My Dad and I visit the Canadian National Exhibition…..
As kids, growing up in the 1950’s and ‘60’s, most of us lived remarkably sheltered lives…..there were no trips to Disneyworld or Wonderland or wherever. Most people stayed close to home in those days. I got up to Ottawa a few times as a kid because my Uncle Alf and his family lived there – but other than that, we just didn’t get very much anywhere. I made my first couple of trips to Toronto when I was about 12. I went once as part of a championship 5-pin bowling team to compete in the Canadian championships….and I went another time to play with the Hanover Musical Society Senior Town Band at the Canadian National Exhibition in some big contest – and that trip is etched in my mind for sure.
Because I was pretty young – don’t remember any other kids – my Dad was allowed to come on the bus with the band. And it was quite the day. The band played great and we won a huge trophy that was pretty much as big as me. (Often wonder what happened to the many, many awards the musical society won over the years.) Harry Mann was the conductor of the town concert band in those days. He seemed incredibly old to me and rather stern and stiff most of the time. Lloyd Robertson of CTV news fame was the MC for the band competition, and he was likely in his twenties and just starting out and I remember thinking how short he seemed compared to when he was on TV.
Anyway, the band thing is only a small part of my remembrances of that day. I ate my first “real” corned beef sandwich that day at the Shopsy’s kiosk down by the midway. That sandwich was almost bigger than me, but I ate the whole damned thing and have spent most of the rest of my life on the look-out for great corned-beef sandwiches…..also, this was the first and last time I was ever on a roller coaster or pretty well any amusement ride – that story some other time. Went on some humongous merry-go-round that seemed to go enormously fast as well…..
My Dad really wanted to see the grandstand show at the big stadium because the headliners were Bob Hope and Victor Borges, who were hugely big stars back in those days. I have to admit that I don’t remember a darned thing about the show – except for the guy in the jet pack….yup….way back in the early ‘60’s, I saw some guy bomb all around Exhibition Stadium in a jet pack. It was dazzling and I remember the announcer telling us that before long everybody would be bombing around in jet packs….it was going to be the wave of the future. Like back in those days they kept telling us one of our biggest problems in the future would be how to spend all our leisure time because machines would be doin’ all the work….yea, right….how’s that working out for us.
Well, the other thing my Dad wanted to do that day was tour the “food building”, and I’ve got to admit it was pretty spectacular back in those days…..you could basically “eat” your way through the whole place because there were hordes and hordes of free samples everywhere you looked….had my first taste of something called “pizza” that day – wouldn’t arrive in Hanover for several years yet. And the other thing which was pretty amazing was that they had full-life statues of Bob Hope and Victor Borges sculpted out of butter in this really big freezer cases. My Dad, who had been trained as a professional ice cream and butter maker, was totally and completely blown away and stood there admiring those giant butter creations for a good, long while for sure….
Yes, my Dad and I had a totally exciting and packed full day. In fact, at the last minute, my father, who was not any type of risk-taker, decided we should watch the big fireworks display at the grandstand before we caught the bus home. And it was a wonderful fireworks display – I remember that – I also remember my always reliable and dependable father pounding on the side of the big chartered bus as we ran after it while it was pulling out of the parking lot heading for Hanover…..
Totally different world then when a major journey was going to the next town over. Most of us lived pretty sheltered lives and had no idea what the big, wide world looked like when we finally headed out into it. That caused a few challenges for sure, but most of us could handle them because we’d somehow been raised to be “tougher” back then. Anyway, wouldn’t trade the growing up years in Hanover for anything….really special times….