The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
The Eighth Annual Steve Ewing 'Peaches' Poker Run will take place this Saturday. Ewing, who passed away in 2000 from injuries sustained in a smelter explosion, was an avid motorcycle rider. Lyla Yaremchuk, a good friend of the man affectionately known as "Peaches," says the poker run was created for two reasons. "Through the run we raise money for a bursary given away at Hapnot Collegiate," she says, adding that the other reason is "to keep Peaches alive." The bursary, which was started by Ewing's family, is called the Steve Ewing Memorial Bursary. It is awarded each June to a deserving Hapnot graduate. As for keeping Peaches alive, Yaremchuk says that "anyone who participates in this run just has a good time and we keep Peaches in our thoughts." The poker run starts out at Fiddlers before making its way down to Flin Flon. The run has a few pit stops along the way, with checkpoints in Cranberry Portage and Big Island. "We stop at Steve's mother and stepfather's house and they always have burgers and everything there," Yaremchuk says. And she adds, "we always get a group photo done there." After Big Island, the run makes its way to The Hooter and then onto Raven's Roost Pub. Yaremchuk says people come from all over to be a part of this. "We get people from Thompson and The Pas, so we like to keep it close to everyone," she says. As for a turnout, Yaremchuk says it's hard to say how many will be there. "Our first year we had a great turnout. Since then, the number of people has been tapered down a bit," she says. The roads could be seeing as many as 150 people out there, or as few as 50, she says. "A lot of it depends on the weather also," she adds. For the poker run, there are two hands dealt. "The high hand, which is the best poker hand, and then we do a low hand also," says Yaremchuk. A total of $1,000 is put toward the Steve Ewing Memorial Bursary from the poker run. While the poker run is a fun way to keep safety in mind, Yaremchuk says there is an underlying message: "Our men need to come home from work safe." For more information, contact Lyla Yaremchuk at 688-3449 or Jackie Brown at 688-4137.
