Are you looking to find the gender of your baby? Or would love to see your baby in 3D imaging? Then First Look Ultrasound in Brandon has a treat for you!! Celebrating their one-year Anniversary under new ownership, they will be offering up a month long promotion with some amazing deals, the opportunity to win 4 different weekly prizes, and a terrific grand prize. From September 15-October 15 they will be featuring their “wee picks bundle” for the discounted price of just $100, a savings of 33% off the regularly priced package of $150. Included in the “wee picks bundle” : 20 minute session during which you can watch your baby’s activities 3D/4D viewing Gender determination available (optional, starts at 17-18 weeks) Listen to your baby’s heartbeat Includes 2 3D pictures. Recorded CD of the session. As an added bonus you will also receive a recording of your baby's heartbeat and your choice of a small heartthrob animal for FREE. Additional anniversary festivities include 4 weekly draws happening throughout the month to help celebrate. Your chance to win happens when your name is entered into the draw at the time of your appointment. Some of the prizes up for grabs include gift cards from Browns Social House, a pedicure from Vivid Beauty Boutique, and a gift card from Keywest Photo. Everyone who enters the weekly draw will also have their name entered into the grand prize draw, a $700 value, consisting of a Dyson vacuum from Direct Liquidation and a 3-hour house cleaning courtesy of Pristine Clean. First Look is the first of its kind in Brandon and Rural Manitoba offering 3D/4D ultrasounds to expecting families using State of the Art Technology. Staffed with Ultrasound Technologists they offer new parents dimensional breathtaking ultrasound images and DVDs of their soon-to-be. For additional information please visit their web site: http://www.firstlook3dultrasound.com/ First Look 3d/4d Ultrasound Inc. Brandon Brandon Medical Art Clinic 339 Princess Avenue Brandon, Manitoba. R7A 0N7 Phone: 204.727.3D4D (3343)

Southwestern Manitoba is getting a lot more colorful as home grown artistic talent is being discovered on a weekly basis. This swell of interest in the arts can be attributed to the growing trend of hosted paint night events which are sweeping North America with broad strokes and making art accessible to a wider group of participants. The idea was developed in Boston in 2012, when two socially active men accepted an invite to a private wine tasting and art event. They enjoyed the evening so much that they were sure that this was an activity that would appeal to a larger audience. In four years, they have developed and grown their franchise Paint Nite into a $55 Million per year business worldwide. The duo recognizes that their largest customer demographic is women and they have no plans to expand their scope. While men might also be interested to explore their artistic side, Paint Nite has aggressively marketed to become the new preferred activity for girls’ night out. Paint Nite Brandon at Prairie Firehouse.  Photo:  Paint Nite Brandon Brandon has hosted some events through this franchise at the Prairie Firehouse and the Victoria Inn which inspires local entrepreneurship as hosts handle the local marketing and hosting, retaining 70% of the proceeds from the evening. However, local artists and galleries are also seeing increased interest in their communities and are also getting in on the action. “People are inherently creative and they are inspired to get their ideas out,” says Marlies Soltys, the curator of the Inspire Studio of Fine Arts in Minnedosa. “When you give a child a blank piece of paper and a pen, you can be sure they’ll fill up the page. When you give an adult that blank paper, they want to be given some direction.” Inspire Studio-Minnedosa MB Soltys, who opened her gallery last December has been regularly hosting social evenings with an opportunity for patrons to explore art – but not just painting. The sessions to date have also included working with ceramic mosaics, water colors and oil on canvas. One popular session, entitled “Get Your Creative Juices Flowing” includes wine and refreshments over a six week orientation, with introductions to various art disciplines. In Souris, the community is experiencing an art revolution which began two years ago when painter Kathleen Lagasse started offering classes in the basement of her home. Over the course of the first year, the enrollment had grown so significantly with students travelling from Hartney, Elgin, Brandon and Killarney to take part in the class. She had to migrate to a commercial store front space which allowed for a gallery as well as instruction space. After only a year, she needed to find even more room and has just moved into a larger, hopefully permanent, location. Lagasse Studio Souris MB Outside of her gallery, she has seen great success by hosting paint nights at Murphy’s Irish Pub, creating a social outing and breaking down the inhibitions of people that might be too intimidated to sign up for a gallery class. “What we’ve seen is that the social paint nights has been a great party night for girls or as a date night activity. The focus isn’t just on the painting, but the good time with friends in a social setting,” says Kathleen Lagasse. “It’s a great outlet for beginners and after a good first experience, many may want to try it again.” The event is also inspiring new ideas for the host venues as well as restaurants and bars look for attractions and promotions to get people through the doors. For Murphy’s Irish Pub, introducing art evenings has been a great success. Paint Nite Murphys-An Irsh Legacy “Everyone has a great time and all pieces turn out unique with every individual’s own twist,” says Barb Murphy, co-owner of Murphy’s Irish Pub. “It has been very popular. We have hosted two nights with canvas painting as well as two nights with pottery through Milly McKenna at Fun Time Pottery. We have another paint night planned for October and pottery returning in November.” As the public seeks out activities that offer an experience as opposed to just participating as an observer, art is finding a new home on the social calendars of many in the area. The appeal hasn’t escaped the offices of rural recreation directors and community organizations as well who have also sought out instructors to host community-driven creative events in a number of towns. If you’ve seen the advertisements for a paint night in your area and have been curious to check it out, round up your girlfriends and make an evening of it.  You may just discover your inner artist that you never knew existed.  

What do you do if you have a buying problem?  If you're Darcy Willey, owner of the local Direct Liquidation, you sign a lease for a ton of additional storage space to move your excess inventory over to.  You also plan a HUGE clothing liquidation sale in the form of a popup store at that very location. Anyone who follows their Facebook page is fully aware that Direct Liquidation is constantly receiving new and exciting merchandise by the truckload. The new warehouse located at 34th & Victoria will open up more room for them to display merchandise at their main location. The second location will be used primarily for storage and customer pickups. Darcy also plans on doing several different pop-up stores/sales along the way inside the additional warehouse space, which once housed Zellers. The first pop up store will be a massive clothing discount sale. They have secured over 25,000 pieces of name brand men's, women's, and children's clothing as well an entire Italian women's clothing deal he recently purchased. Brand names expected to be on sale include Adidas, Puma and Tommy Hilfiger among others. As an added bonus they are initially going to be sharing floor space with Halloween Alley so clients will be able to buy their Halloween costumes and clothing at the same place. Keep posted to their Facebook page for updates and dates as to when they will open. Future pop-up sales may also include a freezer sale and possibly a huge furniture sale just in time for Christmas. Stay tuned to www.bdnmb.ca for additional information including photos, pricing and more information on the clothing sale in the coming days.

If you’ve ever thought about escaping the routine of working for someone else and have thought about launching your own business, chances are that one of the major factors that has prevented you from taking the leap is simply not knowing where best to invest. Recently, a list of the hottest trends in new businesses was released and the good news is that there are at least five great ideas that could work in a rural setting as well as in the city.   The prospect of leaving the security of a regular pay cheque to take a gamble on entrepreneurship isn’t a guaranteed pathway to success, regardless of how great the idea is. In fact, in Canada statistics show that 25% of all new businesses will fail within the first year. Of those that survive, only two thirds will survive their second year. However, part of your preparation is in the research of those industries that are growing and how your venture can fill an existing need in your market. The hottest trends for new business in 2016 include:   1.  Senior Care For a number of years, speculators have been cautiously eyeing the aging workforce and predicting the impact on the labour force when the baby boomers began to retire.  While the focus of that information was to prepare business and industry for succession planning, what wasn’t being discussed was the needs of those people retiring. At present, seniors represent almost 25% of our population and as they age and seek to remain independent in their own homes, there is an increasing need for services that increase convenience and care for our seniors allowing them to avoid the fate of being placed in a care facility – that is, of course, if they aren’t left in wait list limbo for an extended period of time.  Businesses which focus on the needs of seniors and fill a need, particularly those that bring the services to their homes will continue to present opportunities for enterprising individuals.   2. Self-storage units This one may surprise you, but when you consider how increasingly common off-site storage is becoming in cities, it seems only a natural fit for rural communities. Whether it be for the off season storage of recreational vehicles, or simply for homeowners to better manage their growing collection of “stuff”, the future looks bright for self-storage businesses. It’s a relatively low-maintenance type of operation which could even be operated as a sideline enterprise, or an extension of an existing venture, if you have the land to facilitate the construction of a building.   3. Gluten-free products You can’t look anywhere today without seeing the gluten-free movement.  The growing awareness of celiac disease and the impacts of gluten are changing approaches to food production and consumption. Even those who don’t need to steer clear of gluten out of necessity are starting to explore alternatives to their diet as well. The production and marketing of gluten-free products, expanding their availability from specialty stores to the market that is looking for them has seen steady growth over the past five years and is expected to exceed a billion dollars in sales annually probably by the time you read this.   4. Micro-breweries As the beer-making hobbyists have started to perfect their craft and delight all within their social circle with their brew master abilities, the number of licenses for breweries in Canada has exploded over the past decade.  It might surprise you to learn that the number has increased by 70% in only a short time.  Micro-breweries, while very cost prohibitive for many at the start, promote the notion of local food production and, combined with a restaurant/beverage room element, have become increasingly popular in the area of experiential tourism across the country.   5. Mobile dog grooming Similar to the services for seniors, with increasingly busy schedules, dog owners enjoy the convenience of a service that comes to them on their own schedule.  It is believed that the procedure is less stressful for the pet when they can be in their own familiar environment, and it also reduces the need for an entrepreneur to incur the overhead of a store front location – instead taking their show on the road with a mobile grooming station in a pull behind trailer, which can be appropriately branded and decaled to promote the business throughout the area that you serve. Now, how do you get started?   The good news is that there are a number of resource agencies in the Brandon area to help you take your idea from a thought to a well-prepared business plan. Government-funded departments such as Entrepreneurship Manitoba, FuturPreneur and Community Futures can each offer some expertise and insight to help you prepare for business and may be able to assist with funding.   In addition to these agencies, Manitoba hosts a variety of entrepreneurship conferences and events throughout the year. Dauphin’s “Take the Leap”, Winnipeg’s “Launchpad” and Minnedosa/Neepawa’s “What’s the Big Idea?” are just a few of the special events which offer cash prizes and incentives to help startups get the wheels turning .

Capture, Print, Repeat, using a Transport Canada Registered Drone, offers professional drone services including photography, 4k video, land exploration and many other custom requirements in Brandon and surrounding areas. Perhaps you are looking for a beautiful aerial video of your farmyard at sunrise? Maybe your looking for overhead video of your children water skiing at the lake? What about an aerial virtual tour of your car lot for your company's website to separate you from the competition? Capture, Print, Repeat may just have what you are looking for. Smaller portable drones are becoming more popular, are user friendly, and have very powerful on-board cameras allowing the drone lower to the ground and in any position...something that is not possible with planes and/or helicopters. Using these smaller drones Capture, Print, Repeat is able to take close up shots of not only farm yards, but also locations within city limits. It is very common for most farm houses in the country to have an aerial view of their homestead hanging in their living rooms. The big benefit of the drones is the portability, they can take it almost anywhere and cover almost any event, photos of homes, weddings, special events, sporting events or anything you'd want to capture a unique picture or video of. Capture, Print, Repeat is equipped with a large HD photo printer, capable of printing 13x19 inch professional photos on site, so your memories are yours right away, no waiting time. For more information please refer to their Facebook page or email Chris at capture.print.repeat@outlook.com