Candidate forum planned for Nov. 4
Moosomin Chamber of Commerce
October 28, 2024, 9:43 am
Ryan Kiedrowski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The Moosomin Chamber is hosting a candidates forum on Nov. 4, giving the public a chance to hear from those running for council in the town of Moosomin.
“We’re just finalizing the format, it’s likely that every candidate will have five minutes to do their introduction and tell everybody what their platform is,” Tyler Thorn explained at the Chamber meeting on Tuesday. “And then we’ll have probably two or three prepared questions, and every candidate will be given a chance to respond.”
With 14 names on the ballot—three for mayor and 11 for council—Thorn says there won’t be time for more than a few questions.
“I don’t think we’ll have time for questions from the floor, so we’ll try to keep it to two hours, and then certainly afterwards the candidates can talk face to face,” he said.
Doors will open at the Moosomin Nutrien Sportsplex at 6 pm on Nov. 4, and all members of the public are welcome to attend.
Spook-a-Rama update
It’s a Halloween tradition that relies on volunteers to continue. Spookarama will once again be happening in Moosomin on October. 31, and members of the McNaughton High SRC are making their rounds with letters in search of sponsors, prizes, and chaperones for the evening.
“Some of our SRC students made a video that they posted to Facebook to try and drum up a little more support through the social media platforms,” said McNaughton High teacher Tegan Matichuk. “Right now, if you are able, willing, I know Halloween is on a Thursday, not a Friday or Saturday, but we are still looking for chaperones.”
The annual event is a safe environment for local youth to enjoy Halloween from 8 pm to midnight. Also, according to Cst. Trina Brace of the Moosomin RCMP, the dance is also an important part of growing up in Moosomin.
“The kids really look forward to it,” she said. “It’s kind of a rite of passage for moving from the elementary school to the high school that you get to go to Spookarama, and the younger grades especially really look forward to it. So we’d like to encourage the community to support it.”
There are a few expenses involved with the event, such as prizes for the students and the DJ for the night.
“If anybody has donations and they want us to pick it up, they can just call the RCMP. We can make arrangements for someone to go and pick it up,” Cst. Brace said. “We need the community support for the prizes, because that makes it fun for the kids.”
Two local RCMP recognized by MADD
Quentin and Michelle Wilson of MADD Kipling presented two Moosomin RCMP members with a special coin to recognize their work in keeping the area safe from impaired drivers. The Wilsons lost their daughter, Isabel, on October. 7, 2023 when she was involved in a collision with an impaired driver near Davin.
“MADD is a wonderful project, as you all know, unfortunately, we’re more involved in it because we lost her daughter as well,” Michelle explained. “On Oct. 7 last year, she was coming home for Thanksgiving, and a driver who allegedly was high on meth, ran into her head on.”
Isabel was killed instantly in the collision.
“We’re very grateful for the RCMP and city police for helping take these selfish people off the road,” Michelle said. “There’s no other way to describe them, they’re very selfish.”
The Wilsons presented Cst. Trina Brace and Cst. Bella Pomeroy each with the MADD Canada Van de Vorst Family Award, created in memory of Jordan and Chanda Van de Vorst and their children Kamryn and Miguire, who were tragically killed by an impaired driver in 2016 north of Saskatoon.
Holiday Smile Cookie Campaign
The Tim Hortons Holiday Smile Cookie campaign is back, running Nov. 18 to 24, and this year’s recipient is McNaughton High School.
“We are very excited and appreciative of the Tim Hortons Smile Cookie campaign having us as their recipient this year,” high school teacher Teagan Matichuk said. “As many of you know, last spring, we did a minor capital project grant application in order to help with our Home Ec renovations and some of the other upgrades that we’re looking to get done at McNaughton.”
Of the funds raised through the Smile Cookie campaign, 50 per cent will go towards McNaughton High. Chamber members were also reminded that pre-ordering cookies is encouraged.
“It’s good to get the pre-orders in for the cookies, so that they’ve got an idea what to expect that week,” said Moosomin Chamber of Commerce President Kevin Weedmark. “There’s a reason that we’ve sold more holiday cookies here than anywhere else in Saskatchewan for three years in a row.”
Along with pre-ordering, he explained how offers to match cookie sales has bolstered fundraising efforts, noting how past campaigns have seen businesses engaged in friendly competition for the largest order.
“We’ve got big plans for our industrial arts shop space, for some of our fine arts programs like drama, visual arts, some of our other elected programs,” Matichuk said. “If anyone is available to help us decorate the cookies, we’ve got a pretty strong task force of students and SRC members that can help us, but all help is appreciated.”
During last week’s Moosomin Chamber of Commerce meeting, Moosomin Economic Development Officer, Casey McCormac shared with members some tourism news. Explore SE Sask is filming in the area soon, teaming up with Access Communications to produce a series of videos
“I’m also on the board of Explore SE Sask, which is a tourism platform for southeast Saskatchewan, and we’re working on a project with Access Communications,” McCormac confirmed. “They’re deciding on some themes, and then we’re going to do some filming. So within the next couple months, we’ll be doing some filming of different things in Moosomin, which will be some really good publicity for us.”
Moosomin is no stranger to video content on the tourism platform as a feature on Kari’s Kloset and the Community Builder’s Alliance are among the short films on their website. An initiative of Community Futures Sunrise, Explore SE Sask celebrates and promotes tourism in throughout the region.
Last week of MacLeod Elementary’s gift card fundraiser
It’s crunch time at MacLeod Elementary as they mark the final week of their annual gift card fundraiser. Last year, the school raised $140,000 worth of gift cards in their popular campaign.
“I know we had one lump sum come in today of $15,000, so that was exciting,” explained MacLeod principal Tammy Cole. “Come Friday, when they’re all in, it will be a little bit crazy around the place, but we look forward to finding that out, and we have some really good incentives for the kids this year, it’s good to see the kids are really excited about it.”
This year, money raised will go towards the school’s playground, a place that Cole said extends beyond Mac-Leod students as users.
“Our playground is utilized by elementary students, families, high school students, tourists that come through quite often through the summer,” she said. “Our playground truly is always alive with people!”
Currently, around $67,000 has been raised for the playground.
“I very much believe it’s people that make that place special,” said Scott Sully, vice-principal at MacLeod Elementary.
MVAC Christmas market has 40 vendors
The Moosomin Visual Arts Centre is hosting a Christmas market on Nov. 2.
“It’s going to be at the MCC Centre, and it’s totally full,” said MVAC board member Kara Kinna. “We’ve got 40 vendors, it’s going to be from 11 am to 3 pm.”
The market is free to attend, although donations are welcomed. Lunch will be served by the Daycare Fundraising Committee.
The MVAC held their official grand opening on Sept. 28 with a large number of people turning out for the event, and some signing up for classes. Kinna noted that for many of those at the grand opening, it was their first visit to the arts centre.
“They were pretty excited to be there and just tour around,” she said.
People can also now sign up for MVAC Club, which allows people access to the centre at a reduced cost.
“If anyone wants to become a club member, it gives you access to open studio at a reduced cost, it gives you access to all equipment and discounts on classes as well,” Kinna explained.
The centre has also been the recipient of equipment donations, enabling creatives to truly extend their talents.
“Currently, we have a long arm quilting machine and sewing machines, a lino printing press, we have an entire digital arts area with iMac computers with Adobe Creative Suite on them, drawing tablets and iPads with Apple pencils,” listed Kinna. “That’s all thanks to a really generous donation from Borderland Co-op—they funded the entire digital arts centre there. We also have DSLR cameras and tripod, stained glass tools and supplies, pottery wheel and tools, a kiln, easels and painting tools, scrapbooking tools, paper quilling tools, knitting tools and yarn, and a fully stocked kitchen.”
There’s also an active after-school program in place at the MVAC, with the first block wrapping up last Thursday, which focused on sketching, painting, and card making.
“Block Two is going to be starting pretty soon, it’s candle making, wood burning and carving,” Kinna said, adding the second block runs to Dec. 20.
