Mixed signals are being received at our office regarding the status of the Treaty 8 First Nations Cup Hockey Tournament.
As reported several times the past year or so, the High Prairie Recreation Committee was unable to keep the tournament, which for many years was held in High Prairie. Various reasons why the tournament organizers left seemed to boil down to an inability to match or even come close to better ice time prices offered in Slave Lake. But according to more sources, High Prairie would not ‘come to the table’ to even talk.
The last two years, the tournament went to Slave Lake. According to sources, at that time a two-year deal was offered. Last year, 2024, was the last year of that deal. That means hosting this year’s and next year’s tournament was up for grabs.
But rumours are that deal is now extended for at least two more years in Slave Lake.
Is this a big deal?
Treaty 8 was, after the High Prairie Gun and Sportsman Show, and Elks Pro Rodeo, the next largest event in town.
In case you didn’t know, events like this are big money makers for everybody in the hosting community. Restaurants. Hotels. Retail stores. Even gas stations and convenience stores. And of course, taxpayers in both Big Lakes County and High Prairie.
Why taxpayers? Because every event like this, whether in the swimming pool, on ball diamonds, the rodeo grounds, or even a soccer field that brings in outsiders, helps pay the costs of recreation facilities. They are not cheap to own and operate.
That means hosting is less money lost on those facilities, losses that taxpayers don’t have to cover, one way or another.

Some people might say its a “good thing” we don’t see stories about local politicians in the press, like this paper.
That’s the thinking of many people who often lose sleep at night wondering if their son or daughter, or dear ol’ dad, is going to show up in the local court docket.
Or worse!
Well, here’s some good news! We think!
This newspaper has extended invitations to all local politicians, through their offices, if they want to write a short piece, maybe 1,500 characters or so, about their hopes and plans for this coming year of 2025.
We have no deadline. In fact, this being an election year for settlements, school boards and towns, counties and municipal districts, we figured any person already in office would want to take one last shot at “making a difference” so to speak. And letting people know.
Now, most local governments have a written or unwritten policy that only the mayor or reeve can speak for the whole local government. So, just to be clear, we are not asking for any opinions or statements that represent the whole of the government to which writers belong. This is just one person’s thoughts on what they hope to try to do in the coming year to make a better community, or just to keep it running for another year.

Peace River KIX radio morning man, Jared Gomes, was asking last week for thoughts on what kind of TV people liked watching.
This newspaper is curious, too. Let us know by filling out the comment form online under the box on our websites. Either smokyriverexpress. com or southpeacenews. com. It will be right on the sidebar.
Back in the old days, going back years and years, people used to gather around ye ol’ tube to watch great shows like Ed Sullivan and Walt Disney Presents. Then there was Happy Days. Gunsmoke. Dallas. Dynasty. Then Seinfeld, Friends, and Big Bang Theory. Of course, mixed with Hockey Night in Canada! And more!

Here in the Peace Country, it was for many years just one station, CBC. Then we got CTV. As it was called back then, the tall antennae were Farmer Vision. Then along came satellite, pirated to start with, with the big 10 and 12 foot dishes. Then cable. Then, well, everything! For Mr. Gomes, the most popular show people wrote in about was Yellowstone.
Yellowstone is about a fictional Montana ranch operated for several generations by the also fictional Dutton family, headed up by Kevin Costner. The series these days is as popular as “Who Shot JR Dallas” or even The Sopranos was, back a few decades ago. Yellowstone originally appeared only on Amazon Prime. You might have already watched the whole series of five seasons there. It is now also on regular cable or satellite.
Drop a comment into the box on our site.

In our little corner of world, Earth-shaking news like the Ukraine – Russia war or Hamas Hezbollah are rare. Which is really something to be thankful for, when you think about it.
But, in other not so Earth-shaking happenings, it has to be noted the news is out situps are no longer in fashion. We mention this because it was on our New Year Resolutions list a few weeks ago. And there it stayed! Thank goodness!
In fact, situps are reported to be actually bad for your health. Not as bad, but certainly not what they are cracked up to be.
The problem, it seems, is that both situps and crunches do not work on all the muscles involved in “core” strength. This puts unhealthy pressure on organs and spine. One better alternative is supposed to be the plank. Until we get some literature on this online, we are quite happy doing some dumbbell curls. With our favourite beverage as a weight, of course.