By Charlene Tebbutt

Long-time visitors share memories on anniversary of Prince Albert National Park

Aug 11, 2018 | 12:45 PM

As the Prince Albert National Park marks 90 years, some of those who grew up spending time in the area shared fond memories with family and friends in the early days of the park.

The park was officially nine decades ago, when three thousand people attended a ceremony on Aug. 10, 1928, with then-Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King on hand for the unveiling. King was gifted a cottage at the event, which still stands today on Prospect Drive in Waskesiu.

A ceremony Friday at the Waskesiu Heritage Museum marked the anniversary with a ribbon cutting on a new replica shack tent. With scorching hot weather under sunny blue skies, the park was bustling with shoppers, children and tourists.

In its early days, visitors to the park pitched their tents on the beach with no running water or modern amenities. Doreen Kerby, a long-time visitor and seasonal resident at the park, is one of those who has memories as a child, and now her own children swim in the lake. Kerby’s family always stayed at Manville’s Bungalows, often in a room near a very well-known politician.

“They always used to keep the second cottage from the corner for us because John Diefenbaker used to come and stay,” Kerby said.

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Kerby, now 90, is a retired teacher and travel writer who also spent time with Grey Owl, including at his cabin on Ajawaan Lake. She said her time in the park has always been peaceful.

“It’s absolutely wonderful. There’s no better place to be … it’s just a haven,” Kerby said.

Carol Crowe has also come to love the national park since her first visit in 1997. Crowe and her husband were newlyweds when they paddled to Grey Owl’s cabin. Crowe’s aunt, Anahereo – or Gertrude Bernard – was Grey Owl’s partner. A couple of years after visiting the area, Crowe and her husband decided to move to Prince Albert from Calgary, raising their family near the park. 

Crowe now sits as a member of the Friends of the Park board and says while she loves the park, she also wants to raise awareness about her aunt and Grey Owl, and their work to conserve the environment.

“Behind every man is a good woman, and it’s true because it was truly her (Anahareo) who pushed him to be into ecology, to care about the land,” Crowe told paNOW. “And that importance of the wetlands is so critical.”

Dorell Taylor knows the history of the park well, having edited a three-volume book that chronicles memories of the park. Taylor now lives in Victoria but comes back every year to the cabin her family purchased around 1939 for just $100.

“I’ve been coming back, well my mother said, since before I was born,” Taylor said. “I love it, it’s so beautiful and relaxing and there’s so much history here.”

Charlene.tebbutt@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @CharleneTebbutt