A pair of hockey players, both with ties to the Calgary Flames, will highlight a busy Friday evening for autograph seekers at next weekends Dakota Nation Winterfest.  Theoren Fleury, who spent 11 seasons with the Flames, will be in attendance for a series of events, including the opening ceremonies. The opening ceremonies get underway on the Friday evening at 6:00 pm, inside Westman Place. The former NHL All-Star, Stanley Cup winner and Olympic Gold Medalist is also scheduled to host a one hour speaking engagement, "Don't Quit Before the Miracle", inside the Amphitheater starting at 6:30 pm. A one hour autograph session with Fleury will follow on the concourse.   Photo: theofleury14.com   Current Flame, Michael Ferland, will be hosting a one hour autograph session on the main concourse as well.  His session starts at 5:00 pm on the Friday evening.  This season the rugged left winger has 11 points in 45 games. Ferland participated in last winters festivities when he dropped the puck for the ceremonial face off.   Photo: Dakota Nation Winterfest     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});    

A 27-year old Brandon female has been arrested and charged with a variety of offenses following an incident on Tuesday evening. Police say they responded to a call at 7:45 indicting some items had been stolen from a residence in the 800 block of 9th St. Upon arrival the suspect was located outside of the residence, was found to be in possession of a cell phone, which was property of the homeowner. She was arrested and a steak knife, which had been concealed under her belt, was found on the female. She now faces charges of Possession of Property obtained by Crime, Carry a concealed weapon and Possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose. In other police news Echo Tachan, who had been reported as missing on January 16th, has been located and is fine.     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

There is a particular irony that when local eateries and bistros talk about migrating back to a method of food preparation as nature intended that the story can’t take place without visiting Eden. Only we’re not talking about the Garden of Eden in this instance, instead the efforts of Avion Harvest which is based in the community just a few minutes north of Neepawa. Avion Harvest opened its doors earlier this year when Eden resident Tim Wiebe received a call from a colleague in the starch industry in Carberry, identifying that a former yellow pea producer was looking to get out of the production business and had some equipment for sale. After some preliminary negotiations on the purchase, Wiebe says that the seller unfortunately passed away before there could be any formal succession of the business – leaving Wiebe and his business partner Lewis Pohl to start from scratch both in sourcing the raw ingredients as well as marketing their finished product. Pohl, who came into the venture from the financial services realm, saw the potential for the business and came in as a partner, officially taking the title of marketing manager for the company. Both Wiebe and Pohl looked at the timing of coming into the industry during in 2016, recognized as the International Year of Pulses as advantageous and the company was incorporated in March. “We’ve certainly had a great deal of help from the industry and related agencies,” says Pohl. “We have reached out to M.A.F.R.D. (now Growth, Enterprise and Trade), Entrepreneurship Manitoba and Marilyn Crewe at the Town of Neepawa and they have all offered lots of advice that has been helpful for us to get things rolling.” With a grass roots marketing strategy, Wiebe and Pohl hit the road with their product in hand to market their wares to various grocery chains and restaurateurs. Now expanded from simply yellow peas to a line of seven products including lentils, flax, pot barley, pinto beans and white beans, they have seen an encouraging response from retailers. In their first eight months of operation, they have their product in 27 stores across the Province including Co-op Marketplace, Save On Foods, and a few Bigway locations around the region. Their goal is to expand their market radius even wider into the neighboring provinces. This past October, Wiebe scored a big win for his fledgling enterprise as a featured competitor at the “What’s the Big Idea?” entrepreneurship event held in Neepawa, securing awards in three categories and reaping $4,300 of the $6,900 in prize money issued that afternoon. The partners have an eye on growth with their prize win, specifically looking at the process to become industry certified in their production methods and food security practices. The H.A.A.S.P. certification opens the door to opportunities for international export. Other elements of future growth could present opportunities to work with local producers. “We would be interested in establishing a relationship with local producers,” says Wiebe. “The most important factor in that is ensuring a consistent quality and quantity of the raw product to allow us to fulfill our obligations.”     Aside from expanding their product line, other innovations that they have started to implement as part of their business growth is a migration from the traditional packaging which might lay on a cupboard shelf to a standing, re-sealable pouch which offers more convenience and a greater shelf life for the customers who have the products at hand in their own kitchens. For now, they continue to spread the word about Avion Harvest organically – placing cold calls to retailers, setting up shop in grocery stores to demonstrate and sample their wares, and drawing attention to their website for more details and healthy recipes that food-conscious consumers can create with their natural ingredients. “What we are seeing more and more is that people are becoming more aware of what it is that they are eating,” says Pohl. “People want to reduce the amount of processed and refined foods in their diet and consume healthy, natural alternatives.” The trend has started to gain momentum in western Manitoba, with a number of bistros including Boissevain’s Sawmill, Souris’ Woodfire Deli, and Minnedosa’s Corner Stone Grill adopting a mantra of “real food, the way it was intended” as part of their staple menus. In addition, culinary tourism is also gaining popularity and this year a guide entitled “From Scratch” was produced jointly with a number of regional tourism associations in Manitoba to highlight dining experiences that offer this type of non-processed fare for their patrons. For more information on Avion Harvest and where you can get your hands on their product line, you can visit their website at www.avionharvest.com or find them on Facebook. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});  

NewLeaf Airlines has hit turbulence again. This time, they have taken to Facebook to write a "Dear John" letter and break up with Canadian snowbirds. In the letter addressed to Canadians the company President/CEO, Jim Young, states that they are backing out of the promised routes to Mesa, Arizona and Melbourne/Orlando, Florida. They simply can't do it. He cites, 3rd party, outside influences (AKA another big Canadian airline who also flies blue tail colours) as the reason. To quote his letter directly, "When an airline in Canada found out that NewLeaf was servicing Phoenix-Mesa they too decided to follow our schedule. Within hours, of NewLeaf’s announcement this airline had also lowered its fares and offered service to an airport it had previously ignored for over a decade. We are very sorry Alberta, but we cannot offer service to Phoenix-Mesa this year. This is a classic case of the big guy squishing the little guy so that the big guy can profit more." In a nutshell, it's a classic breakup letter.... blah blah blah something has come between us. Sorry we can't be together on vacation. I still love you. Hope we can still be friends. Read the letter for yourself https://www.facebook.com/pg/newleaftravel/posts/ And, as within any unfortunate break-up, expect backlash. There will be name calling, hurt feelings, gossip. Other angry ex-customers will come out of the woodwork. Customers will turn to the comfort of other airlines for their hot vacation needs and NewLeaf memories will become just another page in a scrapbook.    

Brandon Police Service arrested a 38-year old Brandon woman for Impaired Driving, as well as for Domestic Assault, after she drove into the BPS parking lot demanding police arrest her husband. The accused would not share any information with Police, including what was going on, or her name. Police, upon further inspection, determined she showed of impairment. In a bizarre twist, a male gets out of the vehicle and walks into the station with scratches to his face alleging that the accused had assaulted him, after a night long domestic dispute. At that point the woman was arrested and is scheduled to appear in court January 5, 2017.  The incident took place just before noon on Sunday.