Robert Fisher
Staff Reporter
DOUGLAS – When an iconic building is lost, as happened with the Douglas Diner & Trading Post; formerly the Douglas Tavern, last week, the entire community feels the loss and the grieving is almost as if losing a family member.
Part of the healing process involves people sharing memories and stories about their lost loved one. Many in the Douglas area and beyond have been doing that in the past several days. Admaston/Bromley mayor Michael Donohue spoke to the Gazette about some of his memories from the tavern, having grown up in the area.
Donohue recalled other historic watering holes which have been lost like the Chapeau Hotel, colloquially known as Fred’s Place, run by Fred Meilleur and Sunny Dale Acres, also called the Lake Dore Dance Hall.
“The Douglas Tavern was every bit like,” those other legendary public gathering spots.
The mayor noted the long-standing and legendary St. Patrick’s Day celebrations that used to bring people from around Ottawa Valley and well beyond to the tiny town of Douglas. What may have started out as a one-day festivity grew into a week-long celebration.
“Like a snowball going downhill, (it) just gets bigger and bigger. It kind of became ground zero … certainly in Ontario I would say and maybe across the country,” for a huge party in the middle of March each year. Events took place everyday. Donohue likened it to a homecoming for people who’d lived in there and moved away.
“The Douglas Tavern was the place you went because there was a pretty good chance you were going to bump into somebody else who hadn’t been home in 20 years.”
The tavern became almost like a community centre over the years. Groups like the Lions and local recreation committee held meetings at the tavern. Multiple times a month, families held celebrations of milestone events like birthdays or anniversaries. In the British or Irish tradition, families held wakes at the tavern to hoist a pint in memory of a deceased family member.
“It’s the public house. It is the pub. It was where so many important milestones of life were celebrated,” said the mayor.
Donohue fondly recalls the pool table at the tavern and the hours he spent playing pool in his youth. He recalls that the setting was almost surreal when he and his wife would go on a Tuesday night to play pool and be the only ones in the place. They on one side, the McHales; then owners of the tavern on the other. “We would have a couple games of pool and over on the other side, Evelyn and Terry would be sitting, watching television, possibly the news. And we’d go over and sit with them. It was such a surreal and yet completely normal situation that you felt almost that you were visiting Terry and Evelyn in their living room.” The only difference, he said, was that when you wanted a drink, you paid for it.
Dan and Amanda Peters quickly became aware of the history of the place after they bought it from the McHales. They, “came to understand the powerful centre of gravity that was the Douglas Tavern. The new owners became quickly engaged in the community and, “if there was a recruitment committee that had the selection of who would be the next proprietors of the building … I can scarcely conceive that there was anyone more suited,” than Amanda and Dan.
Doreen Behm-Bruce sent a message to say that she and some friends, perhaps five in all, used to go to the tavern as teenagers on Saturdays to play the jukebox.
“We had very little money so we each put five cents out to play the jukebox. You got five songs for 25 cents, so each of us got to pick a song.”
They went in through the lady and escort side in the days when there were separate entrances to establishments like the tavern.
She also recalls the many parties; birthdays, anniversaries, stags, and the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations.
Dan and Amanda have posted on Facebook that they plan to rebuild and re-open.
robert@thevalleygazette.ca
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