Zoey Duncan
Do you remember standing on concrete for ages, dripping wet and wrapped in a towel, while you waited to buy French fries at Pither’s Point?
How about grabbing a slice at the Village Pizzeria or skipping class in favour of drinking coffee and smoking, or dances at the Orange Hall on First Street East?
More than a thousand Fort Frances residents, past and present, have flocked to Facebook to reminisce about their collective childhoods—and the memories are flowing faster than logs down the Rainy River.
“People, they love that town,” said former Fort Frances Times sports reporter Al Beeber, who started the group earlier this month, called “You grew up in Fort Frances . . . if you remember.”
“I think it’s just one of those places [where] people are so proud of their community,” he noted.
“They’re so close-knit with each other that it’s tough to explain.”
Beeber lived in town from 1980-87. He’s now back in his home province of Alberta, where he started to notice friends getting involved in groups to talk about the towns and big-city neighbourhoods where they grew up.
So he created the page for what he thought would be an opportunity to talk about old times with a few friends from his Fort Frances days. But, much like a high school house party, his friends invited their friends and soon the place was overflowing.
“I had no clue it was going to snowball like that,” Beeber said. “It just went crazy.”
As of press time today, 1,151 people had gotten in on the action—many of whom moved away from Fort Frances as long as 20 or 30 years ago.
The memories being shared vary, from collective adventures swimming, sliding, and snacking at the Point, to the days when you could buy penny candy with the change after purchasing your dad’s 99-cent cigarettes, to reminding each other the names of old friends and teachers.
For Debbie Welling, scrolling through the group during the last week has been a blast from the past she can’t help but cherish.
“You grow up, you move on, you move away—not everybody has, but a lot of people—and then you lose touch with people that you grew up with,” said Welling, who moved away in 1989 and currently lives near Winnipeg.
“I just think that this page has been one of the best things,” she added.
“It makes you appreciate the little town that you grew up in; it kind of gives you a different spin on it.”
Stories have spouted from across generations. So while some recall shrinking potato chip bags in their ovens to create crinkly accessories to pin on their clothes, others brought up hopping on a freight train to get a lift from one side of town to the other.
“Holy mackerel, they were living the dangerous life back then,” Beeber remarked.
The fond memories all might come to a head next summer, though, as a number of group members have begun fantasizing about planning a reunion in the town where they spent their formative years.
“A reunion, I really hope that that can be pulled off,” said Welling. “A reunion put together would just be huge.”
Find the group by searching “You grew up in Fort Frances . . . if you remember” on Facebook.