Remembering Downtown Magnetawan

Last Weekend, July 30, 2011, the heart of the village where I spent most of my childhood burned down.
I remember when we were young, my sisters, brother and I would walk or boat from our family's cottage resort into Downtown Magnetawan, with a gaggle of friends, to spend all of our allowances at their candy counters.
Black Bart licorice bubble gum was an especially favourite (if not disgusting) treat, if only because we'd stick the pitch black gum across our front teeth and pretend to be pirates.

My first real summer job was as a waitress at the Magnetawan Inn (aka June's Restaurant), way back in 1986.
Another summer, a few years later, I worked at the Downtown General Store.

Alas, I grew up, left home for school, got a job, got married, had kids and now live on the other side of the country - so far far away from this special place.
Thankfully my parents still live in Magnetawan, and I make a point of trying to get home at least once a year.

This summer, I was so privileged to have been able to spend almost the whole month of July back there - we flew home 3 days before the devastating fire.
The last thing I did, just before leaving, was go into the Downtown General Store, and buy myself, Ken, Doug and Evy a new set of "Downtown Magnetawan" shirts.....it's been a tradition for us, and now I will cherish these shirts.

I was shocked to hear the news of the fire - and moved to set up a page on Facebook to commemorate the historic streetscape of this special community. If you're interested, you can see it here: "Remembering Downtown Magnetawan"

I also just found this very moving video on YouTube, that does a magical job of recognizing the firefighter's efforts to save the downtown, and capturing the spirit and sadness of the community, while remembering the beauty and essence of what makes Magnetawan such a special place.