Leaving the office for a quick weekday lunch...not sure where to go...tired of visiting those coupon driven fast food establishments, or being the 14th car at the drive thru line? Next time why not try one of the places below offering up some fantastic lunchtime specials in Brandon. Listed in no particular order. Smitty's Sportsline Lounge: Anyone who has lived in Brandon for any length of time is bound to know about Smitty's Sportsline Lounge famous steak sandwich special. The steak sandwich is topped with mushrooms and onions and served with fries and garlic toast. It's a steal of a deal at $9.95. For those looking for something a little lighter they also offer a daily Soup & Sandwich special with a choice of a home-style cream or broth soups. Pictured: Smittys Sportsline Lounge Steak Sandwich Special Fired: Pulling a Dine & Dash has never been this fun, fast or tasty! Everyday, all day, Fired offers you their Dine & Dash promotion where you start with a large fountain pop and then you can create your own three topping wood fired 9” pizza for only $10! You can also add a side salad for only $3.00. It's a wicked good deal. Not content with just one lunch time offering Fired also offers you the choice of their chicken Souvlaki or Gyro with a side salad for only $10.00 Add a 24 oz fountain drink for only $2.50 and you have one really good, inexpensive lunch option. Pictured:  Fired Pizza Brandon MB Dine & Dash Promotion Chicken Delight. They have a daily hot chicken sandwich comprised of fresh Chicken Delight chicken served between two slices of soft bread and smothered in a home-style chicken gravy. The hot chicken sandwich is served with crinkle cut fries or mashed potatoes, and coleslaw. It's a great deal at only $9.95. For those hungrier mouths looking for an alternative to the standard pizza or Chinese buffets they also offer a lunch buffet featuring hand-breaded chicken dusted with their famous Chicken Delight coating, a variety of cold salads, perogies, mashed potatoes, a vegetable medley, pizza and a variety of Chinese food options. A little pricier for a lunch special at $14.25 but a few things are certain: you have a wide variety of food to select from and you won't go back to work hungry. Tastee's Ice Cream & Grill: One of the best things about going to Tastee's for lunch is that the special changes daily. They do a great job of updating their Facebook page so you can quickly access what their special is for that day before exiting the parking lot. One day you can select from their bacon cheeseburger & fries for $11 and the next day their special might be chicken fingers with frings & bottle drink for $12. A personal favorite happens to be the cheeseburger & small onion rings which can usually be had for $10. Did I mention that they have Coke in a bottle? Pictured: Tastee's Ice Cream & Grill's Cheese Burger & Fries Komfort Kitchen: A few words of advice, get there early, as they are always super busy at lunch time. Monday to Friday from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm Komfort Kitchen offers a soup and salad bar for $11. Serve yourself endless biscuits, soup de jour and a wide variety of salads with this daily special. Komfort Kithen also offer a different luncheon feature each day ranging from a steak sandwich to lasagna. Pricing varies depending on the featured item that day. If your wanting to order from the main menu their super fast and friendly service gets you back to work on time. The Dock: The Dock offers a pick & pair combination from 11:30 am to 3:00 pm daily for only $10.50. First you get to select from one of the following: 1/2 chicken quesadilla, 1/2 black bean veggie wrap, 1 piece house battered fish or 2 chicken fingers. Then pair you selection with your choice of a Caesar or tossed salad, veggies and dip, a bowl of soup, or fries and you have the perfect lunch sized meal. The specials at the Dock just stop there. Like the Komfot Kitchen they also offer a different daily lunchtime feature ranging from a Chicken taco on a Tuesday to a Friday pulled pork sandwich. Each special comes with your choice of a side and a cup of soup for $12.50. Pictured: The Dock on Princess Chicken Tacos Honorable Mentions: Mondays Brown's Social House offers up any of the pizza's on their menu for only $11. Six great choices to select from ranging from a bbq chicken pizza with smoked bacon, roasted corn and bbq sauce to the Thee Meat Cowboy with charred pepperoni, mushrooms, bacon, sausage and roasted corn. Looking at starting the weekend early? On Fridays Houston's offers up an $8 lunch special where you get your choice of steak sandwich or chicken fingers. Pictured:  Browns Social House Charred Pepperoni Pizza Please note that these lunch features/specials, like any promotion, can end at any time so it's advised to head down today to take advantage of one of these great deals. Taxes not included in above pricing.

Traffic to our web site continues to increase by as much as 25%, or more, a month resulting in us having to already upgrade servers. Our top story on Crows General Store surpassed 22,000 unique views, in a matter of days, and was quickly picked up by other media outlets in Brandon and throughout the province of Manitoba. Business stories have proven extremely popular on the site as our coverage on the opening of Ace Kitchen Supply and Direct Liquidation remain two of our most read stories to date. It's no secret that Brandon and the Westman region enjoy sports stories as evidenced by the large numbers of viewers on our stories about the 11 year old who tossed a perfect game and the story we posted from Bruce Luebeke on The Case for Ivan Provorov as WHL Player of the Year. Other popular stories which struck a nerve with people include Day Drinking in Brandon, 100 Men Who Give a Damn Donate $7,300 and Resilient Ross Ready to Rock . Special thanks to all of our writers and contributors who have submitted articles for us to publish and ideas for us to pursue. We have several new writers and guest contributors scheduled to start publishing articles in the coming weeks. Last week we introduced a new feature to the site, Submit a Story. Submit a Story is designed to provide residents of Brandon and area the opportunity to submit stories, photos and videos. Maybe you’ve just witnessed a vehicle crash through a restaurant, your neighbor cutting grass in a speedo, or your daughter’s soccer team has just finished first in a big tournament. We accept submissions from readers, and will publish anything that interests us and matches our focus for the site. In the past several months we have hosted many promotions including giving away a $2,600 bed, oil changes, and everyone's favorite perogies. We also awarded one lucky fan the opportunity to have supper with Canadian TV icon Jeff Schwarz at Browns Social House. We have many new and exciting promotions scheduled for the coming months including giving away a house cleaning courtesy Amber's Reliable House Cleaning and a Dyson vacuum cleaner courtesy of Direct Liquidation. This is just one of three promotions we have planned for the next few months. Please keep checking our web site, our Twitter page, and our Facebook page. Speaking of Facebook we have amassed 3,020 likes in just over 5 months. Not bad. Thanks to our sponsors for supporting us through the launch of this web site. We had many advertisers/sponsors step-up and commit to advertising options long before we even launched live to the public. These sponsorship's and relationships have allowed us to focus and concentrate on the the development and growth of the site and we expect to launch a few new areas of interest to the site shortly.

Some pictures of today's storm in Brandon, MB and area.  If you have photos that you would like to share with us from todays storm please email us at jody@bdnmb.ca.   South of Hartney.  Photo:  Jolene Jasper . Wheat City Golf Course just as the storm hit.  Photo:  Brooke Clayton @ Lil Creek Photography   Dark skies overhead in Brandon South.  Photo:  Curlin   Hail in the east end.  Photo:  Michelle Koss-Lekopoy. Clouds over Killarney.

The Perogy Lady (Sandra Fraser) has been making and selling perogies in Brandon and area for the past two years.  Prior to conducting business in Brandon, Sandra had been selling perogies in Saskatchewan for five years.  Her recipes come from her mother and she initially got started in the perogy making business as a way to be able to be with her children.   By working for herself, and starting a family owned business, she was now able to take her children to their activities and school. At the time she started the business her youngest was only two, she didn't have time to place him into a daycare, and it provided her the perfect opportunity to watch him grow up. Currently, the Perogy Lady, makes her perogies using the kitchen at the ANAF and she plans on setting up a retail location in Brandon in the not too distant future.  The top selling menu item is her cheese & bacon perogies.  She also has a limited time offering which is called the Canadian Perogy (Potato, Maple Syrup & Bacon).  These perogies are already cooked so you just need to reheat them, whether you boil, fry, bbq, or bake them.  In addition to the popular Ukrainian dish she has many other items available for sale including cabbage rolls, lasagna, cheesecake and another items soon to be announced. Today orders can be placed with The Perogy Lady by calling/texting her at 204-901-0846, through her website www.perogylady.com, or emailing her at perogylady@mail.com. If you place an order online it will take a couple days for turn around as they make the perogies fresh for every order. Pick up can be arranged at the ANAF on Mondays and Tuesdays by letting Sandra know in advance. At The Perogy Lady & More, creating and cooking is her passion.  She uses only the freshest and finest ingredients to create her FOOD that will fill your belly and warm your heart. Your taste buds will be happy you did. Check her out as she delivers to various locations in Manitoba and her products are sold in some stores near you.  She will be at Sportsmen Park starting Saturday June 18 until September Long.

May 25, 2018 Update:  BDNMB.CA caught up with Don Ditchfield today and Don let us know that he plans on opening an 18-hole mini golf course at Crow's General Store in the summer of 2019.  For the next several months, as time permits, Don said that he will work on the layout of the course.  He plans to incorporate many different items (old tractors, signs, antiques) so that the course is both fun and educational.  Once fall rolls around he hopes to have much of the work completed so that he can plant the trees, shrubs, etc.  The last step prior to opening in the summer of 2019 would involve covering the course with green carpet. Every now and again a person stumbles into a location, or some local attraction, that makes them ask themselves “how is it that I did not know that this place existed before?”.  Crow’s General Store in Brandon, MB is just one of those places.  Located at 33-17th St. East (just up the street around the corner from the Greenspot) you will find this hidden gem that is a must see for locals and out of towners alike.  The main floor of the building has been converted into a throwback ice cream shop complete with an old soda fountain, classic milkshake mixers, sundae glasses, coke machines and signage that takes a person back down memory lane.  Inside the ice cream shop you can find the old cream sign which was once located in the store next to Danceland at Clear Lake.  The tin roof is from the old Oddfellows dance hall in Neepawa and the chairs are all over 100 years old.  Initially the concept was to have the building resemble an old general store and one quick look at the outside you can clearly see the vision. The project is the workings of Don Ditchfield, who prefers to go by his lifelong nickname of Crow.  He purchased the property approximately 26 years ago and has spent the last 20+ years turning it into what it is today.  By trade, Don was a landscaper, and over the years he accumulated most of his merchandise from garage sales, auction sales and flea markets all over Brandon and Manitoba. Currently hard ice cream and novelty ice cream are available for sale to those who visit the attraction.  The plan is remain open all year round.  In the winter months people who are out snowshoeing or cross country skiing will be able to stop in for a hot chocolate or coffee.  If you have a few minutes to spare it’s the perfect spot to head out for a nature walk, grab an ice cream, and enjoy both the craftsmanship and detail that has gone into this unique attraction. This summer alone he has had visitors from Vancouver to Toronto and he said what he enjoys most is seeing the smiles on people’s faces.  Originally Don built the attraction thinking it would appeal to the older generation who were looking to relive a little of their youth and reminisce about the old days. Much to his surprise Don said that he finds it extremely gratifying that teenagers have enjoyed visiting his establishment as much as they have.  He said that it can serve as a history lesson for many who have never before experienced such a place.  The word has quickly spread and now teachers have started to inquire about day trips for their students to tour the site and to also serve as a quick history lesson for their students. Crows General Store is the perfect place to host your event, go for a nature walk or enjoy an ice cream on a hot summer’s day.  Wedding parties looking for that special, unique place to take their wedding photos will love the  spectacular backdrop that Crow’s has to offer.  Interested wedding parties are encouraged to call Don for a booking at 571-6875. Don wanted everyone to know that “Time spent here, is time well spent!”