Exciting opportunities, some challenges, and the loss of a renowned community members. Those are some of the things Portage Mayor Irvine Ferris is looking back on heading into the long weekend. Ferris notes after the long weekend, Portage will see judges from Manitoba Communities In Bloom coming to town, as they hope to secure a top 'Bloom' rating from the organization. Ferris says he's confident Portage will score well, noting the vast amount of time an effort community members have put in to making the city a more beautiful place.

"There was a lot of work done, a lot of people putting in a lot of effort into tidying things up, beautification including planting flowers, and cleaning up shrubs. It's looking pretty good, I guess we're going to find out from the judges because this is the first time we've participated in this. We get feedback after the tour on how your community did, so we're kind of looking forward to that."

He notes after the tour the Portage Community Revitalization Corporations hosting a free barbecue for those who helped to make Portage a more attractive place throughout the spring and early summer.

While litter clean up and beautification were the focus of those preparations, there's also ongoing work that wasn't expected. Ferris says their staff continue to work to clean up after last week's storm. While Portage was spared the devastation seen at Long Plain, Ferris still says there's no shortage of work to be done.

"Public works has had quite a few days of cleaning up trees, and parks staff are still working on storm clean up. There are lots of downed trees that still require clean up. We're certainly in a more fortunate position that some of our very close neighbours, but there still is a lot of work to do."

Ferris anticipates it could be another week before all damaged trees are removed, but says that could change depending on the weather.

This week Portage's mayor is also looking back at the work of a former city councillor. Harvey Carmichael passed away earlier this week, and Ferris says he'll be greatly missed by those around the community. He describes Carmichael as someone who really cared about Portage, and really worked to make the city a better place.

"Harvey came to our community back in the 1940s after the war, and chose to stay here after the war. He served on the city council back in the 60s, as well as on school board. He was a real community booster and a good friend of Portage."

On top of his time with Council and school board, Carmichael was also an ordained Anglican minister, and member of the Lions Club and other community organizations. Carmichael had also served as the commanding officer of the 575 Portage Terrier Squadron for the Royal Canadian Air Cadets.