Walk for mental health grows into third year

The Sashbear Walk for Mental Health raised close to $8,100 and attracted 129 participants, more than ever before for the third annual event on May 23.

Steinbach walk coordinator Marisol Pulido shared her gratitude for those who walk alongside each other in their mental health journeys.

“We need to be together,” she told the crowd preparing to walk outside the Steinbach Arts Council’s facility in Steinbach. “We need to be working as a community towards mental health, and we are not going to do it alone.”

“You guys are not alone,” she added.

Warkentine set to join Kihn at Valley City

Another softball player from the region is heading south to pursue a post-secondary career.

Landmark’s Kelsey Warkentine will be playing for the Valley City Vikings beginning next season. The graduating player was named the Jean Mayne Memorial Award Winner as the top female softball player in the province for 2025, helping the U17 Eastman Wildcats to a provincial championship.

La Broquerie’s Pascale Kihn joined Valley City last year, so Warkentine had the inside scoop on what the program was like.

“It’s a very small school, their coaches are very nice, it’s the right level for me I feel like,” Warkentine said.

Rugby continues expansion at Steinbach Regional

The Steinbach Regional Secondary School Sabres are fast becoming a destination for Rugby.

After dominating the Winnipeg Sevens league for the past few seasons, they’ve added 15s and 10s to their offerings and have immediately found success there as well, all while maintaining that high level in the smaller formats.

“We’re on the rugby pitch most days of the week now which is amazing, but learning a couple different games has been a challenge,” head coach Tahnee Grosskopf said.

“The girls have definately risen to that challenge.”

1946 – 2026 Watching Steinbach Grow – Kinsmen will retain pool site for park

JUNE 18, 1975—-The Steinbach Kinsmen will retain ownership of their pool and park property on Elmdale Drive, even though the pool itself will not reopen and is being filled in with dirt.

Club president Jim Koepke said members decided the property should not be sold, but rather be designated for use as a public picnic area.

Considerable debate preceded the decision, with several members arguing that the property, estimated to be worth $50,000, should be sold for the best possible price and the money placed in a trust fund to be used to help build a proposed indoor pool.

The president said the club has a verbal agreement from the town that it will maintain the property during the summer and the Kinsmen hoped to add items like picnic tables and barbecue pits to the site.

Grass fire near Richer leaves crews ‘exhausted’: deputy chief

High winds and dry conditions created the perfect storm for a grass fire to burn out of control near Richer last week, destroying a car and multiple trailers.

Firefighters from the Richer and Ste Anne Fire Departments battled flames near Road 46 North from 6:48 p.m. on May 13 until 4 a.m. the next day. Crews protected roughly 600 acres of land, with flames getting as closes as 4.5 metres to some homes.

“It was a lot. I’m pretty tired. My team is pretty exhausted,” said David Reith, deputy fire chief for the Richer Fire Department.

Videos posted on Richer Fire Department’s Facebook page showed a hazy, orange horizon as crews used shovels to tackle the blazes.

1946 – 2026 Watching Steinbach Grow: City praised for building indoor pool

October 24, 2002—-Steinbach city councillors were praised for their vision and courage in deciding to build the community’s new indoor leisure pool, which was officially opened in a short ceremony, complete with a surprise dunking of the mayor.

The gleaming, new $5.7 million Steinbach Aquatic Centre, featuring a lap pool and adjacent leisure centre boasting a large water slide, water spraying devices, “lazy river” walk, whirlpool and sauna, opened to the public late in September.

The new indoor facility is located alongside the existing outdoor pool, which will be used seasonally through a common entrance to the new centre.

Mayor Les Magnusson said the project is a tribute to city staff, among them city manager Jack Kehler, treasurer Troy Warkentin and pool manager Kim Duncan, who worked tirelessly to help the pool through design and construction.

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.