Will April showers bring May flowers? Hey, you know one sure sign spring is here - the ice cream shop is open again!
If you want to see some beautiful creations, created by beautiful souls, then head to the "Quilt until you Wilt" quilting bee, being held this weekend at Unity United Church hall.
The Unity Ministerial Association has hosted the last of their Lenten lunches and worship leading up to Easter season. Local churches will hold their Palm Sunday services April 13 and Good Friday services April 18 with Easter Sunday services April 20.
The annual Way of The Cross Walk, again sponsored and presented by the Unity Ministerial Association, will be held April 18, starting at 10 a.m. from the Unity United Church. People can follow the procession as they move around town in worship, song and prayer, recognizing Good Friday and its pertinence to today. Participants are invited to join in for hot chocolate and hot cross buns at the finish of the walk, which will end up at the Unity Anglican Church.
At Unity Composite High School, the drama club held one performance of their spring production April 1 and perform again April 4 with a show time of 7:30 p.m. They are featuring the productions, W and Korn Mash.
With Regional Drama Festival being hosted in Unity the following weekend, you can be sure this spring's production will be in its finest form, ready to entertain audiences both in town and at the festival.
Nominations are also being accepted now for the UCHS Hall of Honour, with the deadline being April 17. Nominations forms are available from UCHS or on their website.
Unity Public School will host the afternoon school performances for the annual music festival April 8. In addition, students are practising badminton and getting their first crack at some outdoor games that were put on hold with winter.
The school will recognize Pink Shirt Day April 9 to help raise awareness for bullying prevention.
The school is also very excited to be hosting author Robert Munsch at 1:30 p.m., April 17.
St. Peter's School wants to remind everyone of their last digital workshop coming up later this month, this session being important as it is on the topic of cyberbullying, a very important issue for parents and kids today.
Mrs. Keller will have her choir and band program performing April 8 as part of the annual Unity Music Festival.
We've even seen some bikes back in the bike racks, so there is another sure sign spring is imminent.
The 2014 hockey season is now a wrap! And what an exciting season it was. Peewee Red Lazers won the Highway 14 League championship, making for a repeat title. The peewee combined provincial team won their way to the provincial peewee C final against Shaunavon. However, a tough southern Sask squad relegated them to provincial finalist rather than the provincial champion title they were aiming for.
The Midget A Lazers also won their way to the provincial final, meeting Yorkton. Game one was lost by a score of only 1-0. Unity returned home to a very packed arena for the provincial final March 29. Scoring in the first minute of the game, it appeared Unity was in control of the match, however a late goal in the third period sent the game to not one, but two overtime periods.
Yorkton seemed to pick up steam as the play went on and eventually scored the winning goal, with just a few minutes left in the second OT period, leaving Unity as provincial finalists rather than provincial champions.
The Midget AA Lazers won the league championship over Beardy's Blackhawks. They hosted the final game in the provincial series against Notre Dame but, after tying the earlier match in Notre Dame, the team could not overcome the strong ND team and were defeated in the provincial final.
Nonetheless, Unity hockey is very proud of having three teams in league finals, two of them coming out with championship banners. As well, three teams earned their way to the provincial finals in their respective divisions, having had to win their way to get there. Although no provincial titles were earned this year, Unity is very proud of three teams of provincial finalists. This shows the strength of the Unity hockey program.
Congratulations to all players and coaches on a successful season.
Our players out of town also were busy. Girls' Midget AA Wheat Kings' goalie Heather Wood headed into their March 30 final with a powerful five-goal advantage from game one. Game two, hosted on home ice, proved to have its advantages as the team won by a score of 5-2 and now reign as provincial midget AA girls' champions.
Braden Lacoursiere, playing with Battlefords North Stars, faced off in the league semifinals against the Melville Millionaires but a couple of weekend losses have the Stars down two games in a seven-game series.
Alex Pernitsky playing with the Battlefords Midget AAA Stars was in a do-or-die situation with the Notre Dame Argos. Notre Dame is a strong, well balanced team that the Stars were not able to overcome, losing 3-2 and making ND league champions. So ends the hockey season for Unity teams and players for another year.
The 88th annual Unity Music Festival starts next week, running from April 7 to 11. Vocal entries will be from Monday to Thursday at the Unity United Church and senior and junior piano entries will take place Tuesday to Friday at the Unity Baptist Church, both with start times of 9 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.
The school portion of the festival will be held Tuesday, April 8 at 9 a.m. at St. Peter's School and at 1 p.m. at Unity Public School, which will include the St. Peter's band.
The showcase performances will be Sunday, April 13 at 2 p.m. at the UCHS senior gym. Come out and see some great local talent and enjoy the finest in musical performances during the music festival.
This is another event that could not be done without the dedicated music festival committee and their army of volunteers who work the various venues - thank you to all of these people!
The Unity Museum continues to hold their Sunday pancake brunches. A small, but enthusiastic, group of volunteers is ready with hot food and warm smiles for those folks who want to join them for breakfast and support this fundraising effort for the local museum.
Now that hockey season is done, the arena will be a secondary venue for Unity Minor Ball, heading to indoor venues until the ball diamonds can dry up. A hitting clinic will be held at the arena this weekend for both baseball and softball. Coaches also have practice times booked for some pre-conditioning until they can hit the diamonds for the season.
It looks like good numbers once again registered for our minor ball programs making way for another exciting season on the ball diamonds. Unity Minor Ball is hosting Softball Fever camp May 10 with the annual Minor Ball Day slated for May 11. A work party will be held as soon as the venue dries up a little more to set the stage for another exciting year with softball and baseball at the Unity diamonds.
Congratulations to Unity Product, Rhett Feser, who was recruited to play with Niagara College, come August, after spending two years with the Badlands Baseball Academy in Oyen, Alta., making quite a name for himself. Rhett can play two years with this junior college and can sign with an NCAA school after either year. He already has two NCAA schools making offers.
Good luck to our dancers who will be competing this month in a number of festivals. A season's worth of diligence and practising will pay off once again.
April 12 will be a big day at the arena as the curling rink side will host the second annual spring trade show, starting with a pancake breakfast, benefitting the Unity Brownies and Girl Guides. The hockey arena side will host the 10th annual Delta Co-op Easter egg hunt, for children 0-10 with plenty of prizes to be won. Cooper and the Easter Bunny will be in attendance. As well, and again, the Sifto Rec Club has generously offered to do a hot dog barbecue for participants. Sounds like a fun filled day, which will include something for everyone.
The Unity Skating Club has wrapped up their season. They look forward to folks joining them for the annual general meeting which will take place at the Unity Health Centre at 7 p.m., April 28. If you have kids, or will have kids, in this program, come out and give them some feedback or offer to join a committee.
And, it's been confirmed - the Unity farmers market will be back this year. A few changes to the program will include moving downtown to the Friendship Centre for easier access for all. As well the program will start sooner, at 2 p.m., to allow for the courtesy car schedule and enable everyone to attend this weekly homegrown, homemade market place. Start date is set for May 8. If you would like more information or to book a table, contact Carmen Bowker at 306-228-2237.
Coffee row certainly is enjoying and reviewing all the excitement this hockey season has brought with so many teams and players in league or provincial playoffs. The weather keeps everyone theorizing and guessing, as rowers voice their displeasure with late snow and ponder their hopes for warm weather and spring signs to arrive sooner rather than later. Spring weather, spring seeding and still existent grain backlog are hot topics as well. So you see we keep busy in Unity with activities and wisdom from our friends on coffee row. Until next week.
