ERIKSDALE LOCATIONS • Grocery • Hardware • Card Lock , , 3 1 2 Feb 23 - ARBORG LOCATIONS • Food Store Mar 1 • Gas Bar • Card Lock SALE See Food Store for details BULK PETROLEUM 204-376-5201 or 204-376-5245 VOLUME 4 EDITION 8 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2017 SERVING LUNDAR, ASHERN, ERIKSDALE, MOOSEHORN, FISHER BRANCH, RIVERTON, ARBORG, GIMLI, WINNIPEG BEACH, ARNES, MELEB, FRASERWOOD Clownin’ around EXPRESS PHOTO BY JEFF WARD Lyndsay Forsyth and her young daughter Lauren pose with Snappy the Clown, who made Lauren a beautiful balloon butterfl y during the Eriks- dale Winter Carnival last weekend. news > sports > opinion > community > people > entertainment > events > classifi eds > careers > everything you need to know Pick up your seed starter sets today at Gimli Rona. We have everything you need to make your BUILDING CENTRE GIMLI growing season www.rona.ca a success. 1-877-770-7662 HOURS: OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK MON-SAT 9 am - 6 pm • SUN 12 - 4 pm 2 The Express Weekly News Thursday, February 23, 2017 Uninvited guest drops by during Cooley’s parade By Patricia Barrett been unseasonably mild, causing the event. Sheldon said the sculptures at the An uninvited guest by the name of some damage to the snow sculptures Aidan said he didn’t think he would Festival du Voyageur were also suffer- global warming made its presence felt and making the skating rink a little need gloves given the temperature, ing from the mild temperatures. during the Gimli Ice Festival’s parade mushy. The rain and zero-degree tem- but the rain chilled his fi ngers. Despite the unfortunate weather, last Sunday, soaking spectators and perature on Sunday continued that They paused to admire the work that some people came out to watch a further disfi guring the snow sculp- trend. went into the pickerel sculpture that short parade make its way down Cen- tures in Cooley’s Ice Park. “Too bad it’s raining,” said Gimli res- Stonewall artist Ralph Tanchak made tre Street to the harbour. Local busi- The week leading up to parade day ident Sheldon Vermette, who brought in honour of the community’s fi shing and offi cial launch of the park had his son Aidan and nephew Preston to industry. Continued on page 3 Located just Go West to inside the Perimeter at westperimeter.com 3811 Portage Ave. MEET OUR STAFF 204-837-8372 No Payments for 6 Months Harold Neudorf Harvey Brennan Ken Siemens Available OAC A Viking demonstrated Members of the Gimli his prowess to Art Club carried a giant We make it easy VehiclesV h spectators along the pencil in the parade. 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O.A.C. FREE CAR PROOFS 204-837-8372 3811 Portage Avenue • www.westperimeter.com The Express Weekly News Thursday, February 23, 2017 3 A Viking mom and her children rest by the skating rink in Cooley’s Ice Park after the parade. EXPRESS PHOTOS BY PATRICIA BARRETT Ice Festival mascot Cooley waved to the crowd from a Viking family’s > Cooley, the festival’s polar bear mas- fl oat. COOLEY’S, FROM PG. 2 cot, seemed unfazed by the weather Festival’s October 2016 fi nancial state- children’s skating rink, according to nesses, clubs, the Riverton Friendship snafu as he rode down Centre with ment that was submitted to the mu- CAO Joann King. Centre and politicians participated in a Viking family. But he disappeared nicipality. The RM also helps promote the fes- the event. when the parade ended, and it’s un- The RM plays a role in ensuring the tival on its web page and in its weekly Gimli Mayor Randy Woroniuk, Sel- clear whether he decided to forego continuing success of the park and the events email. For the parade itself, the kirk-Interlake Eastman MP James a ribbon-cutting ceremony at his Ice festival. It gave festival co-chairs Peter RM sent out staff to man the barri- Bezan and Gimli MLA Jeff Wharton Park in favour of hibernation to es- and Susan Holfeuer a $1,500 donation cades and secure the parade route. legged it the entire route, handing out cape the mild temperature. towards the cost of the event, paid for One can only hope that Mother Na- sweets to the kids. People milled about in the rain, an advertisement in the festival’s pro- ture will assert her will in time for Viking warriors showed off their su- spoke with the mayor or went into the gram, provided in-kind services from the March 4-5 festival, bringing con- perb military prowess, and in keep- Lake Winnipeg Visitor’s Centre to en- Public Works and the fi re department, ditions generally expected during a ing with their reputation for plunder, joy a refreshment. and had Recreation staff haul snow Manitoba winter — ice, snow and cold tried to confi scate a bag of candy from The budget for this year’s Ice Park for the sculptures, as well as fl ood the temperatures. a child. was $8,750, according to the Gimli Ice Preston, Aidan and Sheldon Vermette paid a visit to the A Viking took part in the parade. 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Feel free to contact us to schedule an initial consultation appointment to discuss your dental needs and have all of your questions answered. www.arborgfamilydental.com Gimli Mayor Randy Woroniuk 145 Sunset Blvd, Arborg, MB handed out candy along the route. $15 204 376 2624 4 The Express Weekly News Thursday, February 23, 2017 Soldiers conduct winter training on Lake Winnipeg By Natasha Tersigni Using Lake Winnipeg as a stand-in for Canada’s Arctic, approximately 200 members of the Canadian Armed Forces have deployed to Gimli as part of the weeklong Exercise ARCTIC BI- SON (Ex AB 17). The exercise is part of annual train- ing that tests soldiers non-tactical winter warfare skills. Ex AB 17 is 38 Canadian Brigade Group’s annual Arctic Response Company Group’s (ARCG) exercise and includes reservists from Sas- katchewan, Manitoba and Northern Ontario. With the ARCG, used by the Canadian Armed Forces to support the Regular Forces and the Canadian EXPRESS PHOTO BY NATASHA TERSIGNI Rangers during operations taking Soldiers taking part in Exercise ARCTIC BISON 2017 EXPRESS PHOTO BY STACIE NELLES place in the Canadian Arctic, it is par- pack up their snowmobiles and continue their trip Selkirk-Interlake-Eastman Member of Parliament James amount that soldiers train regularly north to Berens Island after spending Saturday Bezan, left, stopped by the Gimli Training Facility where and participate in annual exercises night on Lake Winnipeg. Members will tend to a the exercise headquarters is located and visited with in winter conditions. The majority of national plane crash and conduct various activi- soldiers, including 38 Canadian Brigade Group Com- soldiers on the exercise are Reservists ties. manding Offi cer Geoff Abthorpe, last Sunday. and serve in the military part-time. “Ex ARCTIC BISON will mark a via snowmobile across Lake Winni- to the “crash site,” a 600-kilometre of the crash. Soldiers will return to milestone in the preparation and peg from Gimli to Berens Island to a round-trip from Gimli, to assist gov- Gimli on Friday to perform their end- training of the Arctic Response Com- notional civilian aircraft “crash site.” ernment offi cials with their investiga- of-exercise drills before returning to pany Group. They are preparing In the scenario, soldiers will deploy tion and consequence management their home units over the weekend. themselves for any contingency of a domestic operation, such as what we are presently seeing in OPERATION LENTUS on the east coast for the ice Winnipeg Beach extends pre-payment deadline for infrastructure upgrades storms response,” said Col.