One would be correct in believing the FB page "The Good Old Days of Dauphin" has got my
sister Rhonda (Buchy) and I talking a lot. She still lives in Dauphin and I
have called BC home for almost 40 years. And we’ve always chatted a lot, but
these days, reminiscing about our shared Dauphin experiences has flourished.
Take our conversation today for example:
We lived in the South West end of town, so if you wanted to go to the
curling or skating rink, Grandstands, baseball diamond, outdoor rink or ‘pool’,
that’s where your feet had to take you. I believe you can see the path worn
into the ground from our family home to the South East end of town on any
aerial map of Dauphin.
Life pretty well centered around us watching our brothers Ken
and Bob playing hockey with the Kings (read more about Bob by clicking the link
HERE
), and playing baseball with the Redbirds (they played for Team Manitoba too).
*As a side note: our dad Steve Buchy played for the Redbirds as well, in the
50’s. He actually threw out the pitch in a Redbird’s reunion (?) many years ago
and was tickled pink with it all! So sweet.
Then there was the old outdoor rink across form the Plesh’s
house that we either used or cheered on family and friends (or boyfriends!) day
and night, and the old pool that I have absolutely no memory of. Rhonda insists
there was one there, and still is, and in the old days it was uncovered and if
it thundered outside, you had better get the hell out of it quick! Perhaps I
didn’t get out fast enough one day and my memory got fried along with my melting
bathing cap….
And before there was Selo,
there was the Great White Lady herself, The Grandstands!
That old wooden structure was the Go-To Place of its day and
I was so sad when I heard it burned down in 2009. So many memories there. Who
can forget the amazing fireworks displays that colored our youth, and the
carnivals on the fairgrounds (that saw one of my friends run away with the
circus! Truth!) From our house, you could sometimes smell the garlic and onions
cooking and hear the cheering crowds and booming voice of the MC. We fell asleep
licking our lips…our hearts beating in rhythm to the music pulsating over the
town.
And all the shows! It was always a thrill to climb the
stands and find the perfect spot for the RCMPMusical Rides, horse races, and the Ukrainian
Festival! I even met Al Cherney
(of the old Tommy Hunter Show) once
backstage by accident and we shared a cigarette. I was around 14 years old and
thought that was pretty cool. Not that Al was a looker…he was older than dirt
even back then, but he was my first ‘celebrity’ eyeball-to-eyeball meet and I
was excited! Kept that butt for years in a secret place (because my parents
didn’t know I smoked) and it’s probably still there because, well, apparently
I’m good at keeping secrets, even from myself.
Back then, the Festival brought so many people to town you
needed a cattle prod to forge a path to The Dairy Dip. Myriad Silver Airstreams
and campers filled Vermillion Park and every school playground in town. The
streets were closed to traffic and they burst to the seams with tourists, and
we couldn’t recall anyone get angry, fighting or causing trouble. I think it
was the camaraderie everyone felt but Rhonda thinks it was the endless flow of beer.
Perhaps the two don’t necessarily have to be mutually exclusive *smile*.
The old Grandstands were where Mackenzie Jr High (and other
schools?) had all day Field Day competitions as well (see pics). We’d dress up
in costumes and makeshift team uniforms, and the school would empty and we
would fiercely compete with each other’s classes to get the most awards and gold
badges. I personally never saw one up close but I hear they were nice. I
remember feeling the crippling weight of my athletic family’s honor on my
shoulders one race around the track, and being fairly wimpy, I barely made it
over the finish line at all. Red-faced, huffing and puffing, I flopped to the
ground and Mr. Nadolny, much to my embarrassment, had to quickly pick me up (I
think he needed a spatula), and made me walk around as to not get
debilitating leg cramps. I use that race to this day to get out of doing stuff,
like an old war vet with a missing limb: “Sorry, can’t help you carry those
plates to the table…old wound from back in ’74. 800 meter. Near did me in.”
Of course, time was not kind to those old buildings and
Stands and they are all but gone, but they certainly had their time in the sun.
More than one first kiss, first cigarette and first beer were had under those
Stands and we owe the South East a lot for making our community a great place
to grow up in. And maybe once covid worries are gone, I can come home for a
visit so Rhonda can prove to me that pool wasn’t just in her imagination…
