For those wishing to have their item listed in upcoming editions, there is now an earlier deadline for publication, so items are needed at least two weeks in advance of the date of your event. Please email to carthur@brandonsun.com.

TODAY (Oct 15)

• 4:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. — The Haunted Forest at Lucky Break Ranch is back for 2026! Join us this weekend for scares, laughs, pumpkins, family fun and raising money for CancerCare Manitoba, Alzheimer Society of Manitoba and Riverdale Harvest Food Bank. For every food-bank item you donate, you’ll receive a ticket to our draw. Activities also include pumpkin patch and carving; carnival games; outdoor movie; face painting and more. No-scare hours are from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Scare hours from 7:30 to 10 p.m. Admission: adults $8; youth $5; family $20. Also taking place Oct. 23-25.

• 6 p.m. — The Take Back the Night event kicks off with a rally in Princess Park at 6 p.m. with greetings and speakers. March begins at 6:30 pm.. Refreshments in the Mingling Area upon arrival at Brandon University. Shatter the silence. Stop the violence.

It’s been a rocky road for Colorado Rockies

The New York Jets have been terrible in the National Football League over the last 10 years. The Chicago Blackhawks have sullied the team’s long-term reputation with putrid National Hockey League play over the same stretch. But no team has been as bad for so long as Major League Baseball’s Colorado Rockies.

Professional sports leagues traditionally do what they can to make sure a team doesn’t suffer in the doldrums for too long, thanks to draft rules which benefit the downtrodden. But the Rockies, who have had a top 10 pick in each of the last seven seasons, have somehow failed to pick a superstar or two who might form a nucleus around which to build at least a mediocre team.

Colorado hasn’t had a winning record since 2018, when they finished second in the National League West with 91 wins. Since then, fans at Coors Field in Denver have seen nothing but a succession of depressing seasons — 71 wins and fourth in the NL West in 2019; fourth in the COVID-19 year of 2020; fourth in 2021; last in 2022, with 94 losses; last in 2023 with 103 losses; last in 2024 with 101 losses; an embarrassing last in 2025 with 119 losses; and another last-place finish this year, with 104 losses. No MLB team has suffered through four consecutive 100-plus-loss seasons since the ‘Can’t Anybody Here Play this Game’ New York Mets of 1962-65. The Mets at least had an excuse; they were an expansion team in 1962. Within seven years of existence, though, they won the National League East.

The Rockies’ hitting in 2026 was bad and their pitching was worse. The highest team earned-run average (5.59). The most runs allowed (944). The fewest shutouts (one). The highest batting average allowed (.288, 16 points higher than the runner-up Athletics).

Rural Roundup for Oct. 15, 2026

NEEPAWA

The Neepawa Salvation Army has received a donation of $31,000 in support of the charity’s goal to buy a new cargo van.

The donation was made by HyLife Foods. Amanda Naughton-Gale, Neepawa Community Ministries Centre (Salvation Army) director, said the van is on the road five days per week and has begun to show its age.

The van is rusted, Naughton-Gale said, the side door is broken, its back door needs to be jimmied to be opened and it has broken down on the road a couple of times.

New book aims to ‘push back and defend survivors’ against denialism

Outside a Winnipeg bookstore, about 25 volunteers in orange shirts formed a welcoming line as sage smoke rose from an abalone shell.

Inside McNally Robinson Booksellers, more than 300 people gathered for the launch of Truth Before Reconciliation: Confronting Residential School Denialism. Outside, the volunteers helped provide security as organizers anticipated denialists might try to disrupt the event on Sept. 17.

“We want to make sure that it’s safe for the survivors,” said Emma Tardiff, one of the volunteers. “I really care about my community.”

Published by University of Manitoba Press ahead of National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, the collection grew from an effort by scholars and authors to confront the denial and downplaying of what survivors experienced.

Blue Jays’ season disappoints their fans

Toronto Blue Jays’ 2026 season was as forgetful as the 2025 campaign was memorable.

What went wrong?

The Jays went to an extra inning in Game 7 of the 2025 World Series before falling to Los Angeles Dodgers, leaving their fans in despair but expecting nothing but another run toward the championship in 2026.

But then the 2026 season started and if you were to ask for a definition of mediocrity, the Jays would be front and centre. On May 1, they were two games under .500, at 15-17. By Aug. 1, they were seven games under .500 (52-59) but amazingly still alive in the chase for one of the three American League wildcard positions. Basically, however, the Jays treaded water for most of the second half of the season, coming close to that wildcard spot, but eventually falling short.

Let’s Do Something for Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026

For those wishing to have their item listed in upcoming editions, there is now an earlier deadline for publication, so items are needed at least two weeks in advance of the date of your event. Please email to carthur@brandonsun.com.

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TODAY (Oct 8)

• 7:45 p.m. — Come and join us at the Haller Haunted Forest today from 7:45 to 9 p.m. We are located on Rivers Highway 25, 2 miles west of No. 10 or 3 miles east of No. 270, half a mile north on Road 110. This is not recommended for children under 12 years of age. Cost is $10 per person (cash only) and proceeds go to Westman Dreams For Kids Foundation.

Farmers stomach high diesel prices

Rising diesel fuel costs have impacted how a Westman farmer is planning his work this autumn season.

The price of diesel in Canada was $2.60 per litre as of Sept. 30, according to Natural Resources Canada’s online tool for the daily average retail price for diesel. The price had increased from $1.52 in January.

Michael Decock, a Deleau-area cattle and hay farmer, said that the cost increase is dissuading him from going after some hay in rain-affected areas of his fields. The risk of getting stuck in the mud, and the extra maneuvering required to avoid wet ground, presents a problem, he said.

“Especially at the high prices, it’s not worth it to go back out there for hay that is mature,” Decock said in an interview last week. “Right now, the way the fields are, you got to do extra twisting and turning, because you got to go around water puddles and soft spots, and there’s bigger risks of getting stuck and burying equipment, and of course that burns more fuel if you get stuck because you have to go and pull it out.”

A few ideas for that leftover Thanksgiving cranberry sauce

Whole cranberry sauce is one of those pantry items you might only buy twice a year - Thanksgiving and Christmas. At both those meals, it tends to be treated like a condiment so each person might only eat a tablespoon or so.

And that might not even include every person at the table since some of us love cranberry sauce and some of us definitely do not. And even if the cranberry lovers have it with leftover turkey the next day, you might still be left with at least half a can. So what are some things you can do with leftover cranberry sauce after Thanksgiving?

The first, and simplest answer is to put it into a small container and freeze it for Christmas dinner. Whole berry cranberry sauce freezes well, just take it out to thaw in the fridge the day before. To gussy it up a bit, add 2 teaspoons of Grand Marnier or 1 teaspoon of Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey liqueur (maybe not if there are kids at the table).

If you’d like to finish it up right away, whole berry cranberry sauce gives a nice zing to plain yogurt. Add some orange segments and a scoop of trail mix with nuts and seeds and a sprinkle of quick-cooking oats (dry) for a tasty breakfast with a good hit of vitamin C. The same goes for adding it to hot oatmeal or 7-grain cereal. Skip the oranges and add some sliced banana instead.

Let’s Do Something for Oct. 1, 2026

For those wishing to have their item listed in upcoming editions, there is now an earlier deadline for publication, so items are needed at least two weeks in advance of the date of your event. Please email to carthur@brandonsun.com.

TODAY (Oct 1)

• Day — Join us for three days of education, commemoration, and Indigenous celebration at the Riverbank Discovery Centre today to Oct. 3. Everyone is welcome. There will be events happening every day as we come together to learn, reflect, remember, and celebrate. Everyone is welcome.

• 6:15 p.m. — Want to explore a new sport? Come to Westman Speed Skating Club’s free open house at the Sportsplex in Brandon at 6:15 p.m. Ages 6 to 96! Basic skating skills required. For registration and more information visit westmanspeedskating.ca.

October start for Killarney’s performing arts concert series

Music lovers who attend the Killarney Turtle Mountain Arts Council’s (KTMAC) 2026/2027 Performing Arts Concert Series will enjoy a tasty blend of homegrown music spiced up with some global flavours and a few laughs on the side.

Giselle Beaupre, KTMAC’s administrator, says the line-up reflects their objective of presenting a variety of genres for audiences.

“We really accomplished that with our festival this past summer and we were planning the festival at the same time as the Performing Arts Series,” she said.

The season opener on Oct.17 is the Sean Taylor Band out of Winnipeg. Beaupre says the band, winner of the 2024 Manitoba Country Music Association (MCMA) Group of the Year and Album of the Year for their debut album, was spotted at last year’s Manitoba Showcase.

Portage hospital has mould, leaks while new building empty

Reports of visible mould and leaking pipes in the dialysis department at Portage District General Hospital have sparked sharp criticism from local leadership, with calls growing for the provincial government to open the city’s newly constructed healthcare facility without further delay.

Jeff Bereza, Progressive Conservative MLA for Portage la Prairie, said he has been contacted by concerned hospital staff and patients undergoing treatment who are worried about environmental safety inside the aging facility.

According to Bereza, patients have reported foul odours from leaking fluid and visible mould along walls in the dialysis department. He noted that some patients have expressed fear over potential health risks or the prospect of being relocated to distant healthcare centres for treatment if the issue escalates.

“The real concern is for people’s health and the staff health, that’s where the concern lies,” Bereza said, adding that photos provided to him showed mould on interior walls that was subsequently covered with heavy plastic sheeting.

NWO communities could join Manitoba and ditch time changes

KENORA – Representatives for almost every community west of Thunder Bay met to discuss a switch to permanent daylight saving time.

That’s according to Kenora Mayor Andrew Poirier, who told Newswatch that mayors, reeves and First Nations leadership were invited by Kenora–Rainy River MPP Greg Rickford to meet virtually and discuss the option of joining Manitoba in nixing the biannual clock change.

On Thursday, the Manitoba government announced that Manitobans would not be setting their clocks back this November and are moving to permanent daylight time.

If they don’t make the switch, communities in Northwestern Ontario will be in “an island of central daylight savings time in the winter,” as described by MPP for Kiiwetinoong Sol Mamakwa.