COLUMN: Carillon Flashback December 13, 1972 – Former band enjoying recording studio success

A casual passer-by and motorists whizzing by on the four-lane main artery would probably miss the small sign identifying several offices at 654 King Edward Street in Winnipeg. They would likely never see the unimpressive yellow brick building; it’s just one more drab industrial site in busy St James.

After all, who would expect to find one of Canada’s best equipped recording studios in that area. But that’s just what Century 21 Studios is; in fact, it’s the major Canadian recording studio west of Toronto.

Everyone connected with this studio is young; no one is over 30 and the youngest of the four genial partners in the business is 25. But, youth has never stood in the way of the tremendous business success enjoyed the past four years by brothers John and Harry Hildebrand and Ron and Ted Paley.

Young people especially will remember them well, as the quartet became one of Winnipeg’s best known musical rock groups, when they plied the city’s nightclub and hotel circuit as the Eternals. The Eternals as a performing group are practically finished, but the members themselves are doing better than they hoped for, ever since they chose to go into the recording industry four years ago, instead of opening fried chicken outlets.

La Broquerie hosts top high school golfers

Ty Brewster just missed out on a top finish at the Manitoba High Schools Athletic Association golf provincials, hosted in La Broquerie Sept. 25.

The Steinbach Regional Secondary School grade 12 student finished with a round of 71 on the day, good for third place. He was just one scoring hole away from Vincent Massey’s (Brandon) Hunter Oakden, who entered his final hole of the round down a stroke on the scoreboard, but eagled on command on the par five 18th to win the individual event.

Carman’s Makenzie Bartlett was the top finished for the girls event, ending with an 81.

St. Paul’s High School (total of 219) won the boys team event by four strokes and Balmoral Hall ran away with the girls event. Their total of 266 was 36 ahead of second-place Birtle.

Steinbach Arts Council to introduce music, art therapy

The Steinbach Arts Council has introduced music therapy for children and youth in Hanover schools this fall with the intention of expanding that to include art therapy next year.

During SAC’s AGM on Sept. 23, executive director David Klassen said the endeavour is something that is being done with care and strong partnerships as it is an outreach opportunity made possible by a $2,000 grant from the Chrysalis Fund.

He said SAC is building the infrastructure that will lay the groundwork for art therapy as well. He said the organization is looking for partnerships to make art therapy possible. Art therapy will initially be offered to youth and young adults until SAC can see where the interest lies.

“Right now, we’re partnering with Canadian Mennonite University instructors to make sure that we are doing the music therapy program with integrity. And we’ve reached out to the Wheat Institute to make sure that we are working in that same capacity with visual arts,” said Klassen, who hopes the art therapy workshops will start after Christmas.

1946 – 2026 Watching Steinbach Grow: Bob Frey keeps things humming at Clearspring Centre for 38 years

NOVEMBER 14, 2020—There is much more to managing a successful city-type shopping mall in a rural centre like Steinbach than just renting out space to retail merchants.

For 38 of Clearspring Centre’s first 40 years, Bob Frey was the man behind the scenes. He was a merchant, a manager, and a politician. Most of all, he was a promoter, as that was the way the Clearspring Village Shopping Centre evened the playing field with the big city malls like St. Vital Centre and Polo Park.

When Frey took on the position of mall manager in 1981, mall owners Jim Penner and Ernie Penner realized they needed the mall to be a place for the community to gather, not just for shopping.

The two men had purchased 36 acres from Benny Reimer and when the mall opened in May of 1980 there were three anchor tenants, Penner Foods, Penner Building Centre and The Met, along with 14 smaller stores and one restaurant.

SRSS Sabres find win column despite sloppy play

The varsity Steinbach Regional Secondary School Sabres didn’t make it look easy, but came away with their first victory of the year in the Winnipeg High School Football League.

The Sabres held off Crocus Plains 21-16 to move to 1-2 on the season Sept. 25 at A.D. Penner Park.

“It’s tier 1 football, there isn’t a bad team,” head coach Stephen Fedus said after the game, noting the Plainsmen have been playing at the top level in the province for three seasons now.

“(Crocus Plains) has been getting better every year. They play hard and they play tough. Our kids matched that today and we earned a win, so that is good. The kids can celebrate that.”

Ivan Normandeau running for second term on La Broquerie council

La Broquerie Reeve Ivan Normandeau wants to extend his 12-year run on council by running for a second term as reeve.

“There’s a few projects I’d like to see across the finish line, mainly the RSR (Red Seine Rat wastewater treatment plant) project,” said Normandeau. “And also the fact that I still enjoy what I’m doing, I still enjoy being involved in the community. I just thought I’d give it another shot for four years.”

Normandeau was a councillor for the first eight years on council and as reeve for the last four. He has more than 25 years experience in the financial and business sectors in Manitoba. He was secretary-treasurer of the Community Futures Triple R board of directors and a member of the St. Joachim Library board of directors. He is currently working in leasing in Winnipeg.

Over the years, he has served as president of the Community Development Corporation of La Broquerie and treasurer of the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste of La Broquerie. He is treasurer of the La Broquerie Minor Baseball League and is the president of the board of directors for the Association of Manitoba Bilingual Municipalities and Eco-West Canada.

1946 – 2026 Watching Steinbach Grow: Clearspring Centre renovation complete

NOVEMBER 12, 2001—Steinbach MLA Jim Penner cut the ribbon to officially mark the completion of a $2.5 million renovation at Clearspring Centre in Steinbach, which had been opened in May of 1980 under the name of Clearspring Village.

Former co-owner Jim Penner (he has sold his interest in the mall to family members and is now the MLA for Steinbach), recalled making the decision to go ahead with construction of the shopping centre in partnership with local businessman Ernie Penner, after realizing the physical inadequacies of their old business locations.

At the time, he was owner of Penner Foods, which he operated until selling the group of stores to the IGA chain of national supermarkets in 1998. Ernie Penner, who sold his share of the mall to Jim Penner in 1996, owned E.G. Penner Building Centre, since relocated in a new freestanding site across the street from the Clearspring complex.

The first phase of renovations included major re-roofing, new heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems, new floor tiles, a new ceiling with additional skylights and new lighting.

Khan goes independent after leaving PCs, Narth takes leadership role

Progressive Conservative leader Obby Khan quit his party on Monday citing in-fighting with party members as the reason.

“I am not leaving because I lost the confidence of caucus,” he told reporters outside the Opposition leader’s office at the legislature. “I won that more than two to one. I’m not leaving because I’m unwilling to fight. I have spent my life fighting for things I believe in. I am making this decision because I will not allow a fight for a title to take precedence over my responsibility to Manitobans and compromise my personal integrity,” he said during a 20-minute address, after which he took no questions from reporters.

Khan survived a confidence vote on Friday with 13 votes to six. Despite this, the former Winnipeg Blue Bomber decided to step down as he learned that party members were meeting Monday night to subvert that confidence vote and he wasn’t going to sacrifice his principles to stay.

“Leadership requires listening, but it also requires knowing when internal conflict has begun to overshadow the work people have elected us to do. I have heard criticism of some of the choices I made as leader, including whom I entrusted with responsibilities in various roles,” he told reporters.

Beauty, bikes and brunch

Southeast Cancer Support Services (SCSS) is organizing its community fundraiser event, Beauty, Bikes and Brunch, to raise money for cancer support programs and skin testing clinics on Saturday at Smitty’s in Steinbach.

The fundraiser is being held to support cancer patients and families in southeast Manitoba. It will include stories from survivors, a spin class, brunch, skin care product samples, and a chance to win prizes.

“We are doing pancakes and mimosas. We love that we get to watch our guests through so many phases of their lives; and to us that also means being there during the times when they need support,” Smitty’s owner Kaely Dyck said in a press release.

SCSS said the event is open to everyone including riders, newcomers, and spectators. Riders at the event will get a chance to win prizes. Tickets for the public are also available in advance online. The grand prizes include Winnipeg Jets game tickets, gift cards and skin products, Winnipeg Blue Bombers game tickets, Zoom teeth whitening and a family staycation.

Keeping community while handling growth

Gary Dyck, a council candidate for the City of Steinbach, said it’s important to keep Steinbach’s caring nature while handling growth.

“I think a key for this council is to figure out how do we build our capacity as a city while still keeping the village vibe, the caring community aspect,” he said.

Dyck, a chaplain at Bethesda Regional Health Centre and former executive director of the Mennonite Heritage Village (MHV) said he grew up in Steinbach, left to do development work in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and northwest China, but came back after the genocide began in 2016 in China.

“I left for 18 years but I’ve always had Steinbach in my heart,” he said. “I just love supporting community and working with others on important projects.”

SRSS receivers commit to University of Manitoba

Two of the first three high school players to commit to the University of Manitoba Bisons this season hail from Steinbach, as receivers Ben Webster and Parker Mantie will be joining the brown and gold next season.

Both players boast great size and skill for the receiver position, standing well over six feet tall. Both also suited up for the province at this summer’s Canada Cup, and were regular targets for Team Manitoba quarterbacks.

“They’re very well-rounded and that’s what has drawn interest in them,” SRSS head coach Stephen Fedus, who was on the provincial team’s coaching staff, said.

“Their ability to block, their ability to run their ability play special teams, their ability to catch and be receivers, their ability to be in on short-yardage situations, they’ve both played offensive line when we’ve had injuries. They’re that level of athlete.”

Carillon Sports Second Shots: September 24th edition

Featuring an SRSS/Landmark girls high school soccer game Sept. 16, a Springfield Sabres football game in the city Sept. 17 and MJHL home openers in Niverville and Steinbach Sept. 18/19.