Been a few quiet weeks of transactions: Ty Worthington's Pinnacle Events is now in the process of opening a Winnipeg office this year. Tents - Trade Shows - Events is what Pinnacle specializes in. Firehouse Subs is looking for a location in Brandon to expand to in the next 12 - 18 months. Bushel Plus a Brandon based Ag company will be expanding into the USA market this year. Bushel is a leader in harvest technology. darryl@bdnmb.ca

Over the next two days the Manitoba Band Association (MBA) Family of Festivals Jazz Band Festival will welcome more than 1,000 students from 47 jazz bands from across southern Manitoba to the Centre cultural franco-manitobain (340 Provencher Blvd) to perform for panels comprising experienced and celebrated adjudicators and clinicians of national and international acclaim. The MBA Family of Festivals, which began last week and runs over a total of 15 days through June 8, 2025, is one of the largest of its kind in Canada. The Family of Festivals continues in April with Level One Festivals for younger band students in both Winnipeg and Brandon where a combined 103 Level One concert bands and nearly 5,300 students will perform. The Family of Festivals concludes in early June with a non-competitive and non-adjudicated Community Band Festival June 6 - 8 at beautiful Coronation Park in Winnipeg. JAZZ BAND PROGRAM & SCHEDULE The full digital program & festival schedule can be viewed online here. JAZZ BAND FESTIVAL ADJUDICATORS & CLINICIANS 2025 Jazz Festival Beginner Class Clinicians Greg Crowe, guitar Darryl Ferguson, trumpet Sean Irvine, saxophone & woodwinds Alexis Silver, piano Allan Suban, percussion Lauren Teterenko, saxophone 2025 Jazz Festival Adjudicators (Junior Class and up) Claire Devlin, saxophone (Montreal, QC) Greg Gatien, saxophone (Brandon, MB) Jodi Proznick, bass (Vancouver, BC) Kathy Van Lare, trumpet (Calgary, AB) FAMILY OF FESTIVALS OVERVIEW The Manitoba Band Association (MBA) Family of Festivals (formerly the Optimist International Band Festival) have been a Manitoba tradition since 1976 and is growing this year to include the Concert Band Festival, Jazz Band Festival, the Level One Band Festivals in both Winnipeg and Brandon, and new for 2025 a Community Band Festival. These educational, non-competitive experiences are designed to celebrate music-making, community, and promote students’ and community members’ growth & development through a long-standing culture of positivity and encouragement. Bands come to share, learn, grow, and support each other and they leave these festival experiences inspired, energized and ready for more. Building on the success of our 2024 festivals, we are excited to be growing and adding several aspects to our family of festivals:   The Concert Band Festival experienced a nearly 30% growth in participation this year, necessitating the addition of a third performance stage at RBC Convention Centre the result being that this year’s festival was be even more exciting with more bands and performances. The two-day Jazz Band Festival is full this year, and includes a beginner jazz component for younger players.   To accommodate more bands at the Level One Festival in Winnipeg, and bands that have grown too large for the stage at our usual venue, My Church, we are adding a full additional day at a new venue to ensure all bands and students can have this experience.   To accommodate growth in participation at the Brandon-based Level One Festival, we are adding a second festival day, as well as a Band Celebration concert featuring the RCAF Band and two student/community bands from the Brandon Area, all taking place at the Western Manitoba Centennial Auditorium and made possible in part thanks to funding from the Whitehead Foundation for Western Manitoba.   We are adding a Community Band Festival at beautiful Coronation Park in Winnipeg to celebrate lifelong music-making and encourage students to continue making music after high school.   These additions and expansions will ensure that no one is left behind and that hundreds more students, educators, and community musicians can have an MBA Family of Festivals experience in 2025 that will stay with them for a lifetime. FULL FESTIVAL DATES & LOCATIONS: Concert Band Festival: February 18-21, 2025 at the RBC Convention Centre and NEW: featuring the addition of a third performance stage to accommodate nearly 30% increase in participation. Jazz Band Festival: February 27 - 28, 2025 at Centre culturel franco-manitobain Level One Winnipeg Festival: April 22 - 24, 2025 at My Church Winnipeg & NEW: April 25, 2025 at École Regent Park Level One Brandon Festival: April 29 & 30, 2025 at Brandon University & Western Manitoba Centennial Auditorium NEW: Community Band Festival: June 6 - 8, 2025 at Coronation Park in Winnipeg

Westman Communications Group (WCG) recently announced the return of its Connecting Westman Tour initiative for 2025. WCG will visit the communities of Rivers, Deloraine, Shoal Lake, and Virden throughout the summer and host charity barbecues to raise funds for local causes. WCG initially launched the Connecting Westman Tour in 2019 to support communities it serves throughout Manitoba. Residents are invited to attend a charity barbecue in Rivers, Deloraine, Shoal Lake, and Virden. Pricing is donation-based, allowing attendees to support the chosen cause as much as they are able. In addition to providing a hot lunch for the area, the Tour is a great opportunity for members to meet key figures of WCG’s Board of Directors. “The Connecting Westman Tour has proven to be a resounding success for local community enrichment,” said WCG Marketing Manager Brandi Crowe. “Our 2024 Tour was our most successful year yet, raising over $26,000 for local communities and the causes that matter most to them. We plan to keep this momentum going to more areas in 2025.” The 2025 Connecting Westman Tour will occur on May 29 in Rivers, June 19 in Deloraine, July 24 in Shoal Lake, and will wrap up in Virden on August 28. For more information about Westman Communications Group and its services, visit https://westmancom.com.

Outback Presents is thrilled to announce that prolific global comedy superstar, Russell Peters, is coming to Brandon for the first time on Thursday, November 20, 2025 at Westoba Place at the Keystone Centre as part of 7 additional Canadian markets that have been added to his 2025 world tour Russell Peters RELAX*. Celebrating 36 years as a stand-up comic, Peters continues to expand his world tour and domination well into 2025! Following his successful run across Canada last fall and sold-out shows in Miami, Dallas, Houston, New York, Boston and DC, Russell will take the tour to New Zealand, Australia, Asia, Europe, and the UK before returning home again this fall with new shows in Edmonton, Prince George, Grande Prairie, Medicine Hat, Saskatoon, Brandon and Regina. Don’t miss your chance to see Russell live in Brandon at Westoba Place at the Keystone Centre on Thursday, November 20, 2025 at 8:00 PM. Tickets go on sale this Friday, February 28 at 10 AM local time at ticketmaster.ca or www.russellpeters.com. Peters was recently named as one of Rolling Stone’s 50 Best Comics of All Time. He started doing stand-up at the age of nineteen at open mics in his native Toronto and spent the next fifteen years honing his craft at clubs across Canada and the UK. In 2004, Peters gained critical and global recognition for his CTV “Comedy Now!” special and soon became the first comedian to sell-out Toronto’s Air Canada Centre in 2007. Peters went on to set attendance records at venues from Madison Square Garden to The Sydney Opera House to London’s O2 Arena – where he broke the UK attendance record for highest number of tickets sold for an individual comedy show. His subsequent tours were captured in his successful specials broadcast on Showtime and Comedy Central: Outsourced in 2006; Red, White and Brown in 2008; and The Green Card Tour in 2010. In 2013, Peters became the first comedian to create a Netflix Original Comedy Special. Peters’ most recent tour, The Deported World Tour was seen by over 400,000 fans in 40 cities across 20 countries and culminated in the stand-up special, Russell Peters Deported on Amazon Prime in January 2020. At the end of 2024, Peters’ released his TENTH stand-up special, ACT YOUR AGE Live in Abu Dhabi on media and community platform Patreon. Like many of his firsts, he was the first comedian to stream a ticketed premiere of a stand-up special on Patreon, bringing this experience directly to his fans. Recorded before a sold-out crowd at The Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi at the end of his Act Your Age World Tour, which was seen by over 300,000 fans in 23 countries over two-and-a-half years. The new special features hilarious personal stories about getting married (again), parenthood, millennials and middle age, as well Peters’ signature lightning- fast audience improv. Peters has been awarded Gemini, Peabody, Emmy and Canadian Screen Awards for his hosting, producing and acting talents. His last TV series, The Indian Detective set a Canadian viewership record for Bell Media/CTV in 2017 and was released globally on Netflix. Peters launched his own podcast, ‘Culturally Cancelled with Russell Peters’ on iHeart Media/Cloud 10 and is developing a TV series based on his childhood in Canada in the 1980’s. He was the executive producer on the Crave TV series ‘Late Bloomer’ with YouTube sensation Jus Reign and appeared in the Paramount Pictures feature film, Clifford The Big Red Dog. Peters resides in Las Vegas and Los Angeles. When not on tour he spends every day with his daughter, Crystianna and son, Russell Santiago. He has a blue belt with three stripes in Jiu Jitsu and is an ardent DJ and hip-hop junkie who tries to get on the turntables for at least a few minutes every day.

On February 23rd, the Brandon Disc Golf Club (BDGC) announced the upcoming installation of Brandon’s first disc golf course. Project supporters and local government representatives, including Mayor Jeff Fawcett, were in attendance. The club was honoured to receive $8500 from the Westoba Inspire Program. Along with contributions from local businesses and individuals, this funding will bring Brandon’s first permanent disc golf course to Canada Games Park in summer 2025. The project is a collaborative effort with City of Brandon Parks & Recreation Services. Sharon Enns, President of the Brandon Disc Golf Club, emphasized the positive impact the 9-hole disc golf course will have on the community and noted it will fill a gap in affordable and accessible recreational activities. “We are thrilled to bring disc golf to Brandon,” said Enns. “It’s an activity enjoyable for all and is easy to play. The course will offer a new, low-cost way for people to stay active and enjoy the outdoors. We can’t wait to see the community get involved and make the most of this addition to our city.” Legacy Westoba CEO and ACU Chief Strategic Project Officer Jim Rediger says this investment represents credit union values and principles. “Supporting organizations like the Brandon Disc Golf Club and the installation of this disc golf course, invests in the health of our community; it provides equitable access to recreation and offers an opportunity for people to connect and build friendships. These are tangible representations of our values and our credit union principles in action,” said Rediger. Installation of the course will begin in spring, with completion anticipated by summer 2025. Enns underscored that disc golf is inclusive and accessible. “If you have access to a Frisbee, you can play disc golf,” Enns explained. “There’s no cost to play the course, so grab a disc and come give it a try. We’re excited to see families and individuals out there, learning and having a great time!” The Brandon Disc Golf Club plans to host tournaments and expects the course to be a popular destination for locals and visitors for years to come. For those wanting to give disc golf a try, Brandon Parks & Recreation offers a free introduction to disc golf through their Fresh Air Fitness series. Club members are also happy to introduce newcomers to the sport. Those interested can contact the club at info@brandondgc.ca or visit brandondgc.ca.