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Toronto Star
a day ago
- Climate
- Toronto Star
Resident of village threatened by fire posts video of raindrops: ‘It was amazing'
CANDLE LAKE - After weeks of being ready to evacuate at a moment's notice due to a wildfire burning just kilometres away, the owner of JD's Mini Golf posted a video of rain falling outside her business in Candle Lake, Saskatchewan. The video included a note for viewers to have the sound on, so they didn't miss the soft patter as the drops fell on the resort village Saturday.
Toronto Sun
a day ago
- Climate
- Toronto Sun
Resident of Saskatchewan village threatened by fire posts video of raindrops: 'It was amazing'
Published Jun 08, 2025 • 3 minute read Fire crews near the northern community of Weyakwin, Sask., were doing their best to control wildfires in the area on Saturday, May 31, 2025. Photo by Kayle Neis / Regina Leader-Post CANDLE LAKE — After weeks of being ready to evacuate at a moment's notice due to a wildfire burning just kilometres away, the owner of JD's Mini Golf posted a video of rain falling outside her business in Candle Lake, Saskatchewan. The video included a note for viewers to have the sound on, so they didn't miss the soft patter as the drops fell on the resort village Saturday. 'Amongst everything that's going on right now with the wildfire at our doorsteps, you just needed to be able to back away from that and hear the sound of the rain and what it was bringing to us,' Jackie Davis said in a phone interview on Sunday. 'It was amazing — long time overdue. It was like, over a month since we've had some.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency said all fires in the province received some rain on Saturday, with the Shoe Fire that's been threatening Candle Lake getting 22 millimetres. That's not a lot, but the SPSA said the moisture was appreciated and gives firefighters a small window where they can take the fight directly to the fires while their intensity is lower. The Shoe Fire remained at just under 500,000 hectares in size on Sunday, officials said, and was burning uncontained about 11 kilometres from Candle Lake. 'Things are looking good now. Things could always change. But we're not expecting anything to, any time soon, over the next couple of days,' Bryan Chartrand, executive director of land operations for the SPSA, said during a news conference Sunday. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Elsewhere on the Prairies, the Manitoba Wildfire Service said the province had a low-to-moderate fire danger level Sunday, but the northeast had a high-to-extreme fire danger and that lightning starts were anticipated. One fire in that region, which stretches from Bird River to Bissett, was approximately 203,720 hectares and remained out of control. 'To provide context as to the seriousness and size of the wildfires, the city of Winnipeg is approximately 46,000 hectares in size,' the province's fire bulletin on Sunday said. It added that another fire in Manitoba's northwest that's been threatening the evacuated town of Flin Flon and surrounding communities is now approximately seven times the size of Winnipeg. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Thousands of people remained out of their homes due to evacuation orders in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta over the weekend. Back in Candle Lake, where a voluntary evacuation order has been in effect since late last month, Davis said many people have left and the resort community feels a bit 'scary.' She said the puddles from Saturday's rain had already evaporated. 'The sound and feel of the community is definitely not what it would be for into June. Usually there's lots of people getting excited, looking to come up to the lake for the summer and get into their cabins and campers, ready for that seasonal experience, and it's quiet,' Davis said, adding she's thankful to firefighting crews as well as volunteers. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Read More The Prime Minister's Office said Sunday that Mark Carney had convened the Incident Response Group with ministers and senior officials to address the wildfire situation. In a readout following the meeting, the PMO said the group was briefed on efforts to respond to the fires and support evacuations. It said that included the mobilizing the Canadian Armed Forces to help evacuate Sandy Lake First Nation in Ontario, where a fire was burning about six kilometres away. In northern Alberta where an evacuation area remained in effect over the weekend near the Alberta-British Columbia boundary, the County of Grande Prairie said on its website that hot, dry, and windy conditions were expected to bring 'extreme and unpredictable fire behaviour.' — By Rob Drinkwater in Edmonton World Canada Editorials Sports Columnists
Hamilton Spectator
a day ago
- Climate
- Hamilton Spectator
Resident of village threatened by fire posts video of raindrops: ‘It was amazing'
CANDLE LAKE - After weeks of being ready to evacuate at a moment's notice due to a wildfire burning just kilometres away, the owner of JD's Mini Golf posted a video of rain falling outside her business in Candle Lake, Saskatchewan. The video included a note for viewers to have the sound on, so they didn't miss the soft patter as the drops fell on the resort village Saturday. 'Amongst everything that's going on right now with the wildfire at our doorsteps, you just needed to be able to back away from that and hear the sound of the rain and what it was bringing to us,' Jackie Davis said in a phone interview on Sunday. 'It was amazing — long time overdue. It was like, over a month since we've had some.' The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency said all fires in the province received some rain on Saturday, with the Shoe Fire that's been threatening Candle Lake getting 22 millimetres. That's not a lot, but the SPSA said the moisture was appreciated and gives firefighters a small window where they can take the fight directly to the fires while their intensity is lower. The Shoe Fire remained at just under 500,000 hectares in size on Sunday, officials said, and was burning uncontained about 11 kilometres from Candle Lake. 'Things are looking good now. Things could always change. But we're not expecting anything to, any time soon, over the next couple of days,' Bryan Chartrand, executive director of land operations for the SPSA, said during a news conference Sunday. Elsewhere on the Prairies, the Manitoba Wildfire Service said the province had a low-to-moderate fire danger level Sunday, but the northeast had a high-to-extreme fire danger and that lightning starts were anticipated. One fire in that region, which stretches from Bird River to Bissett, was approximately 203,720 hectares and remained out of control. 'To provide context as to the seriousness and size of the wildfires, the city of Winnipeg is approximately 46,000 hectares in size,' the province's fire bulletin on Sunday said. It added that another fire in Manitoba's northwest that's been threatening the evacuated town of Flin Flon and surrounding communities is now approximately seven times the size of Winnipeg. Thousands of people remained out of their homes due to evacuation orders in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta over the weekend. Back in Candle Lake, where a voluntary evacuation order has been in effect since late last month, Davis said many people have left and the resort community feels a bit 'scary.' She said the puddles from Saturday's rain had already evaporated. 'The sound and feel of the community is definitely not what it would be for into June. Usually there's lots of people getting excited, looking to come up to the lake for the summer and get into their cabins and campers, ready for that seasonal experience, and it's quiet,' Davis said, adding she's thankful to firefighting crews as well as volunteers. The Prime Minister's Office said Sunday that Mark Carney had convened the Incident Response Group with ministers and senior officials to address the wildfire situation. In a readout following the meeting, the PMO said the group was briefed on efforts to respond to the fires and support evacuations. It said that included the mobilizing the Canadian Armed Forces to help evacuate Sandy Lake First Nation in Ontario, where a fire was burning about six kilometres away. In northern Alberta where an evacuation area remained in effect over the weekend near the Alberta-British Columbia boundary, the County of Grande Prairie said on its website that hot, dry, and windy conditions were expected to bring 'extreme and unpredictable fire behaviour.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 8, 2025. — By Rob Drinkwater in Edmonton Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
New York Times
26-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
In ‘Hmong Capital,' Refugee Stories Are Told in Tapestry
Lee Pao Xiong, a Hmong scholar, spread out several tapestries on a conference table. He pointed to little notches of yellow embroidery falling from helicopters and planes. Below were people stitched in traditional Hmong clothing, running in every direction. 'It's depicting the Communist usage of yellow rain on the Hmong people,' said Xiong, the founding director of the Center for Hmong Studies and its research museum, at Concordia University in St. Paul, Minn., referring to the substance the U.S. government and many Hmong say was dropped from planes, leading to accusations of chemical warfare. 'And also, the killing of fleeing refugees, and so on and so forth.' Xiong pulls out tapestry after tapestry — story cloths, part of the Hmong textile tradition of paj ntaub. Most feature colorful pastoral or wedding scenes, but some depict memories from the 'Secret War' in Laos, a Vietnam proxy war in the '60s and '70s, during which the C.I.A. recruited Hmong people to fight Communist powers. In the 1970s and '80s, the Hmong invented story cloths in refugee camps in Thailand. Xiong explained that it was a way to keep family history alive, and make money, after fleeing Laos during the Communist takeover in the spring of 1975. Xiong himself grew up in Long Tieng, a C.I.A. air base in Laos, before escaping with his family to a camp in May 1975. On the 50th anniversary of the war and the Hmong resettlement, these story cloths can be found in homes, markets and museums around the Twin Cities, including at the Center for Hmong Studies, and the nearby Hmong Archives and Hmong Cultural Center Museum in a neighborhood known as Little Mekong, named after the river that more than 130,000 Hmong crossed into Thailand as they escaped Laos. Across the Mississippi River, the tapestries can be found in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and come May, the Walker Art Center opens its artist-designed Skyline Mini Golf course, where there is a hole inspired by a paj ntaub. 'You're in the Hmong capital of the world,' Xiong said. The United States began Hmong resettlement efforts in 1975, Xiong explained, and the government largely placed refugees in Minnesota, Wisconsin and California. St. Paul has the largest urban concentration of any U.S. city, with more than 40,000 Hmong and Hmong Americans. Xiong pointed to the efforts of the city's former mayor, George Latimer, who advocated for the settlement of Hmong refugees, and Albert Quie, Minnesota's former governor. 'Gov. Al Quie actually traveled to the refugee camps in Thailand in 1979 and then came back and advocated for all the churches to basically accept the refugees,' Xiong said. 'He basically lobbied the State Department to send the refugees to Minnesota.' In the Twin Cities, Hmong culture isn't just present in the tapestries. It's everywhere, including the first Hmong judges and state elected officials, the culinary scene, farmers markets, and the arts. 'The Twin Cities is known in the nation, and even in the world, as the Hmong epicenter,' said the renowned chef Yia Vang. Vang's restaurant Vinai, which takes its name from the refugee camp in Thailand where he was born, was on The New York Times's 2024 best restaurants list. The Twin Cities, he said, is 'where Hmong culture begins.' Hmong food, commerce, textiles and art are also on view at two major indoor markets in St. Paul, Hmongtown Marketplace and Hmong Village. 'Whenever my kids want to hear Hmong music or they want Hmong food, for me, it's a four-minute drive to Hmong Village,' said Kao Kalia Yang, the author of 'The Latehomecomer.' Yang was also born in the Ban Vinai refugee camp; her family came to St. Paul when she was 6. Her mother and aunt made story cloths in the camp. 'Hmong women and girls are known for their tapestry around the world,' Yang said. 'It was a rebellious act of us to conserve our stories for future generations using what we had.' Sunisa Lee, the first Hmong American Olympian and gold medalist, is from St. Paul, and the photographer Pao Houa Her and Yang, both 2023 Guggenheim fellows, grew up in St. Paul and still live in the Twin Cities today. 'The successes that you see come from our parents who wanted us to be successful here,' said Mai Vang Huizel, the director of the Hmong Museum at Hmong Village. Vang Huizel said that 2025 was an important milestone for reflection and remembering. Many Hmong Americans like herself, she said, know little about their family's experience of escaping war. That's why she started the museum 10 years ago. 'I didn't know anything at all about my parents' experience,' Vang Huizel said. 'I've only heard bits and pieces, and their stories felt more like myths and legends than real life, so I really felt that having something like a museum would be so important for our community.' 'These histories are oftentimes passed on from generation to generation through oral stories,' Vang Huizel said, 'and with a lot of the disruption from war with our community, a lot of those stories are not being passed on from the elders to the next generation, because once they're here in the U.S., they are basically on survival mode.' To commemorate the 50th anniversary, Vang Huizel will represent the museum in Washington, D.C., on May 10 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum's event, 'Reflection, Resilience, and Reimagination: 50 Years of Southeast Asian American Journeys,' and again on May 16 in St. Paul at the Minnesota History Center's event, '50 Years of Hmong Americans in Minnesota.' Hmong American Day is May 14. The Hmong Cultural Center Museum also preserves traditions, including teaching the qeej, an ancient bamboo woodwind instrument used at weddings and funerals. The annual Qeej and Hmong Arts Festival was held April 24-26. 'On the 50-year Hmong escape from Laos to the United States, we are still keeping the music alive,' said Txong Pao Lee, director of the Hmong Cultural Center Museum. At the Center for Hmong Studies museum, the director, Xiong, folded up the story cloths to make room for stacks of documents from the 'Secret War.' Included are handwritten notes from Maj. Gen. Vang Pao, who commanded the secret army, and U.S. correspondence about the Hmong resettlement. 'People didn't think that the Hmong will be able to survive in America,' Xiong said. 'And yet, we survive, and we thrive, and we became a very vibrant community here in Minnesota.'
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Love to laugh? Check out the 2025 Flagship City Comedy Festival lineup
The Flagship City Comedy Festival begins Wednesday night, and the founder said it's back and bigger than ever. The festival includes 11 comedy shows over five days, where both local and national comedians will be taking the stage. Oliver's Beer Garden set to reopen Thursday Headliners include Dwight Simmons, Brandie Posey, Shane Torres and Ben Roy. The performances will be at different venues around town, starting with Werner Books & Coffee. Donations currently being collected for Sarah's Great Giveaway 'It's a collection of comics that are from all over the nation. So there's a great diversity of comics, but it also showcases some of our great small local businesses like Hazards Mini Golf, that's a late night show that we have this year, where it's 'Comic Against Humanity' style of showcase, and then my personal favorite is the Inked Comedy, where we get tattooed during our set,' said Anthony Morelli, founder of the Flagship City Comedy Festival. For more information on tickets, click here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
