Besides silent movies and choral groups, the early residents of the Porcupine participated in many forms of recreation. Culture came in the form of visiting musicians and singers, who took to any stage available, and performed to an always appreciative audience.
A common form of entertainment was the “Recitation”, usually in the form of poetry. The performer would bring to life long, epic poems which had been learned by heart. “The Shooting of Dan McGrew”, “The Highwayman” and similar poems were favourites, as usually the audience had learned the poetry in school, and could recite along with the performer (who didn’t dare make a mistake!). Wilson MacDonald, a poet from Cobalt, made regular trips to the Porcupine.
The following excerpt is taken from the pages of the Porcupine Advance of April 5, 1912. No mention is made of the name of the lake, but it might be assumed because of the date (Timmins was just beginning to be developed), that it was Porcupine Lake – the north end of which would have been known as Pottsville.
“The Weekly debate of the Porcupine Literary and Debating Society has become an event of importance at the north end of the lake. On Tuesday evening the Methodist Church was crowded to hear the discussion on Socialism to be precipitated by an address by F.H Sangster, the recent Socialist candidate for parliament in the district. Mr. Sangster was assisted in the affirmative by President George and the two were opposed by Messrs. Doyle and Colliman.”
From the late teens to at least 1929, the Timmins Citizens’ Band performed at all official functions and marched in parades. In the summer months, they entertained on Sundays at the old band shell in Hollinger Park. The Corporation of the Town of Timmins supplied uniforms and instruments. The Band Master was Alfred Wilfred. The first brass band in the area was formed soon after the great fire of 1911, and was known as The Porcupine Band.
Much social entertainment centered around the churches, where choirs and drama clubs flourished. On the home front, most homes had a piano, a parlour organ, guitar or harmonica and family singing in the evening was a regular pastime. Families played charades, board games or card games. There were dire predictions that the advent of radio would take away that family time, as people might depend on a ‘box with tubes’ to entertain them instead of making their own fun. We heard the same dire predictions with television.
Before the outbreak of World War II, there was a South Porcupine group of troubadours who would visit one house, pick up more musicians and visit another. Their leader was Tony Aquino, a shoemaker who had been an organist in his native Italy yet he could play the violin very well. Tony had 2 sons: Vince who played guitar with Mart Kenny’s Orchestra in Toronto and Pete, who excelled on the bass fiddle. James Fera played bass guitar and the group’s pianist was Gene Columbo.
Despite a mining-town image perpetrated by some of our southern neighbours, the Porcupine has always had a vibrant and diverse culture. Indeed, because of the great mix of pioneers who settled here, the culture has always been much richer than in areas where there was only one major ethnic group.
That’s my view from Over the Hill.
