Con Schmidt and Gordon Jones opening arts and crafts fall fair among highlights of 1977 in Chapleau

With a little help from Con Schmidt and Gordon Jones, the executive committee of the Chapleau Arts and Crafts Fall Fair officially opened it in 1977.

Con, who was active in the Chapleau Chamber of Commerce and other organizations and Gordon Jones, who at the time was the popular host of the CBC Mid-Canada AM Radio program did the ribbon cutting honours. Other executive members present for the grand opening included Kathleen and Walter Broomhead, the fair's founders; Jeanne Seguin and Eleanor Thomson.

In fact, Con was chamber president when Mr. and Mrs. Broomhead presented the fall fair idea idea in 1973 Con was also very involved in the work of the Chapleau Rotary Club.

Going through my boxes of newspaper clippings, I came across an article from The Chapleau Sentinel  which mentioned some of happenings in the community in 1977. 

So, even though it is not yet the dog days of Summer yet when such articles are usually commonly used, here are some more of the 1977 highlights. See if you remember when!

Township council approved  the "new" Chapleau Civic Centre and Chapleau Recreation Centre, and construction was underway by the Summer. Chapleau Senior Services approved Cedar Grove Lodge and construction was also started on it. They all opened in 1978.  Wow! Thirty six years ago!

Bill Scheer won the Northland Intermediate Hockey League scoring title for the 1976-77 season, but the Chapleau Intermediate "A" Huskies were once again defeated by the Timmins Northstars in the league semi-finals. They finally beat their archrivals in the 1978-79 season. Bill, in his first year playing in Chapleau, was also the team's most valuable player in regular season, most sportsmanlike player, rookie of the year and leading scorer.

Despite the Timmins-Chapleau rivalry, the mayor of Timmins, Mike Doody, was guest speaker at the Huskies awards banquet

Plans were being made for the expansion of the Chapleau Municipal Airport, now the Eugene (Gene) Bernier Airport, and the project was completed in 1979. 

The Chapleau Rotary Club raised $2,000 in its Walkathon. "Rain fails to dampen spirits", the Sentinel reported.

In July, after nearly  13 years as publishers of the Sentinel Tom and Leah Welch retired. Both had been very active in community life, and Tom, with Keith 'Buddy' Swanson and Lorne Riley were instrumental in the founding and success of the Chapleau Junior "B" Huskies of the International Junior "B" Hockey League in the 1966-67 season --- just after artificial ice was put in to the Chapleau Memorial Arena.

In January 1977, the Sentinel reported that "flames could be seen for miles around and when daylight dawned the smoke billowed high into the air for many hours as fire struck the old Moose Hall on Lorne Street..."

Foster Hewitt

Peter Bernier was chair of the Chapleau Recreation Committee that year and succeeded in bringing hockey icons Foster Hewitt, Frank Selke Jr, and King Clancy to the community as part of the Canada Day Celebrations. They were in Northern Ontario to promote Canada Day activities.

For those who may not know who they were, Foster Hewitt was the play-by-play announcer for Toronto Maple Leafs games for years on CBC Radio Hockey Night in Canada, famous for "He shoots, he scores," and when the Leafs lost, he would often say on radio, "The score was no indication of the play" by his beloved Leafs. He later broadcast games on television.

Frank Selke Jr. was a hockey executive and sports broadcaster, however he also became involved with the Special Olympics and greatly assisted that organization

King Clancy

Francis Michael "King" Clancy did everything in hockey -- professional player with the old Ottawa Senators and the Leafs, referee, coach and executive. When he visited Chapleau he was with the Leafs as an executive

Finally, for 1977, the first baby of the year was Joseph Samuel Clifford, son of Joe and Suzanne Clifford, born on January 7. 

These  are just some of the highlights of the year. My email is mj.morris@live.ca

Walter and Kay Broomhead launch first Chapleau arts and crafts fall fair with blaze of brilliant colour provided by displays in 1973

Walter Broomhead, Leon Mangoff, Kay Broomhead

In the beginning Walter Broomhead attended a Chapleau Chamber of Commerce meeting in March 1973, and proposed that a two-day Arts and Crafts Fall Fair be held in the Centennial Museum building.

Staunchly supported by his wife Kathleen (Kay), the first arts and crafts fall fair was launched in October 1973, and they have become an integral part of Chapleau life ever since.

 CBC Radio personality Leon Mangoff, assisted by Mr. and Mrs. Broomhead officially opened the fair which according to Maggie Costello in the Sault Star, "Everything, just everything, conferred a blessing", even the weather on Chapleau, for the weekend.

"Well over 2,000 people, many of them visitors including a couple all the way from Holland, were all over the building, inspecting some 1,000, possibly even more articles on display and for sale."

Maggie noted that among the displays were "lovely hand embroidered linens, afghans of endless colour and design, paintings in oils and water colour and other media, jewelry, wearables of all kinds for children and adults, novelties for home decorations, hand painted hasty notes pottery and much, much more."

On the lower floor there were displays of family heirlooms as well as hand made quilts and crocheted table covers of intricate design as well as other displays.

Designed by Mr. and Mrs. Broomhead to create community interest, it did not fail, with Maggie writing, "Community interest was all over the place along with a blaze of brilliant colour provided by the displays. It seemed that everyone was in on the act."

At the official opening, Mr. Broomhead welcomed everyone, explained the purpose of the fair, adding he felt it had served its purpose.  He paid special tribute to the loyal and hard working committees and hostesses.

Reeve Terry Way-White extended a welcome on behalf of the municipality and offered congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Broomhead and their committees who had produced an outstanding event.

As a sidebar to the official fall fair, Maggie shared one of the "highlights and sidelights" which was dinner at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Broomhead.

Maggie, along with Bud and Tom Welch, owners of the Chapleau Sentinel, and Leon Mangoff and his producer Bob Burt "gathered around the festive board" for a feast.

"As a special treat for the southern guests Kay dished up moose meat and northern goose with all the trimmings with turkey for those who may not like game. We all tied into it with gusto and the southerners really went to town."

Bob  and Leon attended the annual Hunters Ball at the Royal Canadian Legion hall, then on Saturday attended the fair as well as going on a tour of Chapleau, a flight with Tony Buchan over the area, and before leaving on Sunday had an early breakfast at the home of Ed McCarthy.

In commenting on the fair, Leon described Chapleau as his "favourite" northern town and felt the fair was a great event. He said that Chapleau was fortunate to have citizens like Mr. and Mrs. Broomhead to give something new to the town and engender so much community participation. 

All these years later, truer words were never spoken. It has been an amazing success story for Chapleau.

Fast forward to 2012. Chatting with Phyllis Mcleod, the president of the committee, she told me that this year's fair, scheduled for October 12 and 13 at the Chapleau Recreation Centre, promises to be the biggest ever. All spaces are sold out with artisans coming from far beyond Chapleau to participate.  The fair runs from four to nine p.m. on Friday and from 11 a.m. to three p.m. on Saturday. It will be followed by a dinner and dance.  My email is mj.morris@live.ca