Big day at the midway

Brandon Sun photojournalist Tim Smith captured some of the fund during Midway Madness in the Canadian Tire parking lot in Brandon’s south end on Wednesday. The four-day fair began on Monday and ends today.

» Photos by Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun

Let’s Do Something — Aug. 13, 2026

TODAY

• 7 a.m. — The Town of Virden comes alive with the return of the Virden Indoor Rodeo and Wild West Daze taking place over the next four days. Today: Valleyview Co-op pancake breakfast at Tundra Oil and Gas at 7 a.m.; high school rodeo at 9 a.m.; barbecue at Victoria Park from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.; show and shine 5-8 p.m.; Downtown Daze featuring reptile petting zoo, mechanical bull, kids activities, live music by JJ Voss, Virden’s Got Talent, Grey Cup tour featuring games and giveaways, and much more all from 5 to 10 p.m.

• Day — Canada’s National Arabian Championship 2026 will be held at the Keystone Centre featuring up to 400 horses across all Arabian and Half Arabian disciplines over the next 10 days. Also includes Sport Horse Dressage, Sport Horse Hunter and Western Classics, among others. For more information and a complete schedule of events, visit arabiannationals.com.

• 2 p.m. — Midway Madness concludes today on the Canadian Tire parking lot. Rides and games as well as Midway food. Open until approximately 11 p.m.

Graffiti; probation breach; weapons

DOWNTOWN GRAFFITI

A man was arrested for allegedly spray-painting graffiti in downtown Brandon on Tuesday evening.

A police officer sent to an unrelated call observed a man spray-painting on Rosser Avenue between 12th and 13th streets shortly before 9 p.m., police said in a news release Wednesday

The man was arrested and charged with mischief to property under $5,000, police said on Wednesday.

20 candidates registered so farin Brandon municipal election

The number of registered candidates for the October municipal election in Brandon is now sitting at 20.

With more than a month still to go before registration ends on Sept. 22, six wards have only one candidate each registered, while five people are vying for the Ward 2 seat to represent the city’s downtown area.

Incumbent Mayor Jeff Fawcett and former councillor and Brandon East MLA Len Isleifson remain the only registered candidates for the city’s top position.

Candidates for council seats are:

Youth charged in Swan River vandalism

A youth has been charged with mischief under $5,000 after a business in Swan River was damaged on Monday.

Swan River RCMP were notified of damage to a business on Fifth Avenue North at around 9 a.m., Mounties said in a news release on Tuesday.

Police arrived at the scene to find the front door of the business had been smashed with a brick found inside the doorway, RCMP said.

Mounties were able to identify the suspect through security footage from a nearby business.

Judge denies bail for man accused of repeat assaults

A judge denied bail to a Waywayseecappo First Nation man in Brandon provincial court on Monday, citing concerns for the safety of a woman he’s alleged to have repeatedly assaulted since June.

Bryan Cooke, 30, faces charges of assault, assault by choking, theft of a motor vehicle and several counts of breaching his probation conditions to abstain from alcohol, not communicate with the victim or attend her home.

“This is a very serious matter talking about alleged repeated intimate partner violence incidents,” Judge Shauna Hewitt-Michta said.

None of the allegations against Cooke have been tested in court.

New Neepawa hospital opening delayed

The new Neepawa Health Centre — initially expected to welcome its first patients early next year — has had its opening delayed until late summer or early fall of 2027.

Prairie Mountain Health CEO Treena Slate confirmed the postponement on Wednesday, saying it would allow “appropriate time to onboard and train staff and familiarize teams with the new facility.”

The hospital, more than three times larger than the current facility, was first announced as a $127-million construction project in December 2021 by the former Progressive Conservative government, with a tentative completion date in 2025.

As of January, the hospital was reported to be 75 per cent completed with an anticipated opening date in early 2027, Prairie Mountain Health said at the time.

Normalcy returning slowly to region hit by floods

Western Manitoba municipal officials in areas that severely flooded earlier this summer say their communities are slowly getting back to normal, but more work still needs to be done.

“A lot of people have gotten to the point where it’s no longer a disaster. It’s just really annoying and has to be dealt with,” Swan Valley West Reeve Bill Gade said Tuesday.

There are still a lot of bridges and roads that are out of commission due to two rounds of flooding in June and early July, he said. But people can get almost anywhere now.

“Things are starting to get back to normal more. We’re not there yet, but most people now can go about their daily stuff without a whole bunch of interruption,” Gade said.

Partial solar eclipse, meteor shower a feast for skygazers in Canada

TORONTO - A partial solar eclipse was visible across the Maritimes, Ontario, Quebec and other parts of Canada on Wednesday as the annual Perseid meteor shower also reaches its peak this week.

The Canadian Space Agency said the timing of the eclipse and the amount of sun coverage differed by location. Partial eclipses happen when the moon passes between Earth and the sun and covers part of our star, and they should be viewed with special glasses to prevent eye damage.

More than 53 per cent of the sun in St. John’s, N.L., was obstructed by the moon at the eclipse's peak while roughly 30 per cent of it was covered in Charlottetown and Halifax. 

The moon covered a small portion of the sun in Toronto beginning at 12:55 p.m., reaching peak of eight per cent coverage at 1:40 p.m.