Yeah there was Princess-Parklane, Charlie's-Goldrange, Bran-- you-know ah- Ashcan up the hill. Ah forgot what they called it, it was the Ashcan. Across the road ah Legion was just down the street. There were about ten on- just on the main drag.

... most of the guys that I worked with were v-- were veterans of the second World-War. They were all fairly young guys but they had been during- through the war and they always wanted to go to Legion for our- for our half day so we would go down there. That would be the only time I would go in a bar.

Interviewer: Yeah, sounds like there's plenty to do. Speaker: Yeah, yeah. Ah, th-- and then the legion, they have Yuk-Yuks come every once in a while.

Speaker: But ah- and then the legion has lots of things going on. Interviewer: Oh yeah? Speaker: Th-- they have darts and they have pool, and they play euchre, and-things-like-that. Interviewer: Wow. Do you go and do those? Speaker: No.

And- well he was in great spirits. He didnt want the guys to go home and I- it was getting after midnight and I said, "Look it. I have to go to work, he has to meet a bunch of the guys at one-o'clock at the legion because-" oh, we had an airplane too, I forgot to tell you that.

A fellow was a- a Norwegian fellow that used to live in Kirkland-Lake was in Toronto. He was flying up at Toronto. And a bunch of the guys that were going to meet at the legion ah ah to um- um plan- make plans for they were flying into this lake to fish.

Then they have a mid-way come into town. It used to come every year over at the legion grounds. And that's when the ferris wheels and all the rides and that-kind-of-thing. And they usually are stay up for close to a week I think when they come to town. So we haven't gone there either.

Speaker: The-Travellers would have a bar. ... At- at The-Legion, the Irish would have a bar, ah- ah- Interviewer: When you say a bar- Speaker: Li-- like, where you could go and drink, and the-- socialize with people, you-know?

Interviewer: Yeah. 'Cause there's all m-- there's so many different people that make up a community. Speaker: Oh there are. Um I mean finding some of the older legion members would be- would be really good. ... They- some of the stories they have. Interviewer: Like the war, about- Speaker: Well no- not- not only that. It's the legion as a community 'cause they come- they're not all just like- for war and-that. They just- it's so cool like how ah my neighbour Joe collects the little war figurines and he puts them in fish-tanks without the water, uses them as display cases.

Speaker: I keep busy- I ah, I'm active in the legion a lot. Interviewer: Oh tell me about that. Speaker: And ah, I've been a member there for thirty-seven years, but just in the last few years, I've got ah- I took an executive position and I ah, look after the membership. And there's a lot to it.

Interviewer: What has been, ah, your biggest challenge working- challenge with working ah, in the- in the legion, um, to date? Speaker: Ah, trying to ah- Speaker 2: (whispers something) Speaker: Maintain the membership that we have. Because you- it's hard to get new members in because in this day-and-age, what does the legion or any service club have to offer a young people? Because of the lifestyle they're living now? All we have is- is ah, cards and ah- Speaker 2: Darts. Speaker: And darts and comradeship. But the younger crowd is not interested in that at all.

Speaker 2: Oh, like we've got the ah, Meals-on-Wheels this week. So we've got to deliver Meals-on-Wheels. Speaker: Yeah, the legion ah, does the Meals-on-Wheels once a month.

... so yeah and um what else did we do? There wasn't much to do in terms of like you-know- again like if you didn-- we always went, um the show. Like we always did the show once a week no matter what. But ah our big thing was watching legion games. ... It hasn't changed, sadly enough. But we would always go to McDonald's after the legion game to try to catch the hockey-players. ... Speaker: Because they always went to McDonald's. You-know the out of town players?

They call it The-White-Eagle-Bar. That's the original Polish-hall where dances and- and weddings and-everything went on, eh? There's some Polish people that come to the front table there and preserve that. This used to be the site of the old Kirk-- legion. Right here on the corner. Interviewer: And is there no legion here now? Speaker: Yes, it's down at the other- it's down at the far end. The-LaSalle-Theatre.

... you h-- you have two kinds of people running this town. You either have the friendly people or you have the complete dicks. ... And so, either you're known for drinking or just being rude and obnoxious. So no one from Legion. Interviewer: (Laughs) Speaker: Yeah. ... I don't care. As long as their not cocky and self-absorbed, okay I'll take you.

... like ah "Doesn't that bother you? Won't you be scared?" I'm like "No, you'd think she tried cutting me up in little pieces now? I'd kick her butt!" (laughs) Like it doesn't bother me. I just laugh it off, like "You're crazy mom." Legit crazy. I-don't-know. Doesn't bother me. Interviewer: So which family were you with the longest? Speaker: The Christian one. Interviewer: Yeah. Speaker: They were the ones that tried to adopt me 'cause I was such a good child I guess I-don't-know. One day away.

Speaker: I- I don't need my daughter being scared and- all this other stuff and just being involved in that for no reason. Speaker 2: Yeah. We- Speaker: Want it to be all positive as possible and- Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker: And all clean and legit and- Speaker 2: That's why we keep to ourselves. Speaker: Sunshine and rainbows. Speaker 2: We hang out with our close friends and that- who have kids, usually, and- Speaker: Yeah 'cause lots of friends that were close before, are intimidated or you-know, maybe-

My father fell the logs and ah- and ah- and limbed them.

What other traditions, um, oh January the sixth is when we used to hang our stockings up at Christmas, it was called little Christmas, they don't do that. Ah that- that tradition is- is gone by the wayside, and even some of our friends who have grandchildren, they no longer do that either. Interviewer 1: On January the sixth. Speaker: Ah I-don't-know. Interviewer 2: The little Christmas. Speaker: It's called little Christmas. Interviewer 2: That's the Ukrainian Christmas. Interviewer 1: Oh. Speaker: Yeah, and the Italians would celebrate it then too.

It was just for the one year, one summer we went to this place called Holland-Landing outside of Cochrane, Ontario and ah we ah, we lived there for the summer in a- in a log house and it was the neatest place my father had a- a made. Well it- it ah, log house was there. Mister-Wellesley ha-- had provided that and ah so- but my dad made- there was no cupboards and he made cupboards. And the doors and the sides were made out of birchbark that he made made. They were really cool. I wish I had some pictures of them.