Dragon Boat Races this weekend

Rabbit Lake will be infested with dragons this weekend.

The annual Dragon Boat Festival will launch from Garrow Park on Sunday.

Darlene McGillvary is the executive director of the Kenora and Lake of the Woods Regional Community Foundation and says they are expecting an excellent turn-out.

Racing will take place all day long, with finals set to begin at 2:00 Sunday afternoon.

Curling Club gets Trillium Funding

The Kenora Curling Club is getting some help paying for some renovations.

The Ontario Trillium Foundation has promised 76 thousand to install a new roof  and boiler system to upgrade the facility.

The money is part of the 766-thousand dollars in community grants to 11-local  not-for-profit organizations.

Lac Seul First Nation is also receiving 84-thousand dollars to establish an  Ojibway community radio station.

Kenora Forest Products Gets Wood Supply

Finally some good news for the forest industry in Kenora.

The provincial government has announced that Kenora Forest Products has accepted a wood supply offer of 101 thousand cubic meters of wood a year from the Kenora Forest.

Michael Gravelle is the minister of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry and admits the announcement was a long time coming.

Kenora Forest Products still hasn't indicated when it might be able to re-open its sawmill in Kenora, but company officials are targeting the spring of 2012, as long as markets improve.

McKay to Seek Conservative Nomination in Kenora-Rainy River

The manager of the Kenora Forest Products mill in Kenora is considering a shift in career to provincial politics.

Rod McKay has indicated he plans to run for the Conservatives in the  upcoming provincial election.

McKay says the decision by Howard Hampton not to run again, didn't really affect his decision.

McKay is a member of Kenora City council.

So far the party has not indicated when it might hold its nomination meeting.

City Gets Funding for Harborfront Tent

City officials are breathing a sigh of relief.

The Northern Ontario Heritage Fund has come up with  800 thousand dollars for the new Harborfront Tent.

Kenora Mayor Dave Canfield says that's a big load off his mind.

The board of the Heritage Fund is meeting in Kenora this week and made the decision to provide the funding yesterday morning.

The money will cover about half the 1.6 million dollar cost of the tent.

Vote this Weekend for KeeMan Local Services Board

The KeeMan Local Services Board will be holding its first ever vote  this weekend.

The local services board will oversee the operations of the McKenzie-Clearwater Volunteer Fire Department.

Jill Kalika has been involved with the process since the beginning and says it will still be a while before they are able to start collecting a levy from all the property owners in the area.

Kalika says at this point seven people have expressed interest in the five positions that are up for grabs.

The vote will take place Saturday morning at 10:00.

RCMP Arrest Suspect in Falcon Lake Break-In

The RCMP say thanks to help from the public, they have recovered a stolen truck and arrested a suspect who is believed to have been involved in a break-in at a camp-site in Falcon Lake.

The Mounties say the incident took place last week at the Seasonal Trailer Village.

Along with some electronic devices, a wallet containing numerous credit cards was stolen.

Police say one of the stolen credit cards was used to make purchases at several businesses in West Hawk Lake.

The RCMP say they had video surveillance of the suspect and the vehicle used.

The pick-up truck was reported stolen from the Steinbach area three days before.

Concern Raised about Environment Canada Cuts

Proposed personnel cuts at Environment Canada could impact local weather predicting.

The Federal Government wants to layoff 700 people at the crown agency and CJRL Meteorologist Bill Laidlaw says depending on what gets cut, it could greatly impact Northwestern Ontario.

Laidlaw says organizations like the Weather Network are in the same boat as Signal Weather.

Health Unit Closes Two Beaches

Its not the kind of announcement swimmers want before another warm weekend.

The Northwestern Health Unit has decided to close down the Keewatin and Round Lake Beaches.

The beaches were closed yesterday after heavy rains due to high bacterial counts.

The beaches will be closed until tests show water quality has improved.

That means both areas will be off limits to swimmers all weekend long.

Winnipeg Team leads after day one of KBI

The first team to weigh in after day one of fishing at the Kenora Bass International is still in the lead.

Alex Kezler and Wayne Wagner from Winnipeg reeled in 18.79 pounds of bass yesterday and that weight held up after all 135 teams weighed in.

In second, just a couple of ounces off the pace, is the Sioux Narrows tandem of Matt Ryberg and Brian McNanney, at 18.76 pounds.

The Kenora team of Mark Libitka and Dave Bennett hold down third place, with 18.46 pounds.

After day one, Team Canada has a commanding 10 pound lead in the Can/Am Challenge.