Looking back - 1978 : 18-foot skier ready for McCreary
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- Published on Thursday, August 9, 2018
CP Photo, courtesy of the Banner & Press Archives
Sculptor George Barone is dwarfed by his skier representation.
By Cassandra Wehrhahn
Neepawa Banner & Press
80 years ago,
Tuesday,
August 3, 1938
Cure or improvement of natural cancer in dogs by injection of a rare alcohol, heptyl adehyde, is reported by U.S. scientists.
Boat building has become a business for J.C. White. He has shipped six boats to Ontario this year, four canoes, a row boat and a sailboat. Doing all the work himself, he finds himself busy fulfilling orders.
70 years ago,
Thursday,
August 5, 1948
Birnie: At the postmaster’s convention in Brandon last week, A.E. Servante was presented with a gold service button, in recognition of over 25 years of postal service. Mr. Servante has been postmaster here for 32 years.
60 years ago,
Tuesday,
August 5, 1958
Members of the Attwood family, numbering 43, gathered for a family reunion at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Clare Montgomery on Sunday, July 6.
Those in attendance were Mr. and Mrs. Ray Attwood, Carol and Jimmy, Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Attwood, Bobby, Patsy, Lynda and Barry, Bethany; Mr. and Mrs. Robt. Baker, Jim and Grace, Mrs. Rose Briese, Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Cantley, Scott and Ray of Portage la Prairie, and Mr. and Mrs. Mervyn Montgomery, Dennis and Sandra, Mr. and Mrs. Glenn Montgomery and Bruce.
Friends of the family present were Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Sangster of Laurier, Miss Judith Sanburn, Winnipeg and Miss Bell of Eden.
50 years ago,
Friday,
August 2, 1968
With or without help from the provincial government, officials of the Neepawa Poultry Association hope to be able to continue to present the annual Neepawa Poultry Show here next spring.
Following a recent announcement that government grants to poultry shows were to be discontinued, Don Montgomery, president of the Neepawa Poultry Association, informed The Press that the group still hopes to be able to continue. A meeting is to be held soon to discuss ways and means of carrying on.
Mr. Montgomery reported that the government grants covered 65 per cent of the prize money, plus certain expenses involved in the hiring of judges. He said the annual grant to the Neepawa show had averaged in the neighborhood of $500.
40 years ago,
Thursday,
August 3, 1978
On Tuesday morning a crane will lift George Barone’s 5.48-metre, 1, 360-kilogram, bullet proof blue-boy skier statue on a truck to go to McCreary, Man.
“It’s stronger than marble or bronze. It’s vandalism proof,” Barone said proudly after slamming the statue with a hammer in the backyard of his home at 476 Mary’s Road.
Constructed from a secret sculptor’s recipe that includes a variety of resins and marble dust, the monolith was commissioned by the town of McCreary for the highway leading from the town to the Mount Agassiz ski resort in Riding Mountain National Park.
Barone spent two months on the $9,000 statue, using an 18 inch miniature as a model.
“I started with a steel mesh frame and covered it with fibreglass,” he said. The outer shell is “built in sections like a house,” starting from the feet up.
“The color is permanent. You never have to paint it.”
Although the statue weighs 1 ½ tons, Barone said it was hollow and very light for its size. Through a trap door cement will be poured into the statues legs to anchor it at its destination.
Barone, a self employed sculptor, has made statues for communities around Manitoba. The white stallion overlooking the Trans-Canada highway, just west of Headingley is his, and he made the Viking statue in Gimli and a turtle for the southeast Manitoba community of Boissevain.
30 years ago,
Tuesday,
August 2, 1988
One of today’s fundamental trends in the labour work force is the increased participation of women. In fact, results from the 1986 Census of Population reveal that women accounted for about 75 per cent of the labour force growth since 1981. A significant increase in participation occurred among married women with children at home. The increase was even more pronounced in the participation rate of married women living with a spouse, whose children were all under the age of six. Their participation rate increased to more than 62 per cent in 1986, up from almost 50 per cent just five years earlier.
20 years ago,
Monday,
August 3, 1998
The Neepawa Elks Lodge donated $1,000 towards improvements at the local ball diamonds. Elks Lodge Exalted ruler Doug Kitson and project chairman Elvin Toews presented the cheque to Gail White of the minor baseball association.
The Brandon Shriners added some razzle dazzle to the Lily Fest Parade, speeding around in their “mini” cars much to the delight of spectators young and old.
10 years ago,
Monday,
August 4, 2008
One of the top performing Dairy Queen restaurants in Manitoba wants to live up to its own lofty standards again this year during Miracle Treat Day, this Thursday.
“We have received tremendous support from Neepawa and district in the past year and we’re hoping it will continue again this year,” said Barb Reid who owns the local Dairy Queen along with her husband Darrell.
In Manitoba, all the proceeds raised by the 29 Dairy Queens will be donated to the Winnipeg Children’s Hospital.
“I think that’s one of the things that helps with the support is that all the money raised in Manitoba stays in Manitoba,” said Reid.
Last year, Neepawa Dairy Queen raised over $6,000 in the event, making it one of the top contributors in the province.
