Stories & Pictures
A Community's Heart Comes from its Pets
Johnnie Bachusky
Article written by Johnnie Bachusky a columnist for the Red Deer Express, Red Deer, Alberta
Last August my family and I visited my oldest brother Wayne at his new home in Meaford, Ontario, a quaint resort type of town of about 11,000 citizens located on the south shore of Georgian Bay. Like the scores and scores of other Ontario communities that cherish the fact it has nothing in common with Toronto or Ottawa, Meaford prides itself in celebrating its unique heritage. Following a morning boat cruise out in the bay, my brother asked if we knew about Beautiful Joe, the Aire-dale-type canine that made my sib-lings new home town on the bay fa-mous for more than a century. Beautiful Joe is a true tale of a dog that was horribly abused by its first owner in 1890. Joe was beaten near to death. His ears and tale were cut off. He would have perished if not for the intervention and kindness of the local Moore family who rescued the poor canine. The Moores named the dog Beautiful Joe, and raised him with many other rescued creatures. Two years later writer Margaret Mar-shall Saunders heard about Joes re-markable story and was so moved she wrote a book called Beautiful Joe. When the book was published in 1893, both it and the plight of the rescued canine, received worldwide attention. It was the first Canadian book to sell more than a million copies, and by the late 1930s had sold over seven million copies worldwide. In 1963, the town created Beautiful Joe Park on 8.5 acres of land along the Bighead River. The gorgeously landscaped park, lovingly maintained by the Beautiful Joe Heritage Soci-ety, includes a commemorative plaque, the enclosed Beautiful Joe grave site, a 9/11 monument and a memorial pavilion to honor pets. The society (www.beautifuljoe.org) also has plans to construct a Beautiful Joe Museum and to acquire the origi-nal home of the famous canine. The effort and care Meaford has made to honor Beautiful Joe is inspir-ing and second to none when it comes to honoring the impact pets have made to a community. The pro-gram there has given the Great Lakes town an image that speaks loudly to the communitys values of compas-sion, love and understanding for all creatures. Last week I read Kerry Woods 1964 story on Red Deers Mickey the Bea-ver for the first time, another true tale that is at least the equal to that of Beautiful Joe. Mickey was a wounded and helpless infant creature rescued in 1939 by school girl Doris Forbes. The tame and gentle beaver became a cherished household pet, and was soon a tourist attraction for the city during the Second World War. Thou-sands from all over the world came to see Mickey. He even made a cameo appearance in a Hollywood movie. Mickey the Beaver, who became the citys official mascot in 1993, is now honored with a statue at Coronation Park through Red Deers highly ac-claimed Ghost project. The Mickey ghost statue is one of nine scattered in the downtown. The idea to celebrate Red Deers heritage through this innovative program is a huge credit to the city and to every-one who has ever been involved. However, as the city moves forward with plans to recreate the downtown through its update of the Greater Downtown Action Plan it might also be time to fine tune some elements to the Ghost program, particularly on how best to showcase the marvelous statues. Right now each of the statues are scattered throughout the downtown core. Although the city does provide a map on where to find them there is a sense the Ghosts are somehow lost amid the inner city traffic. If the city does move forward with its ambitious plans to recreate all of downtown, particularly the River-lands district, why not centralize the Ghosts, or at least make each of them more prominent for both locals and visitors? As for Mickey the Beaver why not create a bigger and more elaborate theme-orientated outdoor home that could rival Beautiful Joe Park in Meaford? While any theme should be unique to Red Deer there is nothing wrong in it also speaking to the same values as Beautiful Joe Park. These values, after all, are universal. But Mickey the Beaver is a unique part of Red Deers heritage and if the city has ambitious plans to recreate itself at the core it too should bring out its best - loudly and proudly - and that includes the delightful furry ro-dent we all knew and still treasure as Mickey. Johnnie Bachusky is a columnist for the Red Deer Express in Red Deer Alberta. His brother Wayne Bryant and sister-in-law Mary have recently moved to Meaford from Yellowknife, NWT. jbachusky@reddeer.greatwest.ca (403-309-5456)