My friends Chris and Connie, from Calgary, and I, have been planning "The Beer Parlor Project" since before the Pandemic. This is the working title for it at this time, though it may eventually change. The Covid outbreak essentially put the project on long term hold and it is only now that we have been able to kickstart the project and get going.
Basically what we intend to do is to visit small town hotel bars and taverns, with the permission of the owners or operators, and document the goings on. My part in the project will be to take some large format black and white images of the interior and the exterior of the establishment. If conditions allow I may also attempt some large format portraits. In addition to that I will also shoot some small format images on black and white roll film. At this point it seems most likely that I will use my Contax 35mm camera, as that will allow me to use some of the faster films. I may at some point also use some of my medium format cameras.
Chris and Connie will take some digital photographs, and get more involved in interviewing some of the residents and patrons. They will also do some background research to round out the project. We aren't really sure what the final goal will be. Possibly this will become a book project at some point, or perhaps a gallery exhibition. At the very least it will provide some stories for Chris and Connie to post on their Off the Beaten Path website. Here is a link to that site... https://www.bigdoer.com/
For the past couple of months Chris has been trying to line up a venue that was somewhere close to where we were going to be. He struck out in some locations, but in others we have invitations to return at a later date. On the weekend of July 22 to 24 Chris and Connie were scheduled to be in Edmonton. They are attending a show of Pinball Machines in the city on Saturday. Chris was able to line up a nearby hotel for us to finally get started on the Beer Parlor Project.
On Friday afternoon we headed north of the city to Egremont. It's like many other small towns in western Canada and is now officially a hamlet. There are only a handful of residents left, the grain elevators are gone and the stores are all closed. The old Hotel is the center of activity.
The owners Laura and Cindy took over the Hotel from previous owners and have been operating it for about two years now. The hotel was built in 1947 and has seen various owners over the years. Cindy and Laura live upstairs and operate a restaurant and bar on the main floor called The Hidden Gem Tavern. It no longer operates as a hotel, but there are two extra rooms that we understand band members occasionally use, when they have partied a little too hard on jam nights. The hotel is also said to be haunted and the owners tell us that they regularly are aware of two ghosts. One a tall skinny man and the other a young lady. The only spirits we saw when we visited were the ones in the bottles.
We hung around for several hours and enjoyed the company, had a couple of beers, and indulged in the special of the day... a burger with avocado, spicy homemade chips, and a dessert of cobbler with ice cream. It was all very good. We also met a few of the locals... old Bob who has lived in town for about 45 years... and No Shirt Alvin... who only puts a shirt on to go into the bar.... I came away from it all with about half a dozen large format images an exposed roll of 35mm film, and lots of memories.
This visit was essentially a test drive for a project that we hope will carry on for a number of years. As we get a little more comfortable with what we are doing, I'm sure things will evolve a little. But it was a very good start for a project that has been stuck in neutral for far too long. I look forward to visiting the next one, and to processing the film from this visit. Needless to say I will be called upon to provide prints to the owners as we go along.
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