A look back at 2021

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/12/2021 (1384 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If 2020 was a year like no other, with the arrival of the global COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant disruption of life as we knew it, then 2021 was A Year Like No Other: The Sequel.

The ‘new normal’ of life in Manitoba involves hand sanitizer, mandatory face masks in public spaces and the expansion and contraction of public health restrictions.

Children and students spent the first half of the year finishing up the 2020-21 school year in virtual classrooms. By fall, businesses, schools and event and entertainment venues began to open up at full capacity (with mandatory masking for all and proof of vaccination requirements for adults).
However, the rollercoaster nature of this SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has been such that  we end 2021 worrying about the new, seemingly more infectious Omicron strain of the virus and wondering if we may yet face another lockdown and tighter restrictions.

Throughout the year, however, most Manitobans have proven themselves to be caring, thoughtful and resilient. We have found  new and creative ways to endure the difficulties of the past 12 months, and to make the most of what we have been able to do.

January: Best Buy Homes is site of spectacular blaze

Kelly Genn was shocked to learn on Christmas Eve, 2020, that the storage facility of  Best Buy Homes, the business her family has owned and operated for 60 years, was ablaze at 4250 Portage Ave. in Headingley.

Two dogs were killed in the fire and several mobile and modular homes were damaged or destroyed but no people were harmed or injured. Headingley firefighters worked 10 hours in -30 temperatures to knock down the blaze. The company began rebuilding in the spring.

Because most arenas in the area were closed for use owing to pandemic restrictions, many people and businesses in The Headliner’s coverage area built their own outdoor rinks, including Breezy Bend Country Club, which built a rink for public use on the pond near the 18th hole of its golf course.

February: Keira’s Winter Klassic transforms into a shooting competition

Josie and Olivia Miller laced up their skates, grabbed their ringette sticks and hit the ice to take 100 shots per day for 12 days in February.

In a normal year, the 10-year-old twins from Headingley would  be practising their wrist shots and backhands with the rest of their U12 St. James Boom team. In a normal year, they’d also be at the Keith Bodley Arena on the first weekend of February for Keira’s Winter Klassic, a U12 ringette tournament to raise money for pediatric brain cancer research.

Instead of the actual tournament, Keira’s Winter Klassic became a 12-day shooting challenge for participating teams.

“They’re all feeling quite disconnected and sad that they’re not able to play ringette right now, so it’s nice for them to be able to have a friendly competition,” said Jen Biggs, the twins’ mother and assistant coach of their ringette team.

Keira’s Winter Klassic began in 2018. Keira Bond, the tournament’s namesake, died of brain cancer in June of 2017 and a tournament was created in her honour to raise money for research. While sick, Bond had begun an initiative called Keira’s Krusade, which raised funds or others with cancer.
When social media posts about the shooting challenge spread, teams from British Columbia to Prince Edward Island signed up. Eventually 26 teams participated in the challenge, with eight from Manitoba and nine from Nova Scotia, and Keira’s Winter Klassic raised over $10,000.
   
March: Howden farmer goes viral singing to his chickens

Phoenix School in Headingley created excitement in March by letting parents and students know that it had successfully raised the funds to create an outdoor classroom near its playground.

The concept had been in the works since 2018. Sally Guarino, chair of the school’s outdoor classroom committee and treasurer of the parent council, said she didn’t expect the project to be a go for another three years. But, thanks to grants — including a significant COVID-19 relief one — organizers were able to start buying materials.

Construction started in June, and the classroom was open for teachers to book in September.

Meanwhile, Howden farmer Russell Loewen caught the attention of more than a few people with YouTube and Instagram videos of him singing along with the chickens in his henhouse.

Loewen, 61, began recording the songs for his grandkids but, when his daughter began posting videos of him singing in the henhouse, he gained a following.

Each recording is between one and four minutes long and features what he calls the Morning Jabber Cackle Choir (the hens’ version of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir). Loewen plays his guitar, often incorporating aspects of the henhouse into song lyrics, while the 40 birds mull about and squawk in the background.

April: R.M. of Headingley seeks to purchase John Blumberg

The Rural Municipality of Headingley pitched a plan to transform John Blumberg Golf Course into a regional park filled with spaces for sports and other recreational activities.

The municipality submitted its proposal to the City of Winnipeg, which is selling the property Headingley hopes to buy 4540 Portage Ave. from Winnipeg for $1 and then begin a major overhaul.

In its proposal, the municipality said it will sell 35 acres along Highway 1 for commercial and possibly mixed-use buildings, including housing. The money it makes from the sales will go to redeveloping a minimum of 160 acres of the golf course.

Headingley envisions putting baseball, ultimate Frisbee, cricket and multi-use fields on the site. The plan includes tennis, bocce, volleyball and basketball courts; a BMX park; a toboggan hill; a boat launch; a skate park; an amphitheatre; a nature play structure; active transportation pathways and a picnic area.

Construction would likely be rolled out over 10 to 15 years, according to Headingley mayor John Mauseth.

On April 17, Grade 12 Sanford Collegiate student Cali Yates was named the winner of Basketball Manitoba’s Carl Ridd Award, an honour given to a player who “excels on the court, classroom and in the community.”

A month earlier, Brandon University has announced Yates had committed to play on its women’s basketball team in 2021-22.

All this despite the fact, the 17-year-old guard couldn’t play basketball in 2020-21, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since moving to La Salle when she was in Grade 10, Yates had played for the Junior Bisons and Winnipeg Wolves club teams as well as playing for the Sanford Sabres varsity girls team. She also competed at the 2019 Western Canada Summer Games in Swift Current, Sask. with Manitoba’s U16 provincial team.

May: Students bring seniors a change of scenery

Grade 5 and 6 students at La Salle School brightened seniors’ windows with handmade artwork.

Teacher Donna Cain presented her class the assignment at a time when people were continually reminded to stay home and self-isolate. Thus, the 23 kids would reach elders who hadn’t seen many people for months.

Stacey Pereira took a centre role in her daughter Grace’s project. She collected names and addresses of seniors living in town, and she bought clear vinyl sleeves to protect students’ art from the weather.

The youths drew flowers, animals and inspirational messages. Residents of La Salle Manor, among others, received the pictures.

May: Portage la Prairie benefits from the Build 150 program

Although Manitoba’s 150th birthday was actually in 2020, many of the planned celebrations were derailed by the pandemic. Nevertheless, several programs related to Manitoba 150 persisted in funding projects that came to fruition in 2021.

In May, the Community Foundation of Portage and District announced $100,000 in legacy funding for three local groups through Build 150.

The community foundation gave $25,000 to Fort la Reine School for a new playground, $25,000 to the Portage Rotary Club to help with upgrades to the duck pond in Island Park, and $50,000 to the Portage and District Boat Launch Committee to increase the safety of the boat launch. Overall, the community foundation and Build 150 contributed $50,000 each.

Fort la Reine School demolished its 1992 playground and started from scratch when it received the Build 150 grant.

June: Discovery of unmarked graves of children sparks reconciliation discussion

Portage la Prairie Bear Clan launched its first-ever youth art challenge after news broke about the finding in Kamloops, B.C. of the remains of 215 children in an unmarked grave at a former residential school.

“We really just wanted to step forward and create a space (for discussion),” said Manon Timshel, the Bear Clan’s co-ordinator. “Art has been used to tell stories since the beginning of humans, and we just want to provide a platform.”

The idea originated in the spring, when a Bear Clan member put forward $2,000 to support youth and start a discussion about systemic racism. The community patrol group was just waiting for the right time to act.

“We were like, ‘This is the sign we’ve been waiting for. Now is the time to have these conversations,’” Timshel said.

June: Local high schools host unique graduations

Grade 12s from Portage Collegiate Institute graduated outside the school on June 28, just as graduates did in 2020, the school’s first convocation of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Grads at Sanford Collegiate had to book times for their drive-through convocation ceremonies, while students at St. Paul’s Collegiate in Elie, Man., held a masked, socially distanced grad ceremony in the school’s gymnasium.

July: Oak Bluff family catches Olympic fever

Hula hoops depicting the Olympic rings hung in the front yard of the Mislawchuk family home in Oak Bluff in July, as Fred and Eleanor Mislawchuk shared their support for their son, top-ranked triathlete Tyler, in advance of his race in Tokyo on July 25.

A cardboard cut-out of Tyler — complete with race gear, helmet and shades — stood in a vertical window near the Oak Bluff home’s front door.

The Mislawchuks never expected their son would become an Olympian.

“It was never really on our radar,” Eleanor, Tyler’s mother, said.

Tyler and Madison, his younger sister, played a lot of sports as kids. There was hockey, soccer, lacrosse. Football for Tyler, rowing for Madison. Eleanor remembers Tyler hating the first run he participated in — it was in Morden, Man., and he was 12.

At 15, Tyler wanted to enter the Manitoba Games. However, he was coming in late and didn’t have a sport, so entered the triathlon just to compete.

After that experience, Tyler continued triathlon, using it as cross training for hockey and a summer activity. Madison took up the sport.

Eleanor doesn’t recall Tyler having Olympic ambitions at the time — he was always looking at the next, closest thing, she said.

Fast-forward a decade and Tyler, 26, has developed into one of the top triathletes in the world. He won the Olympic test event in Tokyo in August 2019; he’s medalled in the World Triathlon Series and won the World Cup. This year, he won the World Triathlon Cup men’s event in Huatulco, Mexico.

The family cancelled its 2020 trip to Japan as the COVID-19 pandemic postponed the Games. Tyler was training in Portugal at the time and flew back to Oak Bluff in March 2020 as the world began to lock down.

He stayed for four months, the longest he’s been home since high school, according to his parents.

They opened their backyard pool for him to use and he tied up a bungee cord and used it to swim on the spot.

The Mislawchuks were metres away from that pool, wearing matching Tyler T-shirts, when they watched his second Olympic race (he also competed in Rio de Janeiro in 2016).

In the end, it wasn’t Tyler’s day, as he finished 15th — but the Mislawchuks were as proud as parents of any Olympian would be.

August: Drought threatens farm livelihoods

As if the pandemic wasn’t enough, a months-long drought this summer affected farmers throughout the province. Manitoba’s drought has caused many cattle farmers to sell their herds and forage producers to raise their prices.

“I think it’s a … realistic number that at least 20 per cent of the cow herd will go out of all operations,” said Andre Steppler, director of District 3 for the Manitoba Beef Producers.

He watched farmers take their herds to auction in July, much earlier than normal.

“That is very troubling,” Steppler said. “This is so early in the cycle for these producers to be making that decision, to sell their whole cow herd.”

Jürgen Kohler, who farms near Brunkild, can produce up to 4,000 small square hay bales and 40 round bales in a good year. This year, he got 400 square bales out of a field that usually yields 1,000.

“The cracks are so big, you could actually break your ankle if you don’t watch out in the field — that’s how dry it is,” Kohler said.

“We’re in an agricultural disaster here,” Kohler said, adding that he’s turned down several regular customers due to a lack of hay.

September: Unique exhibit brightens Portage gallery

A display of 3,000 dandelions and 2,500 silk screen butterflies made from Hanji paper gave people a chance to reflect and appreciate the resilience of the human spirit at Prairie Fusion Arts & Entertainment in Portage

Entitled Context is Everything and annus mirabilis, the displays created by renowned Saskatoon artist Monique Martin featured individually made dandelions spread out on the gallery  floor while handmade butterflies were attached to the wall and ceiling.

Martin said her displays drew inspiration from the pandemic.

“We all had to start growing where we were planted because we had no choice, so we all kind of took on the characteristics of the dandelion,” Martin said.

September: Morantz, Eyolfson race goes right down to the wire

Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia-Headingley MP Marty Morantz had to wait a harrowing seven days to find out if he’d locked down his seat for another term, as he jockeyed for top spot with Liberal Doug Eyolfson.

At midnight on Sept. 20, Elections Canada reported that Morantz, the Conservative candidate, held a lead of just 24 votes over Eyolfson in the federal election, rendering the race too close to call in light of nearly 3,000 mail-in ballots that had yet to be counted.

However, the margin separating the two frontrunners widened to 460 votes after Elections Canada uncovered an error during the initial count, and Morantz was ultimately declared the winner

In the end, voters in the Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia-Headingley riding cast 18,111 votes for Morantz and 17,651 for Eyolfson.

October : Six Pines brings Halloween back with a vengeance

For 23 years and counting, the Thevenot family has delighted and frightened Halloween fanatics at Six Pines Haunted Attractions and they got back into the game with renewed enthusiasm in 2021.

“Since COVID-19 we’ve had a lot of time to go through things and we’ve really gone overboard on the stuff that we’ve done,”  James Thevenot said.

This year, the family created four new haunts: Chewy’s Playground featuring a haunted house full of demented clowns; The Bayou, where monsters lurk in a swamp; Enter Sandman, where the Metallica song influences nightmares for all; and the Hillbilly Run where you will not want to become the next dinner guest for those waiting in the shadows.

The family said their favourite movies and feedback from the 75 to 100 actors they are able to hire each year help generate inspiration for future haunts and themes.  

November: Retail restrictions lifted for areas west of Winnipeg

Retailers in Cartier, Headingley, Macdonald and St. François Xavier were finally able to breathe a sigh of relief as the province has lifted capacity restrictions for them ahead of the holiday.

The change to health orders recognized that these municipalities were not among the COVID trouble spots in the Southern Health-Santé Sud health region.

Headingley mayor John Mauseth said he was very encouraged for the businesses in his area and thought it was time for a change for the better.

“Earlier on in the pandemic we were part of the restrictions that were placed on the Winnipeg Metropolitan region,” Mauseth said.

“Geographically, I think that makes more sense when you’re talking pandemic restrictions such as this. Our vaccination rates are closer to the city, our proximity to the city and the fact we share workforces. I feel that call should’ve been made from the get-go.”

December: Winter Wonderland revives spirits at Red River Ex grounds

Christmas spirit was in the air at the Red River Ex, as the Canad Inns Winter Wonderland display was lit up on Dec. 3.

“Every year for me it screams Christmas,” said Garth Rogerson, CEO of the Red River Exhibition Association.  

“I’ve enjoyed putting together our statue area this year, our skating rink is very popular and this year we’re opening a brand new permanent warm up structure,” he said.

Running from Dec. 3 to Jan. 8, 2022, the 26 different themed Christmas light displays take a lot of work to set up each year. It’s a process that begins well ahead of the holiday season.

“It takes months, we start this in September and they’re working right until we open,” Rogerson said.

“The effort is worth it when we see so many people come through and enjoy the show.”