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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1997-06-11, Page 5IT'S YO(JR BUSINESS Hurondale Dairy closes after half a century 1'i►►u'� .1J , e elle', dune 1 ; 1(,k); • Page •i By Bruce Shaw • • HENSALL - "What can t say? The dairy has been in the family .long before I was born. After 20 years, yeah, there's a real sense of. loss." With these thoughts, Doug Mock. sole owner of Hurondale Dairy 'for • the last decade, locked the empty four -bay garage in Hensall and be- gan .a new job in London with Neilson Dairies. • Doug has sold his trucks to his drivers who now are also owner - operators for Neilson's. His gar- ages, office and:distribution. ware- house are for sale. He has ended a business started by his father and mother shortly after the Second World War. (Kay. Doug's mother, still lives next door to the Dairy in Hensall,) - • The obvious question's. to ask are, "Why is this happening?"- Why now? There, have been lots of crit- ical changes over the last 20 years in the dairy business: What's hap- pened this year that .spetled the end' of a very- successful business?" To answer -those questions and to get a feel for what. -rs happening in the 1990's, we ha* tb go back to .the birth of the Dairy in 1949. • Ron and . Kay r Mock bought a dairy in Stayner: Ontario in' 1945 when Ron returned from the: War. The hitter ,wintert in Stayner and . - the desolation .in the off-season •were..too much for the family. and the.y'moved',to Hensall in 1949. of-- terhuying Bennett's Dairy. - in those years: before the Ontario �1ilk ,Marketing Board, .the local dairies hough( milk from neigh- boring farmers ,and processed it on site. Only fluid milk; including to hlc and, whipping cream, was pro- duced locally: 'other dairy .prod- ucts, such as buttermilk. sour cream and cottage• cheese .were purchased from larger'datries and d4livered to customers. Since almost 90 per cent. of all milk was home -delivered. - and•rememher almost everyone had an ice-hox and no- refrigerator - one' could' expect to_ see the, milk- man five or six times a week. • Hurondale • Dairy's 'distribution, , area covered Hensall, Kippen. Da$hwood, Crediton and the sur - .rounding rural areas. There were two and, ai times. :three men to process and deliver the milk, one horse, one milk wagon and a' de; livery 'vat for the arca not served by . the horse, and: wagon. ,The men would start delivering the milk at 4 a.m. and return to the plant in the afternoon to -process a fresh supply from local farmers for delivery the next day. This routine or ones 'sim- ilar to it occurred every day iii.eve- ry municipality in Ontario for probably 30 years. Then. as with most aspects of life. evoldtion reared its.head, and' things began to change. Depending on the side of the can be seen, in the area today, which still have these doors): milk deliveries were reduced from eve- ry day to three times and then twice a week; grocery stores became what they are now, 'and variety stores sprang up everywhere. Home fence you..look .at lite. you might .. delivery went from 90 per cent of say that rather than 'eyoluticm'.• the Hurondale 'operation in the ear - God,' or at least Mother Nature, . ly '60s to about 20 per cent in the made His or Her presence felt and late '6.0s. changed. the fortunes of • Dairy. . At any rate, in 1958, a freak tor- nado. touched down in Hensall, de- stroying virtually nothing but the dairy. .. Doug • re- members the whole village rallying around' to help: the Legion. businesses, churches, neighbors, everyone who .was able tore down the' remains of the old dairy and built a new one op , site. Ron and Kay_ were -very ,moved by the gen-' drotiity of the people 'of Hensall.-• and Kay still remembers the ladies of the churches preparing meals and helping in , every., way they could. i Amazingly, the husinc; s \vas down for just a few .weeks with Exeter. Dairy pineessing the Hurondale By 1971, many local dairies stopped processing milk with the • •advent of plastic hags Ron and Kn • and the replacement of Kay glass by, waxed cartons. Mock bought a It was 100 expensive to dairy in Stayner, install • a• bagging ma - Ontario in 1945- chine, and so as with most dairies. Hu - when Ron re- rondale got ,rid of its turned from the: processing • operations Hilal' and hegan a franchise with a larger pro- - ccssmg plant - Silver - woods Iront London. There was ',till mime -home-delncry but hy now more than 60 per cent of Hu- rondale's products were :old di- rectly to 'stores in new• large 20 - foot refrigerated ;rucks. Many dairies disappeared during this time or became pari of the Iran - :use nf, the big three processors. Silycrwoods_ Scaltc't and. Burdens. milk for Hurondale. ► • Shortly after. Ron,hought the Zu- rich Dairy, which allowed:him to sell milk in the Zurich/Blitcwater territory. He replaced the horse -and wagon with the new ".tand_'up-". trucks. (Dougremcmhers tVing out of one -as they were driving 'to Bill Mickle's to pick up :t .Christi tree from the Kinsmen.) "As soon as we .'could talk.. it seems. according to Doug. "We were -old enough to work. washing bottles and then delivering to farms and houses:'' One day. • near Bill Chandler's in Dashwood. Dtiug wa3 kitten by a' dog. Only the quick -thinking - .of older brother Dennis saved him frhm• further harm. "it seemed atmostevery day was an adventure of some sort:"' • Major changes• took place in the milk industry -during the late- '60s. . Cycle' he.gan of 'delivering milk fewer days during the week, which. in turn - prompted people to huy electric refrigerators. which, re- duced the need for .daily' delivery. „As well,. Becker's and .Mac's came on the scene.' Nqw began the sale of _larger containers intwo and three quart glass aril. plastic jugs. • The price' was now - lower •in the milk stores than' the co st of delivery to homes. Milk, doors were no. - longer built in houses (a few•houses' Our profits as a distributor fell drastically from when we processed. the milk. we delivered. The only •y.t .t i, ,:t11141 Slay in business was to expand." • . In 1976. the yearl)oug.ioined. its . talker rn partnerhip. they bought • lixcicr Dairy. from Kine' Mac - Dor: Id and Ncirtn Stanlake and n ied tci ticaltcsl . Dairies from incisor. Tai next year maw the switch Iron] SiIvc'r t'ods to .Donlands from Guelph. H►trondale became Donlands first distributor. Don - lands became Nctlson's in the ear - '80s. and Hurondale qiistributed that product. until this year. 'In 1902. Doug 'fol into the ice . ,jcam business as well. selling up 150.000 litres -in' his last year. Camelot - a legend comes to the stage S.TRATFORD - Be prepared .to he dazzled. - ' • This'' ar s) indup at the Stratford Festival is exeimplitied by the open- ing " musical Camelot featuring -Cynthia Dale as Guenevere. Dale. _.known. for her. work on the tele- vision, series Street Legal: makes an ideal Guenevere and her strong voice and dance ability are placed in good company on the stage. • Dan- R..Chameroy as Lancelot, Tont McCamus as King Arthur and Richard Curnockas an hilarious Pellinore round out the cast. Mi- • chael Therriault plays a convinc- ingly cunning Mordred and Leon Pownall sets the stage in the open- ing scene as the magnificent Mer- lin. • Special effects are put to good use in this play and the set de- . • signers created fantastic scenes for the actors. Of particular interest is a horse constructed of metal tubing over which the knights and .Mor - tired vault, swing and climb .while singing the praises of revenge. The production was mounted without sparing cost and as a result each costume and piece .of the set helps carry the audience away to the• legendary kingdom of:: the round table. Opulance is the key in creating the. image of a society where the rain never falls until after sunset and the sumtner by law must linger into September. The play's opening last Monday night also. served as the unveiling of renovations to the Festival Theatre including improved scat- ing, a water garden and enlarged Theatre Store. Patrons will he treated to a varied playbill in the Festival's 45th season including The Taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet. Oedipus Rex. Death of a Salesman. Little Women, Filutnenu, Equus, Richard Ill, Juno. and Pay - cock, Coriolanus and Wingfield Unbound! Teachers attend Senate DUBLIN. -. The Superannuated Teachers of Ontario held their Spring Senate in Toronto on May 27 and 28. - Representing Distract 9. Huron and Perth,- were Dave McClure, Harry Nesbitt and June Boussey. Unless there is District opposition, the present 12 committfies will be reduced to five, with the Travel and Project Overseas committees un- changed. Since decisions on pensions and investments are made by the Teach- ers' Pension Plan Board, the Super- annuated teachers have asked that one of their members be appointed to the Teachers' Pension Plan Board. Rest GIC Rate 5.85% 5 yrs. as of June 9/97 iA INVMSTMI•NT1 L 0•._, e. e 1 Business Directory AUCTIONEERS MOUSSEAQ AUCTION SERVICES Hensall Ont. 'Ill types of auctions.. Complete service. Will purchase partial or complete estates. Brad Mousseau Auctioneer (519) 236-4558 ****************** Filson & Robson K K K K K FULLY LICENSED & BONDED, CALL OR FAX (519) 666-11833 3 Auctioneers for the Price of 1 With modern equipment Pickup and sell complete or partial estates Specializing in Farm, Real Estate and General Sales NGacrhe¢r— KEVI N . McARTER (519) 235-3963 Exeter, Ontario • Complete auction service • Pickup and delivery available • Will purchase complete estates (or consignments), REPAIRS Sewing Machine Repairs to all makes . Free estimates 90 Day Warranty Experienced since 1952 Sew and Save Centre Ltd. 149 Downie St., Stratford Phone 271-9660 By now he had five trucks, de- livering milk from Stratford to Goderich to Kettle Point- with over $6 million in annual sales. - So, hack to 'the first question - Why.? . Withprovincial deregulation over the last few years, the "monopoly" of the local. dairies has been brok- en so that instead of about 20 dis- tribution areas, there are two. Now every- business with refrigerated trucks can apply for a licence to distribute milk. Grocery and res- taurant wholesalers now have li- cences to distribute to their own customers and chains. Add to this development the fact that alt big businesses are re -structuring in the '90s. - National Grocers, supplier to many large chains in the province has .decided' to distribute its own milk to its own stores, which in our area happen to.he Hurondale's biggest customerstheZehrs stores in Stratford and Goderich. (These two- stores account' for half of Hu- rondale's business.. The .- problem is that much more than half the costs of operation are found in the balance of the ,business. As a result, Hurondale • Dairies can . no Iongec al ford to operate/independently. The wind -down has caused Doug a great deal of anxiety _as- he con- templated both the•end Ofhis busi- ness and his own future .prospects. 'there is a happy ending, however; Doug has sold his business to Neil - Dairies;, his drivers have pur-. chased the trucks and are disinb- uting tor-Neilson's; Doug, himself. has been given a position with Neil - son's and the•property on which his -business stood is for sale. - • It is detiniteIy •the• end of an era, and depending on' your age. '•y ou will remember the horse-drawn de- livery wagons (milk, bread. ice and vegetables), the frozen milk push- ing up the paper lids of the bottles on January mornings, the exact change placed in the bottles to'pay for the milk and pouring off_ the cream to get at the milk in sortie of those weird -shaped bottles. Alvan Cole is pictured with one of the early horse -draw Hu- rondale Dairy milk trucks. THANK YOU FROM JOHN. RICHARDSON. I would•like to thank all thou' who )supported -m4 re-election.at the polls onJune,2. It is much appreciated. 1 pledge hwill continue to serve all'residents,ot ' Perth -Middlesex in Ottawa. :As always, I remain at hour service.' - John Richardson, M.P. - Perth -Middlesex •e John Richardson, M.P. 10 Downie Street Stratford, Ontario 519.272-0032 1-800-565-1864 ▪ G 4.161s‘V "Is Yer Fone Number Not Kure�,��y Listed or Listed Inkurectly?" Due to overwhelming response... once again this year we will be publishing the Exeter and Area Phone Book. It is our intention to publish a Telephone Listing as correct and current as possible. So, if your business or home phone number is not listed or is incorrect, we will be happy to add or correct your number. Just.... Complete the handy coupon below and make sure it is at our office no later than Friday, June 27. Clip and Bring to Times -Advocate by June 27 ▪ New Listing Name Please Change Address Phone ▪ If listed previously please clip old incorrect listing and attach here We will delete it. ATTENTION BUSINESSES If you have not been contacted for advertising space in our book please call Barb Consitt or Chad Eedy 235.1331 1 WATCH FOR IT.. • Your personal copy coming soon!