Mamma Mia! Here they go again!

Artista Academy is at it again as it has opened auditions for its production of Mamma Mia!

The Lumina production is open to performers in Grades 9 to 12 to audition for major and minor roles as well as the chorus in this production set in Greece to the music of 70s iconic band ABBA.

“It is a great honour to bring Mamma Mia! to the stage,” wrote artistic director Gabriela Gallo, founder of Artista Academy, in a press release. “This wonderful musical is a celebration of love, friendship, family, and the joy of life brought together through the unforgettable music of ABBA.”

Gallo is looking for a dynamic and diverse company of performers who can bring the story to life with energy, heart, and plenty of personality. Singers, actors, and dancers are encouraged to audition.

COLUMN: Village News – September moments you won’t want to miss

September at the Mennonite Heritage Village is both a celebration of the wonderful summer season we have had and the launch of our amazing fall and winter programming that is yet to come. Our event calendar for September is full of fascinating events for people of all interests and all ages. Memory-making at MHV isn’t relegated to the summer months – come make some wonderful memories at MHV this fall.

Fall on the Farm – Sept. 7

Our Fall on the Farm festival is an excellent way to get one last taste of summer while also participating in classic fall activities. We’ve got an amazing lineup of fall themed activities including fresh corn on the cob, a seed-saving demonstration, a hog butchering demonstration and a pork auction. Alongside this, we are excited to host cultural performances and cultural food vendors in the Peter Barkman Summer Pavilion. Of course, what would an MHV event be without our classic pioneer demonstrations? It’s such an honour for us to be able to keep history alive through demonstrations and interpretation. If you’ve always wanted to see a threshing machine in action, a blacksmith working in the forge, or a printer working on a 1909 printing press, step back in time and come to the village.

We will also be hosting our first ever Old Tyme Parade at 12:30 p.m. on Sept. 7 as a part of our Fall on the Farm programming. This parade will feature our amazing volunteers dressed up in costume, the steam engine, a team of horses, and some other fun features. The parade will run down the Main Street of the Mennonite Heritage Village. Fall on the Farm is a great way to celebrate the last weekend of summer and the start of fall and we hope to see you there.

Providence athletics set for campus return

Manitoba Colleges Athletic Conference volleyball and basketball action is returning to Otterburne.

Providence College is planning on bringing athletics back to their campus on a full-time basis. For the past five seasons the college has hosted volleyball and basketball games at the Niverville Resource and Rec Centre.

Last season saw the return of futsal (a soccer-like sport played on a basketball court) to campus. Pilots soccer plays on fields in Otterburne (season opener Sept. 12).

Providence’s volleyball teams will make their return Oct. 23 and the basketball team will be in action Nov. 7.

Stuartburn reeve seeking re-election, Gawronsky: ‘This isn’t a job for me. This is a passion.’

RM of Stuartburn Reeve Michelle Gawronsky is running for re-election and she says there are projects she wants to see completed going forward and that being reeve is more than a job for her.

“This isn’t a job for me. This is a passion,” she said.

Gawronsky wants to run again because she said council is in the middle of getting work done that she wants to see come to completion, such as paving the roads so that semi-trailers can travel down them which will bring in business and with that tourism.

She said the re-paving of Highway 209 is complete and people can now travel over the bridge.

COLUMN: Carillon Flashback August 17, 1983 – Elsie’s Tolstoi Hotel no longer ‘men-only’

Another stronghold of traditional male dominance fell, as women’s liberation scored a long-awaited victory at the old Tolstoi Hotel.

Owner Elsie Kolodzinski invited friends, family and visitors to her hotel bar for a three-day “opening.” Although the small, homey facility has housed one of the province’s few remaining men-only beer parlors for the past 41 years, it was finally reintroduced as a mixed beverage room last Tuesday.

The historic, quaint and picturesque establishment, complete with its old-fashioned beer parlor, has been written up in numerous travel brochures and guides, newspapers and books. Elsie and Walter bought and moved into the hotel a year after they were married and have been operating it ever since.

Although Elsie experienced a difficult emotional and physical setback after her husband of 43 years died suddenly of a massive heart attack a few days before his 69th birthday, she has now decided to carry on the business with the help of friends and family.

Niverville holds climate action plan open house to get resident feedback

The Town of Niverville held an open house last week to get input from residents to its proposed climate action plan, which shows residents how climate change will impact the town’s infrastructure and what might be done to address the affects of climate change.

Town manager of engineering Daniel Wiebe said grants from the federal government (Green Municipal Fund) and provincial government (Climate Action Fund) were used to hire consultants to create the plan.

“It was a great opportunity to further not only our asset management system, but also our climate resilience as well. We hired some consultants, they put this plan together for us just to show us where our assets may be at risk and what we can do about it,” said Wiebe.

The plan has been in the works since last fall when the town conducted a community climate survey, but director of communications and public relations Cyrus Reimer said council and administration have been discussing the impact of climate change on infrastructure for about two to three years. Wiebe said action was taken now because of funding.

Hanover councillor running for third term, says he’s committed

Ward 1 Coun. Travis Doerksen is running for his third term on council and he said it was a fairly easy decision for him to make.

“I had support from my family and a lot of the ratepayers. So yeah, it was an easy decision for me. I’m running because I think there’s still a lot left to do in Hanover,” said Doerksen.

Some of the projects that this council has worked on that have been beneficial for Ward 1 have been the new rec centre in New Bothwell, a new outdoor rink and cover, and the establishment of the New Bothwell LUD, which is in its first term. Doerksen also noted there have been a lot of sidewalks and trees planted in New Bothwell as well that have benefited the community.

Projects that are currently in the works in the RM include the Grunthal Arena and the Red Seine Rat Wastewater Treatment plant just north of Niverville. What is really exciting for Doerksen in regards to Ward 1, and the RM as a whole, is drainage. He said the RM is currently working on a drainage master plan.

Icebreaker in Morris featured star-studded finals

The action inside the Morris Curling Club was as hot as the weather last weekend, as the club hosted their annual Manitoba Curling Tour “Icebreaker Challenge” event, attracting teams with Olympic dreams.

The tournament drew some of the game’s rising stars, with 2026 world junior champions Team Hebert defeating fellow American rink Team Dunnam in the men’s final Aug. 30.

A four-point outburst in the third end after Dunnam’s final stone of the end slid to the back of the house was more than enough for the Eau Claire, Wisconsin based rink to take home top prize.

Hebert was aggressive from the beginning, throwing early guards in each end before the big breakthrough in the third.

COLUMN: Carillon Flashback December 11, 1991 – Ukrainians celebrate rebirth of homeland

Bells rang out at 24 Ukrainian churches in Winnipeg and many more in rural Manitoba, as Canadians of Ukrainian descent celebrated the independence of Ukraine.

Fred Jaskiw waved the Ukrainian flag and rang the bell at the Pansy Ukrainian Catholic Church, as he joined the celebration of a new future for his relatives in Ukraine.

As soon as a visa is available, Jaskiw says he will be off to Ukraine to visit relatives and “help them celebrate and see what needs to be done.”

Jaskiw said he tried to telephone his nephew Walter, who visited Canada in 1990, but after the vote he found himself among the thousands of Canadians who couldn’t get through the jammed phone lines. Ukraine still has no embassy, so he will have to go through the Soviet embassy for a visa, but does not see any problem there.

CARILLON SPORTS SECOND SHOTS: Aug. 27th edition

Featuring Steinbach Pistons and Niverville Nighthawks prospects camp and the Eastman Raiders "Bark at the Park" event.

Dynacare prepares for strike

Seven full-time employees and some casual workers in Steinbach will be affected if Dynacare employees represented by the MAHCP (Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals) head to the picket line.

The union announced a strike deadline on Aug. 21 after receiving a 99.7 percent strike mandate from the nearly 350 laboratory professionals working at Dynacare’s 22 laboratory and health services centres in Winnipeg, Brandon and rural Manitoba.

Dynacare is a subsidiary of North Carolina based LabCorp.

In a press release the union stated that Dynacare wages have fallen 20 to 50 percent behind public hospital laboratories since 2017.

1946 – 2026 Watching Steinbach Grow: Affordable housing key to Steinbach growth

Affordable housing has always been one of the main reasons Steinbach is attractive to rural and city home buyers alike. With constant residential expansion, the industrial and commercial sectors have found the community a great place to set up shop, and construction along Main Street and in the community’s shopping malls and industrial parks followed the rapid growth of Steinbach’s many residential developments.

From the time C.T. Loewen’s offered a Loewen-Bilt bungalow for $2,825 and developed a subdivision with a lot to put it on, until today’s partnership between a builder, a developer and the Steinbach Credit Union, which gives buyers the ability to move into a home of their own with a much lower down payment, Steinbach has seen innovative ways to boost population.

The habit of saving came early for the third generation of Steinbach families and the work ethic of the community was certainly, in many cases, carried over from earlier generations.

A local realtor/developer who joined forces with a local builder to create a plan to ensure a continuation of affordable housing, as the town grew to a city, is certainly an example of that.