A lot of Canadians have at least heard about Brent Butt. Many of us - especially on the prairies - loved the Corner Gas series largely because it felt like small town Saskatchewan, where it was set and filmed and their neighboring Manitoba farm communities.
Although Butt is probably best known for the popular Canadian series which he created and starred in from 2004 to 2009 when the series ended, aside from working on a pilot for a new series, he’s has taken to stages across Canada for his recent tour,.
Russell ended up being one of those spots as the Russell Flying Club hosted their annual gala evening.
“We had a sold out crowd of 500 people,” Richard Wileman of the Russell Flying Club said adding that there were people in the crowd ranging from teenagers to well up into their 80’s.
“The entertainment was fantastic and Jessica Turnbull and her crew treated everyone to a wonderful roast beef meal with all the trimmings.”

Read more about this event on page 2 of this week's Russell Banner.

Families in Binscarth and the surrounding area will soon see more childcare spaces become available when an ambitious expansion project by Little Bloomers Learning Patch comes together.
Little Bloomers has been part of the Binscarth community for quite a while. The board was first formed back in 2009 with the goal of creating a childcare centre that local families could rely on. After several years of planning, fundraising, and hard work, the centre officially opened in February 2013.
Since then, it has grown along with the community and become an important part of everyday life for many families.
For years, the program has operated within Binscarth School, and organizers say they are very grateful for the support they have received from the school and from Parkwest School Division. Right now, the centre runs a mixed-age room licensed for 12 children, and it’s full.
There is also a nursery school program licensed for 10 children and a school-age program licensed for 12 children in a separate room at the school, which are also at capacity.
The nursery school runs three mornings a week and continues to serve as many children as possible within the limits of the available space.
At the moment, Little Bloomers is operating at full capacity in every program it offers, and the waitlist continues to grow. The centre currently has about 50 families on the waitlist, and that number is expected to increase as the community grows.

Read more of what "Little Bloomers" is all about on the front page and page 2 of this week's Russell Banner.

Talk about the perfect opportunity to give back to the community.
When the directors of the Roblin District Community Foundation (RDCF) learned that the Municipality of Roblin was undertaking a project to improve accessibility at the Roblin Centennial Arena, all the directors voted to get on board.
Read all about it in this week’s Review.

When ratepayers in Mountain View School Division head to the polls this fall to elect a new board of trustees, things will be a little different than in the past.

As part of their public budget meeting, Mar. 2, MVSD presented some options for the realignment of its electoral wards ahead of the Oct. 28 vote.

“I guess the first question that a lot of people have is why are we changing the ward systems,” MVSD board chair Jason Gryba said.

“We have to do this to stay in compliance with the Public Schools Act, particularly section 57, which states that there has to be fairly close to equal representation of voters per trustee, across the wards.”

The effect of Bill 16, which finally extends voting rights to First Nations, also has to be considered in the calculation.

“So we have the Tootinaowaziibeeng First Nation, which are also going to be included into a ward,” Gryba said.

Under the current system, Ward 1 in the Roblin area does not have enough ratepayers to support the two trustees currently representing it, while Ward 4, the City of Dauphin needs more than its current three trustees, given its population.

“The number of voters that are represented by a trustee can vary slightly, but can’t be below a 25 per cent difference or above a 25 per cent difference,” Gryba said.

Currently Ward 1 is comprised of the Roblin Municipality and is represented by two trustees. Ward 2, also with two trustees, is made up by Grandview Municipality, Gilbert Plains Municipality, Municipality of Ethelbert and a portion of the RM of Mountain South. Ward 3 includes the RM of Dauphin, RM of Lakeshore, Mossey River Municipality and a portion of the RM of Mountain and McCreary Municipality, again with two trustees, while three trustees represent the City of Dauphin in Ward 4.

Read the full story in this week’s Dauphin Herald.

The Thunderhill Ski Area hosted their annual Mardi Gras celebration on their snowy slopes, inviting skiers and snowboarders to dress up and make the day a little more colourful, while also participating in egg hunts and competitive alpine races. 

The North Mountain Riders welcomed guests to the famous Bellsite Lookout in the Porcupine Provincial Forest on Saturday (March 14), accessible by their groomed Snoman trails. The day included the official grand opening of the Dawson Inn Shelter, named in memory of club founder Brian Dawson who sadly passed away nearly three years ago on the very snowmobile trails helped build. Pictured here, some of Dawson’s family prepare to cut the opening ribbon, alongside club members, sponsor representatives and supporters. See more on A3.

A family needs our support, the Davidson’s have been fighting with multiple medical illnesses over the last 11 years and on December 4, 2025 Blake was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune brain disease called PANDAS.
The diagnosis has taken the family through lots of fights with our medical system and what will be four years in May to reach this diagnosis. Many incorrect diagnoses were given but the family continued to fight and seek help knowing that things still made no sense.
This has incurred a huge financial strain on their family. They have had to travel multiple times out of the community trying to get answers and help for Blake.
Blake finally started treatments on December 6 and is slowly preparing for multiple IVIG treatments in what the family is told will be Edmonton in the coming future.
Manitoba will not allow and pay for these treatments as they will not acknowledge and recognize PANDAS as a diagnosis even though many other provinces and countries around the world do.
On top of their already pre existing medical battles, Reeann, who is now 12, was diagnosed with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis at the young age of two; Blake, now age 10, was diagnosed with Arthritis at age four, psoriasis and possibly Crohns at age six, Davyn , 8 years of age, was diagnosis with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis at age four and Ankylosing Spondylitis at age five-the youngest patient in Manitoba for his doctor.
No family should have to watch their kids live in pain or with illness.
Mom, Vicki also battles Ankylosing Spondylitis and fibromyalgia while dad, Derek remains the rock of the family.
One thing will always remain the same-Derek and Vicki take great pride in keeping their children active, healthy, happy and their main priority. Their family has been very active in the Russell Ag Society and continue to keep helping anyone they cross paths with. They find healing and happiness on their small acreage by Russell and love to share that with others. Now it is our turn to help them have some freedom for all their financial medical burdens.
Donations can be made to any Fusion Credit Union: Blakes Journey - Account #100101318062 or eTransfers to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Words of encouragement can be sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and will be shared with the family.

Provincial Funding Announcement
This year we did not receive the funding announcement until February 9 and our division-specific funding was not shared until February 10.
This delayed funding announcement from the Province was challenging for for the Board. Planning for expenditures is difficult without clarity on our anticipated revenue, which increases uncertainty in making informed decisions for the upcoming school year.

Changes to Provincial Funding
Currently, the provincial government provides school divisions with approximately 64% of the funds required to operate public schools, although this percentage can vary widely from division to division.
This compares to the 80% of operating costs that the province covered in the early 1980s.
This year the province announced an average increase in funding for Manitoba school divisions of 3.5%.
Only 8 of the 37 school divisions received 3.5% or more.
The increase for Park West was reported at 1.0% but is only 0.7%.
For 2025-2026, our increase in provincial funding was the lowest in the province at 1%.
Our increases in provincial revenue the last two years represent the lowest combined two-year increase ever.

Read more about how higher taxes will be spent on page 2 of this week's Russell Banner.

The North Western Marquette Festival has been the showcase for fine arts in the area for 80 years! This year, there were 88 dance performances – solos, duos, trios and groups, with piano and vocal held in the beautiful Knox United Church and the dance and choirs in the George. P. Buleziuk Centre with 39 performers in the piano and vocal classes, one violinist, as well as five choirs from Russell Major Pratt School and two choirs from Roblin Elementary School.
The annual festival has always been completely run by the board members and volunteers who emcee the sessions, assist the adjudicators, and greet/assist people at the door. This year they also helped sell 50/50 tickets - a first for the festival. Tickets are still available around town. The festival would not be possible without volunteers, including the sound expertise for choirs and dance performances provided by Mel Nemetchek. The final concert celebrating the medal winners, scholarship recipients and provincial recommendations in dance, vocal, piano and instrumental classes will be held on Sunday, March 22 at 2:00 pm in the George P. Buleziuk Centre. The board is always looking for new and additional members. Their AGM will be held on Monday, June 8 at 7:30 pm in the Brad Room at the Russell Civic Centre.

Get the results on page 7 of this week's Russell Banner.

Roblin’s annual Ladies’ Bonspiel played out March 5 to 7 with 14 rinks vying for the coveted Mitchell’s Drug Store trophy.
The finals in the three events went Saturday night, after a sumptuous buffet supper catered by Daneluk’s Kountry Katering.
All the bonspiel details and pics of the winning rinks n this week’s Review.