classroom,” he said.

Southeastern Manitoba municipalities call for more involvement in mining, water protections

Southeastern Manitoba municipalities are calling for more municipal involvement and improved ground water and aquifer protections on mining projects, after the Rural Municipality of Ste Anne passed a resolution to lobby the province on the matters last month.

Ste Anne’s Deputy Mayor Randy Eros moved the April 22 resolution that will go before the Association of Manitoba Municipalities. He said the municipality doesn’t want to “play catch up” if an approved project has impacts on infrastructure or water within the region.

“If you don’t get at the table early enough, trying to get a seat at the table after that’s very hard to do,” he said.

Eros said the resolution was prompted by Sio Silica’s controversial project to extract silica sand near Vivian. Its first proposal was rejected by the provincial government in 2024, after residents raised concerns the project would put their drinking water at risk. The company’s new proposal, with reduced mining wells and less mined silica sand, was submitted to the province’s environmental assessment branch in October 2025, which is still under review.