Beer Parlour Project - Fife Lake Hotel - BP 15.0

On the evening of Tuesday June 18th, after we had earlier explored the Massey Ferguson dealership, Chris and I headed down to Fife Lake, to visit the hotel.  We did not have anything pre-arranged for this visit, and it was just a cold call.

We arrived in the late afternoon and introduced ourselves and our project to Gail, one of the owners.  She and her husband Lawson had been running the hotel for 50 years.  They were very receptive, and welcomed us.  This was one of the old school establishments that still operated a steak pit.  Chris and I thought we would get our dinner out of the way, and we ordered steaks.  We grilled them ourselves over on the indoor broiler.  As with many of the small town hotels we visited, they got their beef from local farming operations, and it was really good.  Served along with it was a baked potato, some coleslaw and some condiments.

The tavern was decorated with signs and brewery fixtures that had been accumulated over the decades.  It was very interesting, and we spent quite a bit of time checking it all out.  We had a nice visit and interview with Lawson and Gail and Chris recorded the audio so that we could use the information to provide a back story on the hotel for our project.   

Years ago, Lawson wrote "Boss" on a $1 bill and tacked it to the wall.  That started a tradition, and in the years since hundreds of people have signed dollar bills and put them up on the wall.  There are several show cases full of them, and once they ran out of space more bills were posted on the upper walls.  It started out with one and two dollar bills but with the advent of Loonies and Toonies, people switched to five dollar bills.  There are also some foreign bills and collectors notes.  We found one Dominion of Canada 25 cent bill dated 1923.

The hotel was quite busy as there was a shut down at a nearby coal mine and power plant and a number of workers were staying there.  A number of locals came around for a steak, and the Oilers Stanley Cup playoff game was on the TV.

I managed to take some portraits with the big view camera.  We got a nice image of Lawson and Gail at the bar, and later some of the other patrons obliged.  I took the traditional exterior shot, and also did a bunch of shooting with my 35mm film cameras.  As is always the case with Beer Parlour Project outings, it will be a while before I get all the film processed and have scans to share.

It was starting to get dark by the time we said our goodbyes and packed up all our gear.  It was a long drive back to our base, and it was midnight by the time we got unloaded and settled down.  A very long but productive day...!

Saskatchewan Trip - Day 6

Tuesday June 18th was another day of exploring in Saskatchewan for Chris and I.  In the morning we just killed a little time, and visited a couple of previously explored small towns.  We had been unable to shoot a couple of things on the previous windy day, and went back to try again.  

Around lunch time we had arranged to visit a former Massey Ferguson dealership.  We contacted the owner, Al, and he agreed to meet us at the building and let us in.  When we arrived, Al was there, with his jacknife, trying to pry a piece of glass out of one of the windows.  We quickly introduced ourselves and questioned why he would want to damage his building.  He advised that he had not been in the place for many years, and although he had the key, the door knob has ceased and would not open.

Rather than damage the window, we went back to the door to see if we could get it to open.  Al pointed at the door edge and told me to "kick it right here" pointing at the knob.  I refused and told him that we did not want to see his property damaged and would rather not get in, if that's what it came to.

Instead he phoned his hired hand from his nearby farm and asked him to bring a cordless drill.  Once he arrived we were able to remove a plywood panel from one of the boarded up windows.  There was no longer any glass in this window, so the hired hand was able to crawl through.  He then opened the large sliding door at the back of the building so that we could gain access.

The dealership had once belonged to Al's father, and it was closed in the 1980's.  Al wanted to get around to removing the last of the contents, and then demolish the building.  It was badly deteriorated, and will probably not stand for too many more years.  It was like going back in time and there were old hand tools and tons of old parts in the shop, the parts room and front office.  There were brand new bias ply tires, mufflers, bearings and countless other items.  The roof leaked so badly that the cash drawer of the till was full of water.  Al and his helper hung around for about ten minutes, and then told us to just lock things up when we left.  He said he would return later to screw the plywood back into place over the window.

We were extremely grateful to him for allowing us this opportunity and took advantage of it and shot a number of photographs.  We were able to lock the sliding door from the interior, and then put the plywood back into place over the window before leaving.

I'm not sure how much demand there is for old Massey parts, but if these could be cataloged and offered on line I suspect that Al could make enough money to cover the demolition costs.  He is of the age that he probably doesn't do a lot on the internet, so he would need some help in this regard.

While we were there we explained to Al that we were also working on the Beer Parlour Project.  He recommended that we visit the Fife Lake Hotel.  It was a long operating Hotel, managed by an owner that had been there for decades.  It was a couple of hours away, but we decided to hit the road and pay a visit.

Saskatchewan Trip - Day 5

On Monday June 17th, the weather remained somewhat unsettled.  The wind had died down, but the skies were heavily overcast and it showered off and on.  I couple of times the showers were rather heavy, and although the farmers were thrilled, we photographers were less than excited.  On more than one occasion during the day, when we got out and walked through the tall grass, our feet quickly became soaked and our shoes filled with water.

On this day we headed from our rental apartment to the north and the east.  It was another day of a lot of driving, with just numerous brief stops.  I ended up with a lot of phone snapshots, but not nearly as much film exposed.

At one point we stopped in a small town with a large Roman Catholic Church.  There was an old pulpit lying in the grass in front of the church and despite the showers, I just had to photograph it.  A local resident, a fairly young man named Trevor, came over to see what we were doing.  He explained that the church had once been across the road, but it was moved to make way for a new house, that he had recently purchased.  The church was de-sanctified and no longer a religious building.  Trevor asked us if we wanted to see the inside and both Chris and I eagerly said yes.  I was sort of expecting that some of the original furnishings might remain but it turned out that it had been converted into a party church.  Once a year or so, the locals hosted a jam night with live music and partied in the church.  They had obviously spent a lot of time and effort in setting it up and we quite appreciated the opportunity to explore.

We made it all the way to the City of Moose Jaw and drove past the Canadian Airforce Base where the Snowbirds acrobatic aircraft team is based, before circling back in the general direction of our rented home base.

A couple of hours later we came upon a small town and stopped to check out the local hotel.  Chris had previously reached out to them, but they had not responded.  We had a beer and checked out the place and it had all the attributes that we were looking for.  We quite enjoyed listening in on the conversation at a table beside us, where a young man and his father were arguing over the Moose Jaw Warriers WHL hockey team.  We thought it might erupt into a fist fight, but they left before it escalated to that.  Eventually we got up the nerve to talk to the owner and introduce ourselves.  We inquired as to whether we could return the next day for a Beer Parlour Project outing.  The owner was quite receptive, and we made tentative plans to return.  But sadly the next morning, his wife texted us and cancelled the outing.  It seems rather obvious who wears the pants in that family...!

I for one was more than a little discouraged as our trip had been a great success photographically, but the Beer Parlour outings were just not materializing.  We drove past a number of old hotels on this day and took some snapshots from the exterior.  Being Monday, some of them were not open.  Others looked as though they were out of business, and had not been open for some time.  Older owners are retiring and passing away, and the Covid pandemic was really hard on businesses like these.

In no particular order, here is a selection of phone snapshots that I took during our day of touring around.  In addition to these, and despite the rain, I think I did at least eight or nine setups with the big view camera.  I look forward to processing some of that film in the near future and will be posting scans of anything that turns out.

Saskatchewan Trip - Day 4

On Sunday June 16th, Father's Day, Chris and I awoke at the rental apartment to an overcast and a very blustery day.  One of my daughter's remembered to text me with Father's Day wishes....

It looked as if it was going to be a day that was very challenging for photography... and it certainly was.  The winds were gusting to the point that setting up the big camera was an issue.  But we ventured out anyway, and made the best of it.  We headed west from our base and explored for the entire day.  It was a day with a lot of driving, and lot of quick stops.  In most places we managed to find enough shelter to set up the camera, and it actually proved to be one of our more productive days.  By late evening the wind died down quite a bit, and the skies began to clear.  

I'd have to write a book to describe our route and all the places that we stopped so I will just let the phone snapshots speak for themselves.  There's also a short video clip that illustrates just how bad the wind was on this day.