Congrats to Twyla Adamchuk, as she and two of her friends will have dinner Sunday night at Browns Socialhouse with TV Star Jeff Schwarz from the Liquidator. Joining Jeff will be Jason, whom is also featured on the show, plus the local owners of Direct Liquidation Darcy and Doug Willey. Thanks to Blake and the staff from Brown's for providing supper for Twyla and everyone else.  

1) The Brandon Wheat Kings made several announcements today.  The home opener has been set for Friday, September the 24th.  They also revealed their 50th anniversary season logo. For more information www.wheatkings.com 2) Curling Canada today announced the participants in the 2016 Home Hardware Canada Cup to be held in Brandon from November the 30th to December the 4th inside Westman Communications Group Place.   Included in the confirmed list of teams are reigning Canadian Champions Kevin Koe and Chelsea Carey.  Other notable names on the men's side include Brad Gushue, Mike McEwen, and Brad Jacobs. Rachel Homan, Jennifer Jones and Val Sweeting are among the bigger names to watch on the ladies side.   More info. 3) Fans of street/ball hockey may want to check out Houstons on Friday/Saturday for the 8th annual road hockey rumble. This is an 18+ event and there will be a social SudSpud fund-raising dinner on the 11th from 5-9 pm in support of the Westman Wildcats ball hockey team. 4) Smittys announced today that they are bidding farewell to their popular Lucky 7 Breakfast promotion where fans could win a FREE breakfast if the Wheat Kings scored 7 or more goals in any regular season home game.  Some impressive numbers from this year’s promotion regarding the food consumed. 11310 Lucky 7's served 1885 Dozen Eggs 707 lbs BACON 780 lbs Sausage 11310 Pancakes 44 Gallons Maple Syrup 198 Loaves of Rye Bread 343 Loaves of White Bread 343 Loaves of Brown Bread 22620 Jam packets 5) Customers of the new Sobeys, set to open in the Brandon Shoppers Mall, will be able to choose from sushi, and noodle dishes from a noodle and rice bar. 6) Expect an announcement in the next day or two regarding former Wheat King Andrew Clark signing with a team in Austria. 7)  Canadian TV icon Jeff Schwartz will be in Brandon next Sunday for a meet and greet as well as a supper with one lucky contest winner, and two of their guests, at Browns Social House courtesy of bdnmb.ca. 8)  Appears as though Brandon Minor baseball may soon have a new neighbor.  A sign has recently gone up indicating that Westman Youth football plans to undergo a new project to pay tribute to Kevin Boyd a long-time supporter and coach in the football circles in Brandon.  More.

Brandon MB – Brandon has a rich history in the automotive Industry.  To reflect this, the BGMA is pleased to announce the official grand opening of its newest exhibit, “Carstruck: Brandon’s Automotive History”.  The BGMA along with our sponsor, Murray Auto Centre is proud to present a complete history of the automotive sector in Brandon.  The display is made possible by the support of the Murray Auto Centre, which has been a part of Brandon and Westman automotive sector since 1926.  BGMA Board member Tyson Tame commented that “The BGMA as a board felt it was important to highlight the vast history within the automotive sector in Brandon.  There have been many Economic Spinoffs from automotive retailing in Brandon.  Jobs have been created, and it has affected so many lives in Westman”.  The grand opening will be held on Saturday, June 11th, at 1pm at the Museum, 19 – 9th Street.  The display will run from June 11th, 2016 until September. The BGMA officially opened its doors in July of 2011.  Recent popular exhibits at the museum were the History of the Flats, and Brandon: Built on Agriculture. BRANDON GENERAL MUSEUM & ARCHIVES: NEW EXHIBIT OPENING: BGMA Presents: CARSTRUCK: Brandon’s Automotive History Saturday, June 11th, 2016, 1pm Brandon General Museum & Archives 19 – 9th Street, Brandon  MB For more information contact Hillary Campbell at 204-717-1514, or email at bgmainfo@wcgwave.ca.

With the most recent announcement of both Goodlife Fitness the Sobey's south end location moving into the Brandon Shoppers Mall the guessing game can now end as to what will become of those spaces.  Those are just two of the many questions that people in Brandon and the Westman area have been discussing if coffee shops, work spaces and social media the past several months. While these items can be crossed off the list there still remains many unanswered questions regarding various topics of conversation in the Wheat City.  As a result we would like to present the “Top 10 Questions Left to be Answered in Brandon This Summer”. “Top 10 Questions Left to be Answered in Brandon This Summer” In no particular order. 10.  What will become of the development on the property located at 3409 Victoria Ave in regards to potential tenants and future site development?  Plenty of space to work with. 9.  When will the Sportsplex pool reopen? 8.  Will the rumors of a struggling Sandhills Casino reignite the City to look into relocation closer to Brandon City limits? 7.  Kelly McCrimmon, will he return in his role as coach and GM of the Brandon Wheat Kings for 16/17? 6.  Can the Town Centre attract a new restaurant to occupy the space vacated by the newly departed Remington's? 5.  Will Brandonites utilize the Westjet flights to Toronto so they remain as part of the regular flight schedule after the busy summer travelling season? 4.  What, if anything, will become of the prime real estate space which once housed the Western Motel? 3.  Will the Keystone Centre ever allow commercial development on the Keystone grounds along Richmond Ave? 2.  East Side Mario's web site (http://www.eastsidemarios.com/locations/) indicates they are coming to Brandon?  Potential locations? 1. What new questions/rumors will arise in the coming months allowing us to publish a second edition of “ Top 10 Questions Left to be Answered in Brandon this Summer."

“Tenth and Rosser” is a recurring column that contains a few tidbits of thought and assorted dollops of information. Tenth Street and Rosser Avenue is one of the city’s historic intersections: a place of banking and commerce; a place for folks to meet and chat; a place to stage protests or watch parades. And it remains so to this day. *** My congratulations go out to Glen Parker, who won the Riverview Ward by-election and will now join Brandon City Council. Parker, who I worked with when I was at the Brandon Sun, must have been pleased to see the top story in the paper where he is the sales and marketing director. In all reality, putting my friendship with Parker aside, as soon as he announced, I knew he was going to win. Up until then, It was runner-up Tyson Tame’s seat to be had. Tame had run and lost in the 2014 municipal election, so he had a leg up on challenger Delvina Kejick in terms of supporters and knowledge of the pockets of the East End ward that he needed to work on to sway voters. In the end, Parker’s back to basics message and his deep roots in the community and volunteer work with the East End Community Centre caught the fancy of the majority of voters. On Wednesday night, the unofficial tally was: Parker, 385 votes; Tame, 235 votes; and Kejick, 73 votes. Unofficial voter turnout saw 694 ballots cast, including one spoiled ballot. And voter turnout was very low, usual for a by-election. Parker has also promised to keep city spending in line. Something that aligns with the majority of council members, and Mayor Rick Chrest. Parker, who claims no party affiliation (but is clearly centre-right), now helps tilt the left-right balance around the council table towards to right. Former Riverview rep Vanessa Hamilton was an NDPer turned Liberal. That will align nicely with the new Tory mega-majority provincial government on Broadway. *** You know, I just couldn’t bring myself to attend another annual State of the City address. I’ve been to the past 11, spanning three mayors, and the amount of newsworthy items to emerge from the speech were mere morsels in some very thin gruel. That being said, Shari Decter Hirst offered some unintentional humour at times.And the year before I returned to Brandon in 2004, Dave Burgess made an impossible promise about air service that haunted him for years. The speeches are presented at a Brandon Chamber of Commerce luncheon. I’m a member of the chamber (James O’Connor UNLIMITED, creative writing and photography services), and support the organization’s work wholeheartedly. But take a look at one of my few tweets from last year’s SoC address: Yawn city. Mayor Chrest simply doesn’t take any chances. The city issued a media release about the event, which it states took place before 425 people. Some excerpts from the release: In his second State of the City Address hosted by the Brandon Chamber of Commerce, Brandon Mayor Rick Chrest issued an open invite for leaders and residents from every corner of the community to band together and help build “Team Brandon.” Part of that initiative will be a trip to the provincial capital. “It will be a busload of dedicated Brandon leaders and we will invade the Legislature en masse,” Mayor Chrest told the gathered audience. “We expect to pre-arrange appointments with respective Ministers and the Premier, have a promotional booth in the lobby of the Legislature, and facilitate as many opportunities as we can to engage with MLAs of every stripe as well as senior bureaucrats. We will generally put Brandon on the map and make sure they know we are committed to working positively with government and that ‘Team Brandon’ is open for business in all facets of our community.” Interesting that this comes shortly after Brandon — the province’s second largest city — had both its MLAs excluded from Premier Brian Pallister’s pared-down cabinet. I’ve been watching Question Period this week and believe that his quest for approaching gender parity resulted in a rookie female Westman MLA, Eileen Clarke (Agassiz) beating out MLA Reg Helwer (Brandon West), entering his second term. Brandon gets a de facto rep in the form of a nice fella from Glenboro, Cliff Cullen, whose sprawling Spruce Woods constituency encircles Brandon. But it’s not the same as having a Brandon rep at the cabinet table. Interestingly, the term ‘Team Brandon’ has historically been used to reference the city’s two MLAs — from whichever party — trying to steer the canoe in the same direction for key city projects. Usually, one of those MLAs would be a cabinet minister. So I applaud Mayor Chrest’s initiative to make a little noise in the echoey halls of the Legislature. *** Speaking of the Legislature, the tone of the daily circus known as Question Period is decidedly different: •    Speaker Myrna Driedger repeatedly gets called “Mister Speaker” instead of “Madame Speaker.” The last Speaker was male. •    Interim NDP Leader Flor Marcelino is a complete joke. It’s embarrassing to watch her slowly reading her prepared questions and really perplexing watching her when she does go off script. •    With many members from both Opposition parties being from Winnipeg’s inner-city, a lot of questions are about the realities of living in River City’s War Zone. That is refreshing to see. And a flip from when the Tories were in Opposition and most of their MLAs were from suburban Winnipeg or rural Manitoba. •    Cindy Lamoureux, the rookie Liberal MLA from the northwest Winnipeg constituency of Burrows is presenting herself well. She clearly has learned a lot from her father, longtime Inkster MLA and current Winnipeg North MP Kevin Lamoureux. •    But most importantly, Premier Pallister is looking very cool, capable and confident. He’s very comfortable in his new role and has managed to be polite to Marcelino, but taking her to school when appropriate. His handlers have framed his fixed position camera angle so he is surrounded by female MLAs and one of the party’s few visible minority MLAs. Good move for a caucus that really is filled with middle-aged white guys. *** Lastly, I came across a Brandon visitors guide booklet that features a full page ad on the back for the Sand Hills Casino south of Carberry. What a bloody humiliation for the Wheat City. We had one rigged referendum three mayors ago that turned down a casino and held another when we didn’t have to for political reasons two mayors ago. That was also full of fear-mongering and misinformation and we lost a chance again to get the money-making enterprise. A simple vote of council was all that was needed the second time — a council with some guts, knowing that once a casino was up and running, the benefits would be clear. The Sand Hills Casino isn’t faring that well. Geez, who would’ve thought that a casino in the middle of nowhere on a poorly maintained highway without a hotel attached would work? Even staff don’t want to commute there. So now there are rumours floating around. Such as that Sand Hills will close and a new casino will be erected on land northwest of Highway 10 and the Trans-Canada. Plenty of hotels nearby, plenty of tourist traffic, and the city quietly built a service road to nowhere in the area a couple of years ago. Other rumblings leave the Sand Hills Casino struggling along, with Brandon appealing directly to the new provincial government for a gaming centre, much like the Shark Club beside the MTS Centre in Winnipeg. That could go into a new development at the corner of Ninth Street and Princess Avenue downtown in a vacant block the city has been anxious to sell. It would spark plenty of action downtown. Or a gaming centre could go on the strip of land at the southwest corner of the Keystone Centre, now that the NDP’s stupid refusal to support development there was made moot on April 19. But seeing an ad in an official Brandon visitor’s guide to coax people to leave the city to gamble 30 minutes to the east just really underscored to me how some of our city’s leaders had their heads up their asses (sure, I could have said heads in the sand, but I didn’t) on this key economic development issue. Let’s hope next year’s State of the City address has something positive to say about a casino or gaming centre.