All posts by Tara de Ryk

Craik, featured

Craik woodcarver wins awards

Two models made by Austin Eade of Craik — a bufflehead duck (left) and a pine grosbeak (right) — recently won awards at a pair of competitions.

By Joel van der Veen

CRAIK — Each one starts as a humble block of tupelo wood.

The body and features are carved with care before the finishing touches — glass eyes and paint — are added.

Each bird has a unique posture or “attitude” that the carver needs to capture in his or her work. If they’ve done that properly, Austin Eade said, a trained eye can identify the bird even before it’s painted.

“It’s a connection to nature,” he explained. “If you can’t identify the bird or the subject before you paint it, you didn’t capture the essence of the bird.”

Eade, 73, has strengthened that connection over the past decade as he has pursued his woodcarving hobby.

In that time, he has completed roughly 30 birds. He works on them over the winter months, finishing two or three in an average season.

Eade, a longtime Craik resident, recently won awards for his work at a pair of competitions, including an international show in the U.S.

He had two entries in the Prairie Canada Carvers Show and Competition, held April 22 and 23 in Winnipeg.

There, his female pine grosbeak won best of show at the open level, while his bufflehead drake also placed first in its category.

A week later, he had the same two pieces entered in the Ward World Championship, held in Ocean City, Maryland from April 28 to 30.

The grosbeak won Best in Category (songbirds), outranking other entries from Canada, the U.S. and the U.K, while the bufflehead was a runner-up for Best in Species.

For the full story, please see the July 3 edition of The Davidson Leader or call 306-567-2047 to subscribe today.

Davidson, featured

Filipino family awaits reunion in Canada

Soon Joseph Glenn and Valerie Anne Lopez’s family will be complete. Their children David, 9, Beatrice, 4, and Georgina, 3, will arrive in Canada August 22.

In 2016 Canada welcomed 320,932 immigrants. Joseph and Valerie Lopez are some of those immigrants. They came to Canada to work, to send money home to the Philippines to support their family. In Canada — Davidson in particular — they found a caring community and opportunities. They found their future. Now they just need to bring their kids here.

By Tara de Ryk

DAVIDSON — When she was a little girl living in the Philippines, Valerie Anne Lopez says she dreamed of growing up in Canada.

It seemed like a fairy tale place where common folk — not just rich people — had bathtubs in their homes.

Canada is also a place where the habit of buying a carton of milk is a daily occurrence, not a carefully considered expense, a big reward that consumes a big chunk of a daily wage.

“My childhood was difficult. I had to work and earn something or we couldn’t afford to go to school,” Valerie says.

She watched her father come and go. He worked as an international seafarer for 13 years.

She recalls going to the airport to meet her father’s flight home. Sometimes he didn’t arrive on the much-anticipated plane and she’d be heartbroken.

Valerie did get to come to Canada. She arrived in December to join her husband Joseph Glenn, who’s been living and working in Canada since 2014.

Before meeting Valerie at the Saskatoon airport, Joseph stopped into Midway Flowers to buy a bouquet of roses, explaining he was picking up his wife, whom he hadn’t seen for nearly two years.

Their happy reunion was bitter sweet because their three young children David, 9, Beatrice, 4, and Georgina, 3, remained in the Philippines where Joseph’s mother is taking care of them.

Joseph’s been apart from his children for nearly three years.

“Our situation is not that unique because every other immigrant has this story,” Joseph says.

A common story for immigrants, perhaps, but it’s one difficult to imagine for most Canadians who get to tuck their kids in bed each night.

For the full story, part of our Canada 150 special, please see the June 26 edition of The Davidson Leader, or call 306-567-2047 to subscribe today. 

featured, Kenaston

Friends roast Firby on retirement

Barry Firby reacts to a remark by Manitoba Senator Don Plett during a charity roast in honour of his retirement, held June 17 at Kenaston Place.

By Joel van der Veen

KENASTON — The guest list ran the gamut from farmers and businessmen to MLAs, MPs and senators.

They were all there for one purpose — to take Barry Firby down a peg in the name of charity.

Close to 250 people were gathered at Kenaston Place on June 17 for a charity retirement roast, with Firby, a longtime coach, political and community organizer, as the “Man of the Hour.”

Firby, 70, and his family organized the event to celebrate his impending retirement from politics, and to support a couple of causes near to his heart.

He told the Leader he was pleased with the response and turnout, adding that there were no hard feelings.

“A roast, of course, is a bit of a different format,” he said. “Everything was meant to entertain. . . We said there was no holds barred, and it was fine.”

His daughter Mackenzie said they began planning the event at Christmas, inspired in part by a previous roast held in honour of the late Senator Doug Finley.

She acknowledged there was some risk involved: “You plan a big event like that . . . You don’t really know what they’re going to say.”

 

Proceeds from the evening are being divided equally between two causes.

Half will be donated to the Kenaston Community Recreation Board, which works to maintain, support and fundraise for the village’s pool, rink and community hall.

The other half will be directed to the Senator Doug Finley Memorial Fun, created to support young people interested in entering politics. The fund is named in honour of Finley, a campaign director for the Conservative Party who was appointed to the Senate in 2009 and died in 2013.

For the full story, please see the June 26 edition of The Davidson Leader or call 306-567-2047 to subscribe today.

 

featured, Hanley

Jam-packed weekend as Hanley hosts annual ag fair

Madison and Adelita Carter ride on horseback during the town parade, part of the Hanley Ag Fair festivities.

By Joel van der Veen

HANLEY — Two days of events at the Hanley fairgrounds made for a fun-filled weekend for local families.

The Hanley Agricultural Fair kicked off with a parade through town on Friday night, and continued through Saturday with dozens of events, activities and attractions.

Andrea Townsend, who serves as treasurer on the Hanley and District Ag Society board, reported that more than 500 people attended on Friday, June 16, followed by another 300 on Saturday.

Attendance was down slightly from last year, Townsend said, attributing the drop to the off-and-on rain that fell throughout the weekend.

“Up until now, it’s just gone up and up and up,” she said, adding that the events went smoothly apart from the weather.

This was the eighth year for the revived fair, which received support from close to 50 local and regional sponsors.

For the full story and more colour photos, please see the June 26 edition of The Davidson Leader or call 306-567-2047 to subscribe today.

Davidson, featured, Sports

McNabb among picks for Golden Knights

Brayden McNabb speaks to the media following the Vegas Golden Knights’ announcement of their draft picks last week.

By Joel van der Veen

DAVIDSON — One of Davidson’s own is among the draft picks for the NHL’s newest expansion team, the Vegas Golden Knights.

Brayden McNabb, for the last three seasons a defenceman with the Los Angeles Kings, was on the roster announced by the team Wednesday at the NHL Awards.

McNabb, 26, is the son of Kim and Jeannine McNabb, and was raised in the Davidson area.

In a Twitter post Thursday, he thanked the Kings for the past three years, calling them a great organization and saying he’d be forever grateful.

“Excited for a new start,” he also wrote.

His mother told the Leader on Wednesday that they had been aware of a potential move since Brayden was on the Kings’ unprotected list, and they also received some advance notice prior to Wednesday.

“We knew it was a possibility,” she said. “I kind of figured they were going to be picking him.”

In three seasons with the Kings, McNabb logged 42 points, including six goals and 36 assists. He also recorded a total of 491 hits.
Continue reading McNabb among picks for Golden Knights →

Davidson, featured, Sports

Senior boys honoured for sportsmanship

Davidson School’s senior boys basketball team displays its sportsmanship award banner at the June 19 school awards ceremony. Pictured from left are: Leonard Wipf (SaskMilk), coach Kim Rettger, coach Luke Edwards, Hunter Wall, Clay Murfitt, Andrew Read, Parker Smith, Morgan Manz, Cole Murfitt, Reegan Taylor, Mark Rettger, Tobi Arowolo, Rylan Slemming, Blake Allan and Dave Sandomirsky (SHSAA).

By Joel van der Veen

DAVIDSON — Their grace in the face of defeat left an impression.

Last week, the Saskatchewan High School Athletics Association (SHSAA) recognized that grace, presenting Davidson’s senior boys basketball team with the Sportsmanship Award.

The award was presented to the Raiders during the school’s annual awards ceremony, held June 19.

Dave Sandomirsky, SHSAA’s assistant executive director, spoke of the team’s skill and success throughout the season, as well as the reason they were being so honoured.

“In our society, we tend to reward and celebrate the winner,” he said. “But how do you react when you lose? . . . How do you carry yourself as a team while in competition?”

Sandomirsky said the team’s behaviour is a reflection of the school and its culture.

“The Raiders impressed people wherever they went, for all the right reasons,” he said. “They were humble in victory, respectful in defeat and did not get caught up in the moment to allow themselves to find places to lay blame.”

He read a statement from David Wells, coach of the Twin Lakes School in Buffalo Narrows, whose senior boys team defeated the Raiders in 1A regional playoffs in Davidson in March.

Wells, who nominated Davidson for the award, wrote that the Raiders came to his team’s dressing room after their loss, wishing them the best at Hoopla.

They helped them pack up, carried mats back to the gym and assisted with cleaning the change room.

“I have never experienced anything like that before,” wrote Wells, adding that his players agreed that “the Davidson coach and players were great people with tremendous character.”

For the full story and more photos, please see the June 26 edition of The Davidson Leader, or call 306-567-2047 to subscribe today.