MICHEL LAVIGNE
Publisher
BARRY’S BAY – This past Sunday afternoon the Station Keepers MV hosted their first event to mark 130 years of the train rolling into Barry’s Bay. The station will be holding events throughout the summer culminating in a celebration at the end of August. The train station has a long history in Barry’s Bay. The museum in the station has numerous interesting artifacts and exhibits. The Station Keepers invited Sean Conway to be the master of ceremonies for Sunday’s event and he did an excellent job in telling a few tales of the railway and taking the people in attendance through an afternoon of musical entertainment and storytelling.
Joanne Olsen, president of the Station Keepers MV, addressed the audience throughout the afternoon about some of the new displays the museum has created. One of the new displays is the Evolution of the Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry Sound Railway. Another display, put together by local historian Theresa Prince, is a large display of the local lumber yards that came to be because of the train in Barry’s Bay.
Entertainment for the afternoon was provided by the Station Keeper singers and the Yo Yo Mamas. They sang some favourite tunes from the past that the railway workers and lumberjacks would have sung and danced to.
During the afternoon there were two video vignettes played on the big screen. The first was about how logging got started in this area and was produced by Barry Conway. Conway told the story of how the logs were harvested and shipped down the Madawaska River before the train made its way here. Conway talked about a number of lumber barons like James Skead, Daniel McLachlin and Tom Murray. The second vignette was produced by Theresa Prince about how Joseph Prince got to the Barry’s Bay area and what he accomplished in business as a lumber man. Joseph was first to bring a steam-powered sawmill to the area because when the water was low he could not run his sawmill. Theresa’s story was very interesting and well told and can soon be viewed on the Station Keepers MV website.
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