COLUMN: Village News – A gift to our community

Anyone who visits Mennonite Heritage Village (MHV) is impressed by the size of our museum. It is difficult to fit a trip to MHV into your schedule unless you have two to four hours to spare in your day. There are the indoor galleries to begin with; the main gallery, the Gerhard Ens Gallery, and the hallway gallery. Then you enter the outdoor village to immerse yourself in the various home settings of the early Mennonite settlers to Manitoba. As well, you are surrounded by various gardens and a farmyard with a variety of animals. Churches, schools, early 20th century village businesses, a transportation building and an agricultural equipment building highlight many aspects of life in a Mennonite community from the 1870s to the 1930s. Standing tallest as the museum centrepiece, is our Dutch-designed, working windmill.

We can be proud of our museum. It preserves and interprets the stories of our communities. It has become a major tourist attraction for the area, drawing visitors from all over Manitoba, across Canada, and around the world. We are a meeting space for families and their celebrations, and we host community events throughout the year.

This world-class destination comes with a huge responsibility to care for the artifacts, buildings, and stories that have been entrusted to us. Our heritage buildings are made of wood and they deteriorate, so we are constantly repairing and renewing walls, roofs, doors and windows. Each building also requires a new coat of paint every few years and with 17 heritage buildings on our property, we plan to refresh approximately three buildings each year. With nearly 40 acres of property to care for, a significant effort is put into groundskeeping, gardening and tree care. We have been entrusted with nearly 17,000 artifacts as well, many of them with stories that assist us in preserving our history and shaping our identity.

Fortunately, MHV is supported in our task of caring for these stories, artifacts and structures. Dozens of skilled mechanics, carpenters, electricians, plumbers, and other trades people assist us in maintaining and repairing our structures and buildings. Many volunteers provide help with yard care and animal care. And we are blessed to have many donors who provide funds to purchase materials and supplies for the functioning of our facility and to support our staff who coordinate all these activities throughout the year.

Steinbach Alzheimer’s walk to build community, start conversations

When Steinbach resident Linda Wiebe discovered her husband started showing dementia symptoms 12 years ago, it began the “slow goodbye.”

Wiebe’s husband, Herb, was diagnosed in 2019 with Lewy body dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease, a degenerative brain disease that causes the gradual death of brain cells. He was 68 when he died on May 4, 2025.

“The impact on families is life-changing, and I think a lot of people don’t realize how far-reaching the disease goes,” she told The Carillon.

Throughout her husband’s journey with the disease, Wiebe, 67, relied on the Alzheimer Society of Manitoba for support to navigate the diagnosis and care. Since her husband died, she’s become an advocate for supporting caregivers when a relative has dementia.

Stuartburn resident sues municipality over flooding, reeve said municipality is naturally wet

Manitoban Bill Dell and his wife moved from Thunder Bay, Ont., to a property three kilometres north of Sundown, near Municipal Road 53, in June 2024. The couple felt the area was ideal for retirement and more importantly it was closer to Winnipeg as their daughter, who lives in Red Lake, Ont., frequently comes to Manitoba with her children for visits and shopping.

Initially, Dell had no problems with living on his 11-acre plot, until the water came.

“And there was no water when we bought the house, and the ditches were dry, and everything was wonderful. And then they put the drain across, and the water started coming slow. But when we got water at the end of October (2024), the rains were coming pretty hard,” he said.

Dell started noticing the ditches surrounding his property were beginning to fill up with water and were clogged by trees that were “growing into them.”

Grunthal Arena gets formal approval of funding from council, work commences

Residents of Grunthal will notice that fencing around the town’s arena has gone up and that’s good news because it signals the beginning of a much anticipated renovation.

While the rink itself will remain unchanged, the project will modernize and improve many of the facility’s supporting spaces and infrastructure, according to the RM. The upgrades are designed to improve accessibility, comfort, and the overall experience for arena users.

“This project has been in the works for a while, so it’s rewarding to finally see construction beginning,” stated Jason Peters, manager of recreation and community services, in a press release. “The arena is a major part of community life in Grunthal, and these improvements will help support local recreation and events for many years to come.”

The $8.1 million project will be broken up into four phases spread over spring 2026 to fall 2027.

CARILLON SPORTS SECOND SHOTS: Centennial Cup Finals

Photos from the Niverville Nighthawks win in the Centennial Cup in Summerside, P.E.I.

1946 – 2026 Watching Steinbach Grow: Council will build outdoor pool for cash

MAY 5, 1978—Steinbach town council, Monday, decided to build an outdoor pool at the new community park, bringing to a close, years of discussions, speculation and controversy. The issue also involved the town’s ratepayers in three pool votes over the last five years.

The spacious, well equipped outdoor pool will cost $350,000; and construction is expected to begin almost immediately to allow the structure to be used next summer.

Council spent very little time debating the matter at their last regular meeting and the vote passed easily, with only Councillors George Neufeld and Harold Unger opposed.

No tax levy will be required to build the pool, councillors pointed out, as construction will be financed on a cash basis. Financing includes a $263,000 withdrawal from surplus funds, $67,000 in labour forgiveness grants and a $20,000 provincial lottery grant.

Ewasko responds to being kicked out of the Legislature, supports word ban by Speaker

Lac du Bonnet MLA Wayne Ewasko is sharing his thoughts on why he was expelled from the Legislature and his approval of the speaker’s ban on five contentious words.

On May 4, during question period at the Manitoba Legislature, House Speaker Tom Lindsey expelled Ewasko for not apologizing for an April 15 remark he made during question period when Ewasko yelled to Premier Wab Kinew, “Hey, quit drinking, Wab,” while Kinew was answering a question from Opposition Leader Obby Khan regarding the gas tax.

Kinew, who has been open about his history of alcohol abuse, has been sober for a number of years.

Ewasko admits he said those words to Kinew, but is adamant that he is not racist and that the comment was not racially motivated.

Hanover kept in dark over proposed Sarto cell tower

A Rural municipality of Hanover councillor says a company that promised a new cell tower in the region’s service dead zone has cut communication nearly two years after it was first announced, leaving residents and local officials wondering if the tower will be built.

SLI Towers, a telecommunications contractor located in Etobicoke, Ont., previously held discussions with the rural municipality in 2024 about putting a new cellular tower near Sarto, roughly 15 kilometres south of Steinbach, said Ward 4 Coun. Ed Penner. The tower, which would have fixed the area’s signal gaps, was announced alongside another structure which was slated for Steinbach.

Steinbach administration said it wasn’t aware of any towers built after plans were brought to council in 2024. They also noted the tower falls under federal jurisdiction.

“If there was a 911 call, we’d be in trouble. If you don’t have a landline, you’re in trouble, and if you’re outside on the highway, if you have a MVA (motor vehicle accident) or there’s emergency needed, you have no response,” Penner told The Carillon.