Festival Winners from Thursday April 7

The first week of the Rainy River district Festival of the Performing Arts has wrapped up.

Piano competition concluded yesterday with Alexa Veldhuisen scoring three first place finishes.

Next week, vocal performances and drams will take centre stage.

Here is a list of all winners from yesterday

CLASS P1004

FIRST - Meagan Empey

CLASS P904

FIRST - Alexis Sharp

SECOND - Cameo Harrison

CLASS P804

FIRST - Oryn Albanese

SECOND (TIE) - Katelyn Shortreed, Audrey Chojko-Bolec

CLASS P102

FIRST - Macy Anderson

SECOND - Jacob Gustafson

CLASS P303

FIRST - Emma Dykstra

SECOND - Cara Sane-Calder

CLASS P403

FIRST - Jordan Bruyere

SECOND - Tianna Veldhuisen

CLASS P031

FIRST - Alexa Veldhuisen

SECOND - Emily Loney

CLASS P035

FIRST - Alexa Veldhuisen

SECOND (TIE) - Caitlin Rittau, Annalise Rittau

CLASS P034

FIRST - Alexa Veldhuisen

SECOND (TIE) - Gemma Friesen, Sydney Beck

NDP Release Northern Ontario Platform

The NDP is out with a platform specific for northern Ontario. It includes more funding for seniors homes and programs to eliminate senior poverty.

Thunder Bay Rainy River MP John Rafferty says they're big issues in this area.

"Many seniors can't pay their electric bill, can't put food on the table," says Rafferty. "They might be in perfectly good health otherwise. They live in their own home. We proposed to Mr. Flaherty long before this election that we need to increase G.I.S. immediately to ensure that we don't have any senior living in poverty in this country."

The platform also calls for increases to FEDNOR and ensuring it's a stand alone agency.

No Campaign Offices Planned

The Liberal candidate for Thunder Bay-Rainy River has opted not to open campaign offices.

Ken Boshcoff says limitations on campaign spending played a part of his decision.

Boschoff says he'll instead focus on meeting as many people as possible face-to-face.

He's also set up social-media sites on Facebook and Twitter to help deliver his message.

Green Party candidate Ed Shields is also using social-media to reach voters.

Conservative candidate Maureen Comuzzi-Stehmann has an office in Thunder Bay, but no word yet if she has plans to set up satellite sites elsewhere.

NDP incumbent John Rafferty has campaign offices in Fort Frances and Atikokan.

Riverside Receives Grant

Riverside Health Care Facilities is receiving some funding from the Northern Cancer Fund.

The $25-thousand will be used to purchase equipment for the chemotherapy department at LaVerendrye Hospital in Fort Frances.

Pennies at Play Reaches Half Way Mark

A campaign to raise money for new playground equipment at International Falls' Kerry Park is nearing the halfway mark.

Organizer of Pennies for Play Robin Bjorkquist says the $3,000 raised at last weekend's Purple Day Carnival puts them on target to reach the 17-thousand 500-dollar goal.

"Game Time has a 100 per cent matching grant fund," says Bjorkquist. "So if we can raise at least $10-thousand or more, they will match those funds to purchase a brand new play structure for Kerry Park."

The group hopes to reach its mark by the end of May.

Customer Service Challenge

(Lillian Gerley accepting a 2010 Customer Service Award for the UPS Store from George Emes of the Rainy River Futures Development Corporation)

The Rainy River Futures Development Corporation is now seeking businesses interested in taking part in this year's Customer Service Challenge.

Office Manager Cynde Milette says this year, customers get a say on who should be recognized for good customer service.

"We're going to open it up to the public to vote for their choice," says Milette. "They can all pick their top three. From those votes we'll compile a top ten as we've done in the past."

Businesses between Mine Centre and Rainy River have until April 15 to register.