THE PACE OF MUSKOKA LIFE AND TIMES - FAR TOO CITY-LIKE FOR SOME OF US
OUR FAMILY LEARNED ABOUT DE-STRESSING BACK IN THE 1960'S
MY FATHER ED, WAS A CAREER LUMBERMAN. HE HAD WORKED IN HIGH PRESSURE SALES, FOR SEVERAL MAJOR ONTARIO LUMBER COMPANIES, AND WE ACTUALLY MOVED TO MUSKOKA, BECAUSE OF A JOB OFFER HE ACCEPTED WITH ONE OF THE REGION'S MOST HISTORIC BUSINESSES. TRUTH BE KNOWN, HE WAS DRINKING TOO MUCH, AND SMOKING A COUPLE OF PACKS A DAY. HE WAS ON COMMISSION SALES, AND HATING IT! THE MOVE NORTH WAS A CHANCE TO IMPROVE HIS HEALTH, AND OUR CHANCES TO LIVE IN A LESS CROWDED NEIGHBORHOOD.
HE WAS BROUGHT TO BRACEBRIDGE, TO WORK AT THE NEWLY PURCHASED J.D. SHIER LUMBER COMPANY, WHICH HAD BEEN ONE OF THE TOWN'S BEST KNOWN INDUSTRIES, WITH A LONG-STANDING REPUTATION FOR EXPERTISE IN EVERYTHING FROM LOGGING, MILLING TO LUMBER SALES. THE COMPANY HAD BEEN ACQUIRED BY BOB JONES, WHO BY FAMILY ASSOCIATION, WAS ALSO WELL VERSED IN THE LUMBER TRADE FROM SOUTHERN ONTARIO. JUST BEFORE THE MOVE NORTH FROM BURLINGTON, ONTARIO, WE WERE INVITED TO SPEND A WEEKEND AT A SPEC. COTTAGE, THE COMPANY HAD BUILT ON BRUCE LAKE, IN MINETT. IT WAS A FABULOUS EXPERIENCE AND MY PARENTS SAW MUSKOKA AS AN IDYLLIC PLACE TO RAISE A CHILD. THEY WERE RIGHT. WE MOVED TO BRACEBRIDGE IN JANUARY, AFTER A PERIOD OF CAREFUL CONSIDERATION. ED WAS STRESSED-OUT FROM ALL THE DRIVING HE WAS DOING, AS A SALESMAN ON THE ROAD DAILY, AND THIS NEW JOB WOULD PUT HIM IN ONE LOCATION, AS AN IN-OFFICE SALES MANAGER. HE HAD KNOWN BOB AND HIS FATHER FOR YEARS BEFORE MAKING THE COMMITMENT, TO MOVE NORTH, SO IT WASN'T A RE-LOCATION DECISION MADE ON THE SPUR OF THE MOMENT.
SHORTLY AFTER WE ARRIVED IN MUSKOKA, THE ADJUSTMENTS BEGAN IN EARNEST. MY FATHER WASN'T USED TO A RELAXED, SLOWER PACE OF DOING THINGS. HE WAS HAVING A DIFFICULT TIME, SETTING ASIDE HIS CITY VALUES, AND EXPECTATIONS, FORA NEW LIFE IN THE HINTERLAND. BRACEBRIDGE WAS A COMMUNITY OF ABOUT 3,000 SOULS, AND IT WAS BY ALL STANDARDS, AN EASY-GOING TOWN WITHOUT HUGE ASPIRATIONS OF ONE DAY BECOMING A CITY. LIKE GRAVENHURST, IT WAS COMFORTABLE BEING WHAT IT WAS….AND THAT WASN'T BEING AN URBAN COMMUNITY IN THE CITY SENSE. MY PARENTS HOWEVER, WERE NOT REALLY HINTERLAND SUITABLE. IT WAS A DIFFICULT ADJUSTMENT. THINGS DIDN'T HAPPEN AS FAST AS THEY MIGHT HAVE IN THE CITY. THERE WERE DELAYS IN GETTING SERVICES FROM THOSE WHO SPECIALIZED IN TROUBLE-SHOOTING. AND HERE WAS THEIR FIRST LESSON IN THE COUNTRY PACE OF GENERAL LIFE AND TIMES.
IN BURLINGTON, WE HAD SOME COLD WEATHER IN THE HEART OF THE WINTER, BUT NOTHING LIKE THE THIRTY TO FORTY BELOW DAYS, WE FOUND LIVING IN MUSKOKA. WE HAD NEVER HEARD SNAPPING WOOD BEFORE WE MOVED TO BRACEBRIDGE. AT FIRST MY MOTHER THOUGHT SOMEONE WAS SHOOTING AT US. ED KNOWING QUITE A BIT ABOUT LUMBER, UNDERSTOOD IT TO BE THE RESULT OF EXTREME COLD, AND AN UNSPECIFIED AMOUNT OF MOISTURE IN THE WOOD. THAT DIDN'T SATISFY MERLE, WHO KEPT GLANCING OUT THE WINDOW, OF OUR TORONTO STREET HOUSE, PARTIALLY COVERED BY CURTAIN, CERTAIN IT WAS OUR NEIGHBORS SHOOTING DEER OR MOOSE IN OUR VICINITY. WHILE MERLE HAD GROWN UP ON A FARM IN TRENTON, ONTARIO, MOST OF HER LIFE WAS SPENT IN THE JANE / BLOOR AREA OF TORONTO. MY DAD WAS A LITTLE MORE WORLDLY BECAUSE OF THE WAR, WHEN HE SERVED IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC SQUADRON. HE HAD GROWN UP IN CABBAGETOWN. SO HE KNEW THE URBAN CONUNDRUM. THAT FIRST WINTER WAS HARD ON BOTH OF THEM, BUT I WAS FIRMLY IMBEDDED BEFORE THE FIRST SUNNY DAYS OF THAT PARTICULAR SPRING. THE HARDSHIP FOR MY PARENTS, WAS THAT THEY HAD EXPECTED TOWN LIFE WAS GOING TO BE A SMALLER VERSION OF WHAT THEY HAD KNOWN, LIVING IN A LARGE SOUTHERN ONTARIO COMMUNITY. ON SUNDAYS, WHILE LIVING IN BURLINGTON, WE FANNED OUT ALL OVER THE PLACE, ON MOTOR-TRIPS, AND SAW THE PROVINCE THROUGHOUT THE FOUR SEASONS. IN MUSKOKA, WE JUST KIND OF HUNG AROUND, SIMPLY BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO. IT'S TRUE, AND FUNNY, THAT THEY JUST SEEMED STUNNED BY THE CHANGE OF PACE. THEY SAW WAY TOO MUCH FOREST THAT FIRST YEAR, AND THEY MAY HAVE SUFFERED TEMPORARY, CIRCUMSTANTIAL CABIN FEVER……SIMPLY BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T INTERACT AS THEY SHOULD HAVE….AND COULD HAVE. THEY MADE FRIENDS FAST, BUT JUST SEEMED TIMID ABOUT THE MUSKOKA EXPERIENCE.
ONE BITTERLY COLD MORNING, THE COMPANY CAR WOULDN'T START FOR ED. WE ALWAYS SEEMED TO HAVE VEHICLES THAT HAD FAULTY BATTERIES. I REMEMBER HIM WALKING TO THE DOWNTOWN GARAGE, AT THE BASE OF TORONTO STREET, BECAUSE THEY WOULDN'T ANSWER THE PHONE. NOW I BECAME GREAT FRIENDS WITH THE PROPRIETOR'S SONS, SO I HAVE TO SIDE WITH SETH HILLMAN ON THIS, THAT THINGS IN MUSKOKA DIDN'T MOVE QUITE AS FAST AS IN THE CITY CLIME. WHEN ED ENTERED THE STATION, THERE ARMS OUTSTRETCHED ON THE COUNTER, WERE OWNERS RUSS CROCKFORD AND SETH HILLMAN, CONTENTLY STUDYING THEIR WORK-ORDER BOOK, BUT TALKING ABOUT THE WEATHER. ED WALKED UP TO THE COUNTER, AND MADE A NUMBER OF THROAT CLEARING NOISES, TO GET THEIR ATTENTION. IT SHOULD BE NOTED, THAT ED'S ENTRY INTO THE BUILDING, DID NOT IN ITSELF, CAUSE DISRUPTION OF THE CONVERSATION. I REMEMBER IT CARRYING ON FOR QUITE SOME TIME, BEFORE SETH ASKED WHAT MY FATHER NEEDED SO EARLY ON A WINTER MORNING. ED WAS LATE FOR WORK. HE WAS IN UNFAMILIAR TERRITORY. HE MIGHT HAVE THOUGHT HE WAS A BIG SHOT FROM THE CITY, BUT IT DIDN'T MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE TO SETH AND ART. I SHOULD NOTE, THAT THEY WEREN'T RUDE TO ED, JUST THAT THEY DIDN'T DO CARTWHEELS BECAUSE A CITY SLICKER SHOWED UP, FIVE MINUTES BEFORE ACTUAL SHOP OPENING.
ED ASKED WHEN HE COULD GET EITHER CHAP, IN THEIR HUGE TOW TRUCK, PARKED OUT BACK, TO MOTOR UP TORONTO STREET, (A MATTER OF A COUPLE OF BLOCKS), TO GIVE THE CAR A BOOST. IT WAS A PRECIOUS FEW MOMENTS, WATCHING ART AND SETH LOOK AT EACH OTHER, THEN CONSULT THEIR WORK BOOK; THEN LOOK BACK AT MY FATHER, BACK AT THE BOOK, ONLY TO SUGGEST, "WE CAN DO IT ON WEDNESDAY MORNING." "WHAT…..BUT IT'S MONDAY," ANSWERED MY FATHER, WITH THE CITY DEMEANOR, WITH THE JAGGED EDGE OF ARROGANCE SHOWING THROUGH THE CIRCUMSTANCE. "I NEED THE CAR TODAY……I CAN'T WAIT UNTIL WEDNESDAY." I REALLY THINK MY FATHER BELIEVED HE COULD CHANGE THEIR OPINION ON THE MATTER, BY GLARING AND UTTERING OTHER STRANGE NOISES, IMPATIENT PEOPLE MAKE WHEN INCONVENIENCED. ED WAS A "CHANGE RATTLER," AND I GUAGED HOW TICKED OFF HE WAS, BY HOW LOUD AND LONG HE PLAYED WITH THE CHANGE IN HIS POCKET. WELL SIR, SETH AND ART COULDN'T CHANGE THEIR SCHEDULE, BECAUSE IT WOULD HAVE INCONVENIENCED A LOT OF OTHER REGULAR CUSTOMERS, WHO HAD THEIR APPOINTMENTS PENCILLED INTO THAT SAME BOOKLET…..SETH HAD VOLUNTARILY SHOWN MY DAD. "WELL, WOULD YOU LIKE US TO COME AND START YOUR CAR ON WEDNESDAY MORNING, OR NOT" ART ASKED. YOU KNOW, I DON'T REMEMBER WHETHER HE BOOKED THAT TOW TRUCK BOOST OR NOT. I JUST REMEMBER THE AWKWARD SILENCE IN THE DIMLY LIT OLD SERVICE STATION, OPERATED BY TWO GREAT GUYS, WHO JUST HAPPENED TO BE MORE PATIENT THAN ED. IT WAS HIS FIRST REAL ENCOUNTER WITH A WAY OF LIFE HE HAD ACCEPTED, BY MOVING HERE, WITHOUT KNOWING ANYTHING ABOUT THE COUNTRY WAY OF DOING THINGS. HE COULDN'T RELAX. HE COULD LIVE IN THE HEART OF GOD'S COUNTRY, IN THE MOST AMAZING, SOOTHING TRANQUILITY, AND STILL CHAIN SMOKE HIMSELF INTO A BLUE HAZE OF HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE AND DAILY TANTRUMS. "WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH THESE PEOPLE," HE'D ASK, KNOWING THERE WAS NO ANSWER TO FIT HIS PREVAILING MOOD. MERLE WASN'T MUCH BETTER. SHE WAS ACCUSTOMED TO URBAN OPPORTUNITIES, LIKE SHOPPING PLAZAS, AND DEPARTMENT STORES. SHE ACTUALLY BECAME SO WONDERFULLY RURAL OVER TIME, THAT SHE AGREED TO WORK IN A LITTLE OLD FASHION CORNER STORE, KNOWN AS BAMFORD'S, AND THE LITTLE WOODLEY PARK COTTAGES…..THAT SHE CAME TO LOVE AS IF IT WAS HER OWN.
THE SECOND EYE-OPENING ENCOUNTER, FOR MY FATHER, CAME WHEN HE HAD TO ATTEND A LOCAL PLUMBER'S ESTABLISHMENT, AND WAS TREATED PRETTY MUCH THE SAME. THE PLUMBER WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF A CONVERSATION, AND WOULD NOT INTERRUPT A GOOD STORY, JUST BECAUSE THIS NEW GUY TO TOWN, WAS CLEARING HIS THROAT AT THE OTHER END OF THE COUNTER. ON THIS OCCASION, ED FELT IT INCUMBENT, TO LET THE BUSINESS OWNER KNOW WHO HE WAS, AND WHO HE WOULD BE WORKING FOR……AS IF THIS MADE A DIFFERENCE. IT DIDN'T. IN FACT, IT GENERATED A LITTLE "WELCOME TO MUSKOKA" TUTORIAL. "WE DON'T DO THINGS THE SAME AS THEY DO IN THE CITY, YOUNG FELLA," THE PROPRIETOR DIRECTED AT MY FATHER, AFTER HIS TERSE COMMENT ABOUT "GETTING THE SERVICE," HE THOUGHT HE DESERVED. FOR ABOUT THREE YEARS, ED AND MERLE WERE ROUTINELY EDUCATED, ABOUT EXPECTING WAY TOO MUCH FROM THEIR NEW HOMETOWN. FELLOW CITIZENS DIDN'T FEEL ANY NECESSITY WHATSOEVER, APOLOGIZING TO THE CITY FOLKS…..WHO THOUGHT THEY WERE ABOVE THE RANK AND FILE CITIZENRY.
MAYBE YOU HAVEN'T HEARD A STORY LIKE THIS BEFORE. ON THE OTHER HAND, MAYBE YOU'VE HEARD HUNDREDS OF SIMILAR TALES, OF CITY DWELLERS MOVING NORTH, AND THEN BEING DISMAYED AT THE LACK OF SERVICES, AND DILIGENCE ON THE PART OF PROVIDERS. "IT'S NOT LIKE THE CITY," THEY SAY. "NO ONE RUSHES TO DO ANYTHING UP HERE." MOST OF THIS IS JUST THE HANDIWORK OF THE HARD TO PLEASE. URBANITES WHO THINK MUSKOKA IS A GREAT PLACE TO LIVE, ALWAYS HAVE A TOUGH TIME ADJUSTING…..UNLESS THEY WERE COTTAGERS BEFOREHAND. IN THE CASE OF MY FATHER, WELL, I WITNESSED SOME OF HIS COLOSSAL MISUNDERSTANDINGS, ABOUT WHAT IT MEANT TO BE RURAL IN THIS PROVINCE OF OURS. I THINK THERE WERE AT LEAST TWO CRITICAL YEARS, WHEN HE WANTED TO MOVE BACK TO THE CITY, BUT BECAUSE I WAS ADJUSTING SO WELL……HE DECIDED TO STAY ONE MORE YEAR AS AN EXPERIMENT……UNTIL OTHER JOBS OPENED UP ELSEWHERE. THEN HE STARTED TO MAKE FRIENDS, AND SO DID MERLE, AND WE FOUND OURSELVES FINALLY CONTENTED BY A SLOWER, LESS AGGRESSIVE LIFESTYLE. IF SOMEONE THEN CALLED US "LOCALS," IT WAS THOUHT THEN, TO HAVE A NICE RING TO IT!
THE POINT IS - LOOK AT WHERE WE ARE TODAY
I think the next ten years will be critical for our community…..and Bracebridge as well. The migration of former urbanites to the hinterland, will be an increasing trend, and when I write about a watering-down of the local identity, this is largely what I mean. Consider for example, our aging population. Consider the reality that many of youngsters, who graduate high school, move on to colleges and universities outside of our area, and don't wish to return. How many come back to re-invest in our town. It's a pretty small percentage. There are lots of folks interested in our community, rest assured, but they are new investors and residents from other parts of Canada, who have arrived in our South Muskoka community to fill a number of employment opportunities, including positions at the federal penitentiary. It's certainly not a problem for the local economy. We need new modern day settlers. We need the life-force of young families, and ambitious twenty-somethings, ready to diversify our communities……and lead the charge into the next several decades, of what will likely be the most profound change in our history. Part of this watering down reality, is that we are a greatly diminished community of old timers, who always had great respect for the ways and traditions of small town life, as we have always known it. Now think about it. While it's not the end of the world, the fact that our town's history isn't all that important to newcomers, has some of us town boosters, historians in particular, worried about what legacy will survive twenty years from now, as the city exodus continues….at our population benefit. Our town may become a very modernistic place of work and residence, without any real necessity to refer to historical precedents. While some may think this is ridiculous, I can prove my projection, that we are a greatly diminished community when it comes to local history. And it has nothing to do with our respect for heritage protection and stewardship, such as with archives, artifacts and museum dynamics……the navigation company fleet, and the historic Sagamo Park. The movers and shakers today, including members of the business community, local industry, and civil servants new to our community, have few reasons to pull out the local history, "Light of Other Days," for a read-through. I have found many new arrivals to Gravenhurst, even going back ten years, have almost negligible knowledge of local heritage, and don't seem to feel any necessity to upgrade……because it isn't a requirement of residency. There's no exam you have to take to be a citizen of Gravenhurst.
As well, in case you haven't noticed, the pace of our town has become so much more aggressive than I remember it…….as if we are already in training to become a city…..one day. I've seen this up close, especially in the past six months, in the boys' vintage music and antique shop, on the main street. Andrew drew my attention to the fact, customers are usually on the fly……trying to fit a little browsing and business into a few moments, before their next appointment; or having to take their kids to hockey, baseball, soccer or dance. It's the hectic pace syndrome, my parents left the city to escape. Since 1966 when we arrived here, I have watched this manifestation of attitude, being imposed on what was, by nature, a more harmonious life with country attributes…..less traffic snarls, shorter drives and walks to work, and a more liberating environs of beautiful forests and sparkling lakes. Now it seems, that we are not only being diffused of some of our traditional characteristics, and history, but we are all being forced, by immersion, into the more urban way of living……..as the modern trend that is not going to abate.
There will undoubtedly be readers who laugh about this claim, that a small town's identity can be erased simply by infiltration, of those new residents, from other locales, who don't care to learn about their new home town. Consider for a moment, the poor and eroding condition of the historic murals in our town. There is little will to expend money to either fix them, annually, or add to their number, in order to promote the history we represent here. We have our history tucked away safely in the archives, and well tended museum displays. I can tell you, as a former museum manager, and elected director of two Muskoka heritage sites, that these are woefully under-known, under-appreciated and under-visited. The problem we have, is the willing manpower and enthusiasm, to provide heritage fetes, for the whole community, where our past is offered up in its full regalia, for everyone to witness and partake of, without the cost of admission. I will have my critics for noting this, but unless there is a new outreach philosophy, with our heritage programs, we will continue to have history in select pockets, if you'd care to seek them out. One of our significant issues, is that we insist on asking admission prices, for a lot of heritage opportunities, and this gives many of our citizens ample reason to avoid and ignore. If we want our citizenry to be proud of their hometown, it helps if they know how we originated and developed since the late 1850's. We can't count on school curriculum to herald local history. It's weak at best, if it's even taught at all.
The towns I knew in South Muskoka, Gravenhurst and Bracebridge, are both in the same situation, where contemporary realities, are blurring over still relevant heritage. The towns I knew, are being fractured away from the same values I had, when growing up in this wonderful hinterland, and yes, urban values and attitudes, are changing us year by year. I'm not suggesting, we should impose some sort of entrance exam, in order to qualify as a local resident. The fault, if it is even considered a short-coming in the first place, is that we don't make heritage relevant to everyday living. It's not as important as it used to be, simply because the population is changing, and the demands on the community, to adopt more urban-style governance, is already upon us…….and many long time citizens complain about this distancing from the face to face, outstretched-hand politics we used to know here in the hinterland of Ontario. Change is upon us, and progress can be both profound and good at the same time. Just as change can destroy a legacy……because it wasn't kept vibrant in the present tense…..out in the open…..for everyone to see and recognize for what it represents.
My parents grew to love living in small town Ontario. They had ongoing options to move back to the city, where they had many family members. Yet they both willingly spent their final days here, choosing to keep the company of old friends and neighbors that they met in those first three years of residency. They gave their son an existence to treasure, and with the exception of my university years, I have lived here, happily and actively enjoying the ambience of the non-city; with no wish to move away, or instigate some profound change here, that would diminish the subtle, comfortable traditions of a less stressful, demanding life. I am a dinosaur. Changes are abounding all around me, and even in the off season, customers in the grocery store lines, start freaking out, if they have to stand for more than five minutes to check out. This used to be a sign of the summer season, not December.
There will be Muskokans who will resent the hayseed reference, I allude to, when we moved to Muskoka, and the locals didn't "jump" to attention, on our commands. I came to love that rural, pleasant calmness, when even in a busy town, there was always time to chat and pause, without upsetting the schedule of production. It wasn't an across the board thing. Sure, there were factory lines to keep up to speed, and schedules to adhere. But I will never be mistaken about the general feeling of resolve, that things were and are still different in the country. I agreed whole heartedly, and it's the reason I stayed, and where Suzanne and I opted to raise our family…..believing that it was the kind of intimate place, where we could get to know our neighbors, and become part of what the hometown was all about. We wanted to be a part……not voyeurs. Today, there are many more folks, choosing to remain observers and casual sight-seers, but not the kind of participants, who grab up a fallen legacy, and carry it proudly, for as long as is required. Yet it's not fair to call it apathy. In reality, we haven't been as open as we should have been, to make sure our character heritage was a banner worth carrying.
Twenty years from now, will residents care at all, about town heritage? With an expected increased population, influenced by city dwellers looking for relief in the new rural opportunities, which will abound, I'm one historian who feels we are in serious danger of becoming a new town, built on the ashes of an old inhabitation. If new residents aren't invited into this heritage domain, then who can we blame, when fewer citizens care at all……whether our history survives or not…..in this contemporary rise of the urban way of existence.
Thank you for visiting with me today. I hope you will come back another day. It's always nice to have you gathered around the hearth, especially at Christmas time.
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