Looking Back — July 5, 2023

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 05/07/2023 (1002 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SIXTY YEARS AGO

All businesses in downtown Brandon ground to a halt this morning as thousands of people rushed to line the streets to catch a glimpse of the huge eighth annual Travellers’ Day Parade. The 100-unit parade featured 35 floats, 14 marching bands, cowboys, clowns, vintage cars, decorated bicycles, majorettes, military hardware and TV stars Tommy Hunter, Tommy Commons, Gordie Tapp and the three Haymes sisters.

French classes for Grade 1 French-speaking children will start this fall throughout Manitoba for school districts that wish it, Education Minister S.E. McLean said in Brandon today. French is now taught to both French- and English-speaking children starting in Grade 4.

FIFTY YEARS AGO

Insp. J.P. Corley took command of the Brandon subdivision of the RCMP yesterday.

Col. S.A. Magnacca was honoured yesterday during a presentation at CFB Shilo by the officers and men of the 3rd Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery. The former Brandon mayor was presented with an engraved shell casing in honour of his 50 years of military service. Today was declared Magnacca Day at the base, and the colonel was involved with range shooting and target sitting.

FORTY YEARS AGO

The Manitoba government has pledged $1 million to expand and renovate Crocus Plains Regional Secondary School in Brandon.

Boats, snowmobiles and trailers flew through the air like scraps of paper last night as a tornado ripped through the peaceful summer resort community of Haliburton, Ont.

THIRTY YEARS AGO

Rain has been a blessing for fire-ravaged northern Manitoba, but it turned into a curse for the province’s western region as flash floods forced evacuations from three small towns and put several others on alert. About 750 people fled the towns of Minitonas and Red Deer Lake and the Indian Birch reserve at Swan Lake. A state of emergency was declared for the Porcupine Provincial Forest and Duck Mountain Provincial Park area.

A crowd of more than 9,200 Saturday night ensured Dauphin’s Countryfest will be a profitable event for the second year in a row. The four-year-old Countryfest attracted a record crowd of more than 22,000 over three days.

TWENTY YEARS AGO

Federal funding for the Keystone Centre has come through. Stephen Owen, the federal Secretary of State for the Western Economic Diversification program, has announced the centre will receive $67,500 to conduct an analysis of the Keystone Centre’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats this summer.

Crowds at Dauphin’s Countryfest picked up late Friday afternoon despite cloudy skies. Fans later defied rain to see the evening’s main show, featuring the Ennis Sisters, Jimmy Rankin and the headliners, Blue Rodeo.

TEN YEARS AGO

The former police station at 1340 10th St. will be transformed into a new seniors living complex, complete with a lounge, exercise area, clinic and multipurpose room. Construction of the project, to be called Rotary Villas at Crocus Gardens, is expected to begin this fall, with an anticipated opening date of May 2015.

After seven years of planning, the town of Rivers is having the homecoming of the century — literally. This year, Rivers turns 100, and the town is celebrating with six days of events in an effort to bring home former residents.