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 Snow Lake Motor Inn and Royal Canadian Legion Branch No. 241 again joined forces Aug. 10 to put on a well-attended and thoroughly enjoyed street party. The event took place at the south end of Elm Street (Main), in the roadway area between the Motor Inn and Legion. It was fenced off, bar and food services were incorporated, tables were set up and, most importantly, a trailer was moved in, so that local band Dix and Chicks could serenade the masses. Co-owner of the Snow Lake Motor Inn and co-sponsor of the event, Gerard Lamontagne, said there was a good cross section of Snow Lake residents who showed up for the second-annual event. 'Around 200 of Snow Lake's finest,' he said. 'The grub was a roasted suckling pig, hamburgers, hot dogs, smokies, potato salad, coleslaw and baked beans,' Noting that the Motor Inn this year donated all of the food for the meal, Lamontagne said this significantly increased the money raised for local charities. 'It went great, there was some terrific support locally,' he said. 'Putting it on was no trouble at all. We will do this as an annual event.' Anyone queried about the street party noted that the food was excellent, the service exceptional and the band fantastic. Attendees were already looking forward to the 2014 event. 'It is one of Snow Lake's fun days, and like July 1 and New Year's Eve, it draws a very diverse crowd,' said Lamontagne. In another matter, anyone frequenting the Wekusko Falls campground, or indeed most campgrounds in the North, will have noticed that an insidious little predator called the spruce budworm has killed off a number of the large and majestic spruce trees. Folks may have also noticed that in many of these parks, tiny White Spruce seedlings are taking the place of dead and dying trees and are also popping up in more ornamental locations, such as between campsites and at park entrances. See 'Saplings' on pg. Continued from pg. Five hundred of the small saplings were brought to northern Manitoba by Snow Lake Home Building Supplies through a corporate partnership with Tree Canada. They were then donated to Manitoba Conservation on behalf of that group by local businessman Dave Mayer. 'The trees were planted at Wekusko Falls, Paint Lake, Gyles Park Iskwasum, Reed and Clearwater,' said Rodney Forbes, a District Park Supervisor with Manitoba Conservation. 'They are for beatification, as well as to fill in spots where trees have been killed off by the Spruce Budworm. In places we are underfilling with these little trees and when they come up, the trees that have been killed off will be taken out. As well, some are ornamental and others were placed in between sites.' Mayer, the supplier and donator of the trees, says all the trees came from a nursery in Hadashville, Manitoba. He said they try to make the donation close to Sept. 25, which coincides with National Tree Day. In past years, Mayer has arranged for smaller donations of trees to the Town of Snow Lake and they have normally been planted around the community in September. 'We always plant early, but not generally this early, to allow more time to get established because of the northern area,' he said. 'We took a different approach this year and maybe got better bang for the buck,' said Mayer of the donation to Conservation and their use in replacing trees killed by the budworm. In conclusion this week, former Snow Laker Wallie Szumilak and wife Marie, who reside in Head of Chezzetcook, Nova Scotia, are in the process of breeding and naming a new daylily in honour of an area pioneer. Wallie said they had a number of candidates for the new lily flower this year. The Snow Lake expat advises: 'The so-called finalists will be transplanted into a separate bed with a little more growing room. I will be discarding the ones that either resemble their parent plants, or have not performed well. 'Next year I will compare the characteristics of the finalists to the registration requirements and reserve the name 'Kathleen Rice' with the American Hemorcallis Society.' So the Kate Rice Lily, in honour of the late prospecting pioneer, is about a year away from local availability. My Take on Snow Lake runs Fridays.
