MARCH BREAK IN MUSKOKA - I’M JUST GLAD TO BE HERE

In over thirty years writing in, and about the District of Muskoka, I’ve never been asked.....not once, to write a promotional piece, specifically to attract visitors to our area of the province. I guess, in some ways it does bother me, especially, when over the years, outside writers and promotional services from places elsewhere, have been kept busy promoting life and recreation here. I’m sure the attitude has been, that local writers just can’t handle such an enormous project. Well, I’ve spent many years trying to figure out that ridiculous attitude. The best understanding of the social, cultural, historic patina of our region, is from those who’ve spent vast amounts of time here. Every year however, they’ll be some silly, generalized, obtuse promotion about our region, generated from an office or boardroom a hundred miles or more, from the subject hinterland.

Although I’ve never been asked to promote and highlight Muskoka, I’ve been doing it on my own since my first major writing gig in 1978, with the Bracebridge Examiner, and then onward to Muskoka Publications and the seasonal feature papers, The Muskoka Sun, and The Muskokan. In just about everything I write, whether it is a column on antiques and collectibles, or on golf, history, current events, or politics, Muskoka is always the background drawn from.....and I like to think that rather than being known as a Gravenhurst writer, I’m a Muskoka author. I’ve wanted to be known as a Muskokan from the spring of 1966, when my family thankfully relocated here, from Burlington, Ontario. It was my making, let me tell you. It’s as if my parents did it just for me. I felt pent-up in the cityscape. There was too much, when I was happy with a less grandiose and busy home region.

When I graduated university in Toronto, back in the spring of 1977, I couldn’t wait to get home to Bracebridge. Despite the fact our family was very much a part of the building history of Toronto.....my grandfather, Stan Jackson, has a Toronto street named after him, getting back to Muskoka was the end-all. I won’t say that it alone, meant the end of my relationship to a long-time girlfriend but it certainly was a contributing factor. Also from Bracebridge, she saw so many more opportunities in the city than I did. Her liberation was the urban landscape. Mine was the rural clime of Muskoka. It hurt for a long time after ending our years together but never once have I had a single regret that my decision to remain here in Muskoka, hurt my opportunities for a good and prosperous life. And it is certainly why over three decades, I have without reservation, promoted a Muskoka lifestyle at every turn, the intimate patina for thousands of written pieces, that hopefully, in some way, have reminded readers how fond I am of this rural existence......and why they should visit more often.

I will still get furious when I read about some distant public relations firm, being awarded a lucrative contract to promote Muskoka to the rest of the world. Nonsense. It can never be as heartfelt and believable, as from someone who has been nurtured and inspired by the environs since 1966. When my dad told us he had accepted a lumber company offer, from an old friend up in Bracebridge, in the vacation paradise of Muskoka, I was speechless.....but ready then to load up the car and leave the city for good. That moment! I never was very patient. As a preamble to this job offer, was a summer-time trip up to beautiful Bruce Lake, near Minett (Lake Rosseau area), to meet with Ed’s future employer. It was a three day adventure that hooked me from the first bear we saw, to the great fishing we enjoyed. Having the chance to live in this natural paradise year-round, was literally off the charts. It was very much a dream come true for an uninspired city kid.

Living rurally has its challenges. We’ve been told that by city-folks for several centuries, and that Muskoka is only worth visiting in the summer months. Well, I’ve been quite contented to let them know otherwise, since my first published columns back in 1978. Yet no matter how often and effective these pieces have been, creating a modest buzz about our district, I can predict in advance, I will never be approached by any local governance or tourism agency, to produce Muskoka themed editorial material. I’m good with this because my passion for Muskoka has never had a cash value attached, and for most of the editorial and feature inclusions, I’ve never been paid a dime. But promoting Muskoka is just a naturally flowing interest, and as it has been perpetually nurturing to me, and certainly my family, it’s the least I can do.......to represent it, enthusiastically, as the welcoming, hospitable, invigorating region it is.....and has been since the late 1800's.

My wife and I look forward to spending our March Break at home......in Gravenhurst, Muskoka. We’ll day-travel from morning to nightfall, and celebrate every square inch of this picturesque Ontario lakeland. We’ll come home to our modest little homestead, at Birch Hollow, and warm by the hearth, feeling quite contented we have had a good and memorable vacation.....again!

I’ve haven’t been paid to do this.......but I’m doing it anyway. Visit Muskoka. What a hauntingly special place on earth. I know it for fact! By immersion!