Lake Agassiz vanished, but not from memory — or record

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/11/2017 (3221 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BOOK LAUNCH: Winnipeg Free Press reporter and roving rural writer Bill Redekop drew a crowd of almost 200 to his McNally Robinson book launch Nov 8. His book Lake Agassiz promises to be the hit of the holiday season.

The book’s subtitle, The Rise and Demise of the World’s Greatest Lake is no empty boast. Lake Agassiz covered much of several provinces — particularly Manitoba — and several U.S. states as well. During the Ice Age between 8,000 and 14,000 years ago, a glacier melted and retreated, creating the lake’s boundaries. As a child, I remember driving east from my hometown Manitou — and when we travelled down the big hill into Morden — a former shore of the lake — we’d say, “Here we go, down into Lake Agassiz!”

Radio veteran Terry MacLeod did a masterful job of interviewing Redekop, who spent several years researching the dry beaches that indicated the borders of the lake now disappeared. He wasn’t always mapping by himself, he says.

“I dragged my wife Mary and son Ethan around the province to help me find the ancient beach ridges of Lake Agassiz,” Redekop says. Then there was the science, the history, the politics, the human stories and battles that went with the giant lake, which was named after 19th-century Swiss biologist Louis Agassiz. Dawn Huck drew the countless maps in the 263-page book.

SPOTTED: Publishers Barb Huck and Peter St. John of Heartland Books, looking proud and happy as was Lisa Friesen, responsible for the book’s art and design.

The crowded seating space was full of scientists, teachers, book club types and many writers. Graham Young, curator of geology and paleontology at the Manitoba Museum, sat near the back along with former provincial archeologist Leo Pettipas and architectural historian Randy Rostecki.

Also making the scene: Heather Erickson, councillor for the RM of Springfield; former Winnipeg mayor Susan Thompson; author/librarian Helen Norrie; a crowd of Redekop’s newspaper cohorts such as Free Press writers Gordon Sinclair Jr., Alexandra Paul and Larry Kusch, along with former Free Press writers Gerald Flood, Morley Walker, David O’Brien and Frances Russell.

Other writers on hand included Karen Emilson, Martin Zeilig, Ron Popeski and Doug Whiteway and even Redekop’s Grade 7 math teacher, Roger Starr.

ROCKIN’ ELVIS CHRISTMAS: Elvis Presley tribute artist Rory Allen is coming to the Club Regent Event Centre on Dec. 16 and he’s bringing his 11-piece band. First set for Rockin’ Elvis will be Christmas songs and hits from the Elvis movies, and the second will be the Elvis songs from his Vegas days and a Christmas finale.

Allen is from Regina and is a world-class tribute artist with many titles, and was once named third in the world at Memphis’s Images of Elvis contest. Most Elvis impersonators have to wear wigs onstage, but this Elvis has his own thick black hair and sideburns. Said Allen in a phone interview: “I met Larry Geller — Elvis’s hairdresser — in Memphis a few years ago. I asked him if I should change anything, and he said, ‘You got the hair right. Don’t change a thing!’”

Allen loves the yuletide season. “At Christmas our house is decorated to the nines. I love this time of year because people seem a little nicer and friendlier and smiling,” he says.

Allen is a friendly, outgoing kind of guy. “I go out in the audience and get hugs and sing and shake hands — my show is interactive!” Back home he’s just as friendly. “In Regina, I sometimes end up singing in Costco for people! When people quit asking me to sing it’ll be time to hang up my jumpsuit” says Allen who is in 21st year of full-time Elvis.

SOMETHING DIFFERENT: Arabesque Hookah Cafe and Middle Eastern Restaurant, upstairs at 659 Corydon Ave., is worth the trip. Talk about purple rain! Prince would have loved the decor, which is done in shades of purple and magenta with sensual copper lights in lace-like designs.

Co-owners Heba Abd El Hamid and Mohammad Naser serve an abundance of fragrant, tasty Middle Eastern food. Yours truly ordered the chicken shawarma plate with rice — beautifully spiced, with a crescent of hummus decorating around the edge — enough for two or three people.

Arabesque doesn’t serve alcohol, but they do make up for it with other beverages. Their Turkish coffee is “like drinking coffee in Barbados, Cuba or Brazil — with these small cups, and thick coffee,” said diner Lesley Hughes. Tea arrives in a brass kettle filled with long floating sage leaves, and special tiny glasses for sharing, and people kept coming over to take the lid off, just to smell it.

The hookah experience after dinner — puffing mild flavoured smoke (we tried peach) was harmless fun. No coughing, very gentle kind of smoke passed thourgh a glass water basin before inhalation. It’s a social thing to share at the end of the meal. To top off the experience, big leather armchairs made it a comfortable place to eat and chat with friends.

WOMEN’S COMEDY: On Wednesday, Sarasvàti Productions presents its Women’s Comedy Night fundraiser at the King’s Head Pub, 120 King’s St. Comics include Lara Rae, Heather Witherden, Angjali Sandhu, Carole Cunningham, Danielle Kayahara, Florence Spence and Kate Schellenberg. Tickets for the 7 p.m. show are sold out, but there are seats still available for the 9:30 p.m. set, going for $15. Call 204-586-2236 or visit sarasvati.ca if you don’t want to take your chances at the door.

SNEAKING OPEN: Enigma Escapes’ third multi-room escape location at 25 Keenleyside St., is getting ready to open as they finish intricate interiors replete with all kind of puzzles, codes and locks.

This new location is in a giant warehouse right beside the Pony Corral’s Nairn Avenue location.

The building will house four new adventures: The Curse of the Evil Genie is almost ready as is the Tomb of the Red Queen. Murder at Mardi Gras and Rescue from Voodoo Island are in production to follow shortly. For more information on timing and bookings, call Enigma at 204-219-0014.

Got tips? Fun events happening in your world? Been rubbing shoulders with the stars? Write Maureen’s Tips at mscurf@shaw.ca.