Tall grass prairie lessons

The sounds of coyotes in the distance, birds chirping, and a 4:30 a.m. prairie sunrises. That’s how Christie Borkowsky starts the day to survey birds in the tall grass prairie.

“It’s one of our natural environments. It’s part of the landscape of Manitoba,” said Borkowsky. “The prairies are important. It has a diverse landscape a lot of special and unique birds and plants that occur here… We’re still working on identifying things.”

Visitors for Prairie Days were offered guided walks around at the Prairie Shore Trail near Tolstoi.

The tall grass prairies were bigger before, but much of it was converted to farmland.

Prairie Wild partners with Steinbach Family Resource Centre for produce

Prairie Wild and the Steinbach Family Resource Centre (SFRC) have formed a partnership to bring healthy fresh vegetables to families in need.

SFRC was approached by Karli and Riley Friesen to see if they wanted some excess produce they had grown that couldn’t be sold at the market.

“Donating to SFRC was the natural outcome of our two needs meeting: SFRC needed produce to run their nutrition and cooking classes, and we needed a way to successfully use up unmarketable produce. We believe that people should have access to naturally grown food, free of herbicides and pesticides, regardless of their income,” stated Karli in an email.

The produce is donated during the summer once or twice a week and is distributed to families who use SFRC’s programing. Food that is not taken or used is sent to Soup’s On and Steinbach Community Outreach.

PHOTO GALLERY: Jumping for joy at Frog Follies

Frog Follies 2025.

COLUMN: Carillon Flashback August 4, 2016 – MHV fundraising getting $600,000 boost from feds

Just days after welcoming visitors to its annual showcase at Pioneer Days, the Mennonite Heritage Village welcomes news that the federal government is providing a boost to its capital fundraising campaign efforts.

The federal government has committed $600,000 to the museum through its Canada Cultural Spaces Fund, museum execute director Barry Dyck told The Carillon on Wednesday.

The support will help to fund two major projects currently underway at the museum, including the summer pavilion, which is to be completed next year and will replace the current outdoor tent. This new three-season auditorium will serve as a high quality meeting space for concerts, picnics, receptions, family gatherings, and the like.

Some funds will also be dedicated to supporting the replacement of the entire heating, ventilation and air conditioning system in the 26-year-old Village Centre. Dyck noted the necessity of having a system that ensures the museum’s artifacts are appropriately preserved.

Steinbach votes to add school zone

Steinbach city council approved a plan that would extend the school zone to Kroeker Ave. near Southwood School as part of three recommendations intended to address safety concerns posed by the school.

The decision, unanimously supported at the Aug. 5 meeting, was in response to a March 26 letter submitted by the Hanover School Division Operations Committee on behalf of Southwood Elementary School and its parent advisory council.

In it they asked for a reduced school zone speed on Kroeker and one of a variety of measures including speed bumps approaching a crosswalk, a four-way stop sign at the bus loop where it meets Kroeker, changes to sidewalks or a “different reasonable suggestion from the City of Steinbach that ensures safe passage for children crossing Kroeker to enter Southwood School property.”

Council referred the matter to administration in March who came back with the report and recommendations at the recent meeting.

RCMP look to public for help finding alleged shoplifter

Steinbach RCMP are looking to the public to help them solve a July shoplifting.

In a Monday press release, police say they responded to the complaint at 2:43 p.m. on July 11.

Although a location was not listed, the image captured from a surveillance video shows the man at Sobeys.

He was wearing a Jets baseball cap, blue T-shirt and blue shorts. He was seen leaving the Clearspring Centre parking lot in a white Chevy half ton.

PHOTO GALLERY: Cowboys face tough bulls at Richer Rodeo

Richer Rodeo began Aug. 8.

Forestry tour takes retired Manitoba officials back to roots

As Lloyd Yarn reaches out to touch a red pine tree’s bark, he can’t believe it’s still standing.

Yarn was a provincial forester who helped plant trees near Woodridge in 1967. Tuesday was the first time he’s seen the trees since they were saplings in fresh soil.

“You think back when you come out of school and you’re planting little trees, and you figure ‘Will they ever grow?’” he told The Carillon. “When you look at something like this, you say, ‘I did this. I made a difference.’

The 87-year-old worked as the regional forester in the area, which meant he was “in charge of the trees.” Yarn oversaw logging, planting and fire management as regional director. He worked his way up to becoming chief of silviculture for Manitoba and retired in 1994 after working 32 years in the province’s forests.

Ritchot’s Sweetest Lemonade Stand is back for third year

Coming back for its third year is Ritchot’s Sweetest Lemonade Stand contest which sees youth entrepreneurs battle it out on who makes the best lemonade.

“I have to stop at every single lemonade stand,” said Mayor Chris Ewen. “I don’t think I’ve ever missed a lemonade stand when I see one I’ll even turn around on the middle of a highway just to make sure that I can support these kids just because I’ve always been passionate about…running a small business.”

Ewen’s passion for entrepreneurship is evident with his own business Perk Events and Perk Coffee Bar, which is now a national company. It was Ewen’s idea to create the lemonade stand contest and with the approval of council and a partnership with Community Futures that brought the idea to fruition.

“They’re making a little bit of money and they’re working hard. They’re not inside playing video games, they’re not in their house being bored. They’re getting out and they’re building a little bit of something over the summer just to make an extra buck and I love that about kids and I love the enthusiasm they have for lemonade stands.”

Springfield police shutters after all officers join RCMP

The Springfield Police Service has shut down its office after its acting chief and only constable resigned to join the RCMP.

The RM of Springfield said in a Aug. 6 Facebook post the police office will be closed until further notice, but emergency services are still available in the area.

“They (the officers) gave us a notice, and we’re happy to see them progressing that way. But unfortunately that left us with nobody,” said Colleen Draper, CAO of the RM of Springfield.

She said Springfield police is often viewed as a stepping stone for people to join the RCMP or larger services, and its not surprising when people leave. But it’s difficult to compete with the RCMP’s wages and benefits because the RM can’t afford to match what’s offered, Draper said.

Rotessa celebrates remarkable growth

Rotessa, a local payment software company, is marking 15 years in business.

What began as a side project grew into a software business serving over 3,000 clients across North America.

“We kind of by accident became a payments company,” said Greg Lepp, founder of Rotessa. “We added this as a secondary service and really wanted to focus on tuition payment plans but this had lots of attraction.”

Originally focused on tuition payment planning, the company expanded into a payment platform for small businesses.