鈥沦ummer will end soon enough, and childhood as well,鈥� said author George R.R. Martin. Hard to believe a fellow responsible for the violent TV series Game of Thrones could be so whimsical and profound. And so right.听
There truly is something magical about summertime as a kid.听
Whether it is spent on a vacation far away from home or outside in the yard playing with friends, for children, summer is full of play, nature and the relaxation of rules, if they are lucky.听
The Chief caught up with some members of District of 麻豆社国产council to uncover the favourite summer memories of our local leaders. 听
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Away at camp
Coun. Karen Elliott credits her time away at summer camp as a girl to her living in 麻豆社国产as an adult.听
鈥淢y summers were split between neighbourhood-roaming with my friends 鈥� playing capture the flag and kick the can 鈥� and the rest of my summer was spent at summer camp,鈥� recalled Elliott, who grew up in Toronto and Calgary and spent most of her Augusts at a camp at Algonquin Provincial Park in southeastern Ontario.听
Her parents were not campers, Elliott noted, joking that their idea of roughing it was to stay at a hotel.听
鈥淚f it hadn鈥檛 been for summer camp, I never would have learned to appreciate the great outdoors, and how to backpack and go on canoe trips. I would never have learned any of that from my family,鈥� she said.听
鈥淲ithout summer camp I likely wouldn鈥檛 be living in 麻豆社国产now. I would likely be in some urban environment.鈥澨�
The most enjoyable aspects of camp were the canoe trips and access to the lake every day, she said.听
鈥淎nd learning all the arts of living in the outdoors: starting a fire, building a shelter, all those sorts of things, and the camaraderie of living in a cabin.鈥澨�
Elliott also met Squamish鈥檚 future mayor, Patricia Heintzman, at summer camp, though the two weren鈥檛 friends at the time because they were in different age groups.听
Elliott has passed on the fun of her summer camp experience to her own children; her daughter went away to her first week-long camp at four years old.听
On the water
For Mayor Patricia Heintzman鈥檚 family, summer has always been connected to Georgian Bay, a large bay of Lake Huron in Ontario where her family has a cottage.听
听鈥淏eing at the bay at the cottage was formative,鈥� Heintzman recalled recently.
Summer activities included swimming, kayaking, windsurfing and other water adventures.听
Canoe trips were a huge part of growing up, she added.听
Her childhood family took two long vacations outside of Ontario that stand out in her memory, Heintzman said: one to the Rocky Mountains and B.C. and the other was to California and Arizona. Both trips involved a flight and then long car drives, which Heintzman didn鈥檛 tolerate well.听
鈥淚 was the car sick one,鈥� she said with a laugh. 鈥淚 was usually drugged up on Gravol every time we were in the car.鈥澨�
She still gets motion sick. 鈥淵ou would think you would grow out of something like that, but no.鈥�
鈥淲e did everything from going into Yosemite National Park and we did a hike in the Grand Canyon and climbed Half Dome. We did a rafting trip, 鈥� she said.
Going to summer camp was also a part of Heintzman鈥檚 youth growing up in Ontario.听
鈥淐anoe tripping,鈥� was a fun memory from summer camp.听
Time with dad
Coun. Peter Kent鈥檚 parents split up when he was four years old and his favourite summer memories all include the somewhat rare time he got to spend with his father at Big Bar Ranch Guest Ranch, which is about 44 kilometres north of Clinton in the South Cariboo.
鈥淭hat ranch has a long history. It was founded by my great-great uncle, Harry Marriott, and Peg Marriott,鈥� Kent said, adding the ranch was founded as a dude ranch.听
Kent spent two or three weeks at the ranch on summer holidays.
鈥淚t was just me and him, and I usually didn鈥檛 really have a lot of time with him.鈥澨�
Kent鈥檚 father passed away in 1989 while Kent was in Mexico working as a stunt double for Arnold Schwarzenegger in the movie Total Recall.
All told, Kent thinks he spent seven years with his dad.听
Together at the ranch during the summers, father and son would fish and go for long horse rides.听
鈥淲e would go out in the morning and just ride through these beautiful poplar forests and along the edge of the rivers and around the back of the lake,鈥� he recalled.听
He would also help his dad around the ranch by bringing in hay bales.听
鈥淭he [combined] smell of horse pee and hay and horse crap in the barn and oiled leather saddles 鈥� whenever I smell that smell it is like I am right back there again as a kid,鈥� he said with a hearty laugh.
Kids were much freer when Kent was a child, he recalled.听
鈥淢y dad would be on the deck of the lodge with his buddies having a beer and I would be鈥� out in the middle of the lake in a row boat fishing and I would hear him call, 鈥楶eter!鈥� and I would row back and then tie the boat up and he would help me clean my fish.鈥�
Day tripping
Jason Blackman-Wulff recalls happy summertime memories of day trips to provincial parks located short car听 away from his Manitoba childhood home.听
听鈥淭hat is pretty much what we always did in the summer,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t was before the days of cheap Mexico vacations and stuff like that.鈥澨�
Blackman-Wulff grew up in Oakbank, a small community about 15 kilometres east of Winnipeg.
Looking back, the easygoing summer days were hassle and chaos free. Camping in a tent was a special occasion, while day trips were common summer excursions.
The closest provincial park was about a five-minute drive away, he said.听
鈥淚t was a smaller lake, but it had a campground.鈥澨�
Bigger trips were made to Grand Beach on Lake Winnipeg, which has stretches of white sand dunes.听
鈥淥ur thing was always going swimming and baking in the sun,鈥� Blackman-Wulff said.听
鈥淚 can remember many days where the sun was starting to set and we were begging our parents to allow us to stay for 鈥榡ust one more swim.鈥欌�澨�
The trips brought generations of his family together.听
鈥淭he little kids, the teenagers, the parents and even the grandparents would come and we would set up the umbrellas for the grandparents so they could be in the shade 鈥� that was really fun,鈥� he said.听
Working summers
Coun. Susan Chapelle grew up in Regent Park, a neighbourhood in downtown Toronto, and her favourite summers were spent in her teen years working as a stagehand for musical acts at the Canadian National Exhibition, which is like Vancouver鈥檚 PNE.听
Though she didn鈥檛 appreciate it at the time, big name bands played the stages she worked. In August of 1988 alone the acts included Neil Young, Aerosmith, Rod Stewart, Bob Dylan and The Alarm, Hall & Oates, Willie Nelson and Steve Winwood.
Her first big stage build was for Pink Floyd that same summer.听
鈥淚t was terrifying,鈥� she recalled, adding she was the only woman working in the stagehand union, the International Association of Theatrical Stage Employees.
There were no female riggers working in the industry yet.听
鈥淚 showed up on site dressed in a big bulky sweatshirt, wearing my harness. I had shaved my head to look like a guy,鈥� she said. The men soon figured out there was a female among them because Chapelle was forced to take off her baggy sweatshirt in the heat.听
On that first job she had to go 120 feet in the air.听
鈥淚 somehow ended up on 鈥榩oint,鈥� which meant the last one sitting on the steel standard after all the stabilizing structure around was removed,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 could see across the roof of the stadium to the rides, and the feeling of freedom and of being a pioneer was exhilarating.鈥�
She became an assistant rigger and worked every summer.听
鈥淭hose summers at the CNE were the hardest, heaviest work I have done.听 I am forever grateful for the mentorship of my IA brothers and the 15 summers I spent as a woman in industry.鈥�
