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The Citizen, 2005-05-12, Page 10PAGE 10. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2005. Janis Vodden takes you on a walking tour of Bly th S.' - ‘ >,T , ,.i4 <•»/* '■■■ , .->h; G;- G ■ "■ ■>' \ C Mn'>■•»)«/ a fyWti'y W~\< ■> 'Xi *1'4 &W<- ;■ ;«»l .< 7>-«t E'l'-j-r iftW- YA^aXx<\ d SOO j History remembered Janis Vodden’s walking tour of Blyth combines her wonderful storytelling ability with the facts and folklore of Blyth’s past. (Bonnie Gropp photo) By Rev. Eugen Special to The Citizen It you want information about someone in Blyth, just ask Janis Vodden. Vodden is Blyth’s foremost storyteller. Along with her husband. Brock, she is creating a repository of local history, both facts and folklore. I recently received a phone call from someone in Vancouver whose elderly aunt had died in Toronto. The aunt was born in Blyth and had purchased a tombstone in the Blyth Union Cemetery. She wanted to be buried where she was born. I did not recognize the name, so I phoned Vodden. Within minutes, she gave me a social history of the woman’s youth in*Blyth, and the relatives from BC who used to visit them. “There’s something about Blyth, about the soil here, that draws people to it,” Janis explained. “Even if they lived here only a few years, many wish to be buried here with their ancestors.” Vodden has an impressive storehouse of information. Much of it is stored in boxes and binders of notes, clippings, obituaries, and photographs; other information comes from her immediate memory. It was inevitable that Janis would be asked to conduct the walking lours for the Blyth Festival this summer. WALKING TOUR I asked Janis to do a preview of the walking tour around Memorial Hall. We began at Blyth’s best known meeting place, in front of the Hall and adjacent to the Festival Offices. I share only a handful of her comments and stones. “I want to tell you why I want to do this walking tour. It’s because both sides of my family were among the pioneers who settled here. And because 1 don’t want these stories to be lost.” A town without a storyteller is like a town without a soul. It’s the past that fills up the vacancy of rootedness, and gives prologue to the future. “Envision this area totally wooded, so dense with foliage that the ground we now stand on rarely felt the sun’s rays. It was dark-very dark and dense. So strange and awesome that John Cowan said settlers dared not venture far from their holdings without a reliable native guide.” McNALLY’S CEMENT BLOCKS Vodden points across Queen Street to the Blyth Inn. Each of the cement blocks of which it was constructed was hand-made and designed by James McNally at his carriage works. Four or five other houses in Blyth are made of his “designer blocks.” McNally shipped boxcars of his blocks to western Canada. He eventually took his machine and business to Manitoba. SK-D-UNK ALLEY We turn off Queen Street onto Dinsley, and look both ways down Sk-d-unk Alley. (Pronounced Ski­ dunk Alley). The name is a literary elevation for the more common name of “skunk.” It was coined by Ken Whitmore, Sr., past publisher/editor of The Blyth Standard. “It was a year when the skunk population in Blyth had soared, and this back alley seemed to be their preferred hangout. Ken thought of naming the alley after its new denizens, but felt that inserting the extra consonant into the name would make the name less indelicate.” Did we know the existence of back alleys in towns and villages is often an indication of the British cultural roots of the first inhabitants? “One of the ways you can tell this village was founded by British settlers is these back alleys. Most British towns had them, as breaks against fires, as a lane for fire equipment, and for accessing one’s horse and buggy, or sleigh.” In Blyth, only on the Wawanosh side of the village settled by the Scottish Drummonds, were the alleys drawn in the original survey. SECRET ABOUT A VILLAGE PASTURE The funniest story Janis told us on the tour rivals the best of folk tales. It occurred in more recent times on land that was once a cow pasture. . . . 1 wanted to include that story here, but Janis insisted the story is for telling, not for reading. You’ll have to take the Walking Tour to hear the Voddens tell it. BLYTH “FIRSTS” Along Dinsley Street, Janis pointed out a number of Blyth “firsts.” The sites of the first school, the first (and only) jail (looking up the alley towards King Street), the first funeral home, the first dairy to pasteurize milk. Down Gypsy Lane, we saw a frame house on the former “Blyth Estates.” On Drummond Street, we saw Blyth’s first duplex built by one of the Bainton brothers. And back to Queen Street where Janis’s father, William Morritt, once ran a farm implement business. A ROMANTIC INTERLUDE (Not given as part of the tour) Janis Vodden’s ancestors on both the maternal and paternal side were among the first handful of settlers in the vicinity of Blyth. Her father was reeve of Blyth for 14 years, a member of the volunteer fire brigade, a member of the Masonic Lodge, an auctioneer, and an elder in the Continuing Presbyterian Church. Across the street from Morritt’s farm machinery business was Vodden’s Home Bakery. Myrtle and Harold Vodden had come to Blyth in the early 1930s and set up a very popular baking business. The Morritts had a daughter. Janis, and the Voddens had a son. Brock, of about the same age. They knew each other in school. The flame of romance was ignited and they were married in Blyth. They have six children. Their work earned them to many parts of Ontario. The couple returned to Blyth in 1995. This is also when Janis began researching the early businesses in the village. Her interests have now broadened to include all aspects of Blyth history, development, and unique character. A STORY A MINUTE It was a most engaging 45 minute around-the-block tour. It ended too quickly. Janis had shared more than 45 engrossing stories of Blyth. A story a minute. “The original role for Blyth no longer exists. But Blyth has always had people with foresight, drive and entrepreneurial spirit, ensuring that the village filled the needs and exploited the opportunities.” Vodden spoke of the uniqueness of Blyth. “Blyth has continued to adapt to the changing realities, re-inventing itself so that it offers a high quality of life for its residents and opens its doors to welcome thousands of visitors each year.” A THOUSAND STORIES I asked Janis how many stories she has collected over the decades. “I’ve no idea. It's like breathing in and Good eats Ryan McMichael was one of the many on hand to enjoy the delicious fish fry dinner sponsored by the Belgrave Optimists on Saturday. (Vicky Bremner photo) UCW’s general meeting to be held May 26 Continued from page 9 hymn. Great Is Thy Faithfulness. Mabel Wheeler reported she had sent two cards and a small bear for a sick child. The next meeting Group I has lunch. Group 2 has the program and Group 3 has worship. The general meeting of the UCW will be in the church basement on breathing out. My family’s been here since the sod was turned.” “And we’ve always told stories, hours on end. I remember driving from Toronto with my father while he told stories about Blyth. non-stop. I think storytelling is a characteristic of the village.” I think so too. In a village that has been here for L50 years, and a population hovering around a thousand people, I am sure there are more than a thousand stories waiting to be told. And Janis Morritt Vodden would like to collect-and retell-them all. Thursday, May 26 at 8 p.m. Mrs. Bosman read interesting articles on the artificial sweetener, aspartame. Some of the side effects include health problems, eye and ear problems, chest pains and allergies. Nancy Folkard, Donna Shaw and Jane Grasby served lunch.