William Prince is having a banner year

William Prince is having a banner year

The last shall be first, the Bible says.

So it also goes with the 2023 Winnipeg Folk Festival, where William Prince will be the first performer to grace its new mainstage when the event begins tonight at 6:30 p.m.

When the smooth-singing Peguis First Nation songwriter made his folk-festival debut in 2016, his name was the final one on the event’s promotional poster, mentioned in the finest of print.

Seven years later, Prince has three critically acclaimed albums and has made an appearance at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry, shared the stage with Willie Nelson at the outlaw-country legend’s ranch in Texas, made network television appearances on CBS and earned a nomination for an Americana award in the United States.

Daycare grapples with five-year-old’s outbursts, choking incidents

A Windsor Park child-care facility is weighing a five-year-old’s right to care versus the safety of other children who have been choked.

Little People’s Place expelled a pre-schooler in the spring in response to his aggressive behaviour toward other children and staff.

The child’s family has appealed to the province for him to be reinstated.

The case is raising concerns about inclusion support resources and measures to protect everyone at the Cottonwood Road daycare.

For unique Menno-centric take on Free Press, satirist mines her jibes between the lines

Free Press readers of a certain vintage may remember when tuning into a local radio station to hear a pair of disc jockeys perusing a section of the Saturday edition was appointment listening.

On Sunday mornings from 1962 until the mid-1980s, CKRC 630 personalities Bob Washington and Tom Ashmore — better known as Wash and Ash — entertained Winnipeggers of all ages by impersonating the likes of Dennis the Menace, Beetle Bailey and Archie Andrews, as they lent their voices to that weekend’s multi-page, colour comic insert.

In a 1984 interview, Washington, who died in 2016 at the age of 82, attributed the weekly program’s longevity to audiences enjoying the antics of “two middle-aged guys in 24 dialects, giving their version of what Dagwood is saying to Blondie, or what Hägar the Horrible is bragging about.”

More than 40 years later, another Winnipegger is turning to the Free Press for her material. Only instead of reading the paper’s funnies, Lori Klassen, a mother of three and grandmother of two, is funnily reading the paper.

Men cycling across Canada for charity have bikes stolen in Winnipeg

Thomas Clark and Valentin Duquenne were devastated after their bikes went missing outside CBC Manitoba’s headquarters, but uplifted by the outpouring of support from Manitobans afterward.

Sultans one win away from MJBL three-peat

A small delay due to lightning didn’t slow down the Carillon Sultans as they stormed into Koskie Field and defeated the Elmwood Giants 12-0 Sunday to take a 2-0 series lead in the Manitoba Junior Baseball League final.

Across the first two games of the best-of-five series, Carillon has a 27-5 run advantage after a similar offensive output during Game 1 in Steinbach on Friday. The Giants and Sultans have played in the finals the past three seasons, with Carillon winning both previous years.

The Sultans offence was quick to strike, plating eight runs in the top of the second inning. Anders Meilleur cleared the bases with a three-run double to start the barrage, with Dayton Christensen crushing a three-run home run to left-centre to cap off the inning.

“If we get on a roll in an inning, it’s contagious,” head coach Don Meilleur said. “We don’t hurt teams by getting one or two runs an inning, we hurt teams because we put up a crooked number most of the time and today was the perfect example… Anybody on that bench and anybody in the lineup can hurt another team. We just always find ways to get somebody to be a hero.”