Reigning CCMA Entertainer of the Year, Dallas Smith, is coming to Westoba Place May 24, 2022, before heading across the country on the Some Things Never Change Tour. The concert is locally presented by Dauphin’s Countryfest. Tickets to this kick-off performance will be available on Friday, November 26th at 10am local time, with pre-sales for fan club members beginning on Tuesday, November 23rd at the Keystone Centre box office, and on-line at tickets.keystonecentre.com. VIP packages will also be available for purchase, and will include a premium seat, an intimate pre-show performance and Q&A session with Dallas Smith, an exclusive VIP merch item, and more. With multiple JUNO Awards and a plethora of CCMA Awards to his credit, Dallas Smith is one of the most celebrated artists in Canadian Country Music today. Smith’s latest release, the full length “Timeless,” contains four consecutive #1 hits. The success of songs “Drop,” “Rhinestone World,” “Make ‘Em Like You,” and the titular “Timeless,” have made him the first and only Canadian Country Artist in the Nielson BDS era to have four consecutive #1 singles from the same album. Dallas Smith will be joined at the Road to Countryfest performance in Westoba Place by James Barker Band, Meghan Patrick, Shawn Austin, JoJo Mason, Kelly Prescott, and Manny Blu. Smith most recently performed at Westoba Place in 2019 on the Friends Don’t Let Friends Tour Alone Tour with fellow Canadian Country Music icon Dean Brody.

Stars on Ice is granting Christmas wishes this year by delivering a special holiday edition of its award-winning figure skating show. Four-time World Champion and four-time Canadian Champion Kurt Browning will headline a cast of skating superstars in this festive one-night only performance. The 2021 Stars on Ice “Holiday” show will arrive in Brandon, MB on Wednesday, December 29th for a 7 PM performance at the Westoba Place at the Keystone Centre. In addition to fan-favorite Kurt Browning, the star-studded cast features Olympic Gold, Silver and Bronze Medalist, 2018 World Champion and three-time Canadian Champion Kaetlyn Osmond; Olympic Bronze Medalist, World Champion and three-time Canadian Champion Jeffrey Buttle; two-time U.S. Champion Alissa Czisny; Canadian Olympian and four-time national medalist Shawn Sawyer; and former Canadian Junior Champion and social media superstar Elladj Baldé, plus more! Tickets for Stars on Ice went on sale Friday, November 19 at 10 AM. Limited on-ice seating may be available. Tickets start at $29 and are available online at tickets.keystonecentre.com. Group discounts are available for parties of 10 or more. Please visit www.starsonice.ca or www.keystonecentre.com for the latest show announcements. (Stars On Ice News Release)

Enjoy natural trails through tall pines and beautiful trails. Whether for a romantic excursion or to make family memories, sleigh rides offer a unique way to enjoy the Winter Wonderland that is Manitoba. Whirling Winds Stables, located just between Wawanesa and Shilo, is beginning their third year offering sleigh rides to the public and they have been driving this team of horses for themselves for about 7 years. Ride times are usually between 10am - 3pm however special requests can me made for a romantic evening ride for couples. Large groups are not available at night. There is no minimum amount of people for the sleigh to run. The maximum amount of people is between 12 - 16 people depending on how many kids and adults are attending. A number of different packages are available, with prices starting as low as $30 per person (or $100.00 for 5 riders). You can also customize any package to fit your needs. Whirling Winds Stables is the perfect winter outing for the whole group, office party, birthday party, girls night out and more. To book a sleigh ride, or for current available dates, please visit their Facebook page here.

After a two year organizers announced that “Rockin’ the Fields of Minnedosa” will return in 2022 on July 29th to July 31st. Bands scheduled to perform on the main stage include Jack Russell’s Great White, Nazareth, Big Wreck, Our Lady Peace, Honeymoon Suite, Loverboy & more. The Co-op Hilltop Stage will feature their very own headliners: Helix, Toque, & Harlequin. The full lineup can be viewed here.  All ticket holders, festival volunteers, vendors, etc. will require proof of vaccination upon entering the site, as this will be a fully vaccinated event. Tickets go on sale Monday November 8th at 10AM.

The AGSM is proud to announce a new show in the Community Gallery, featuring a selection of paintings by Brandon resident Diarmuid “Derry” Decter, titled Lost and Otherwise Found. The exhibition begins on Thursday, October 28, and will run through December, with a public reception on December 2, at 7 PM. After a decades-long hiatus from artmaking, Decter spent the last five years in a close mentorship with master painter and Brandonite Jan Brancewicz, developing a unique style and a technique. The 57 artworks on display are a mere sampling of Decter’s prolific practice. Over a months-long curatorial process, AGSM curator Lucie Lederhendler and the artist built an exhibition that will take the viewer on a tour of artistic approaches, from saturated portraits to frantic landscapes, soft shading and sharp horizon lines. The exhibition explores themes of displacement, relations, and belonging with an approach to making that is informed as much by chaos as it is scholarship. “Derry’s work is remarkable for being both deeply grounded in academic, art historical knowledge and technique, and at the same time being just accidental, or playful,” says Lederhendler. “Each piece has its very own personality, but when you see them all together, this enormous number of paintings starts to tell a bigger story.” The AGSM Community Gallery is supported by the City of Brandon, the Manitoba Arts Council, and the Canada Council for the Arts. (submitted)