“I must admit, there was a little alcohol involved.”
As with many big ideas, this one started with a group of friends chatting over drinks.
Stuart Breckon was out at the lake with some old friends. The conversation turned to an article they had read about the uncertain fate of old, wooden grain elevators on the prairies.
“We were sitting there saying, ‘you know, as prairie boys, we should do something’,” he told 680 CJOB’s Community Ambassador Hal Anderson.
The iconic landmarks used to be a feature of any small town skyline. But many have been torn down. Inglis is the home to the Manitoba’s last elevator row, made up of five buildings. Thanks to the work of the town, they have been designated a national historic site.
But one United Grain Growers elevator is in dire need of a paint job. So, drinks in hand, Breckon and his buddies called up a friend.
“We got on the phone with a friend of ours from Saskatoon, Doc (Dale) Holaday is his name. He actually did this… he knew how to do it and he was kind of reluctant. He knew we’d obviously been (drinking), there was some alcohol. So he didn’t say too much,” Breckon said.
And as with many ideas dreamed up over drinks, the next morning, it didn’t seem so wise.
“We woke up sober and realized that was one of the silliest things we’d ever thought of, so we phoned Holaday back and said, ‘Dale, you know, you’re right. I think you’re right.’ He says, ‘what do you mean? I’ve already painted this in my sleep. I’ve painted this elevator twice. We’re going to do it.’ And it was on,” he said.
So over one week in August, Breckon and his friends will chip in for the paint and pick up the brushes.
“There are certain rules to this game. You have to be a pensioner. We’re all over 65.”
And they won’t rely on modern invention to make the enormous task any easier.
“We’re planning to do it in a traditional way. You know these days they use lifts and sprayers and all those kind of things. We’re going to do it as it was done before the 1970s. We’re going to be doing it with ropes and scaffolding and actual paint brushes. We’re there to enjoy ourselves and do something good for this little town of Inglis and keep those elevators around,” he said.
Breckon, a Manitoba native now living in Texas, has a personal connection to the towering wooden structures. His father, Walter, managed the United Grain Growers elevator in Homewood, and recruited his son to help out.
“Every once in a while, my dad would make me go down under the bottom of the leg there and clean it. Of course, when you did that, you took your rubber boots and put elastic bands around them so the rats couldn’t get in there. You’d go down there with a shovel and clean it and haul up the mess in the pail. That was the hard part, but we still had great fun,” he said.
The Homewood elevator no longer towers in the town’s skyline. But Breckon says it’s those childhood memories that drive them.
“They’re all prairie boys. They grew up in rural Manitoba and rural Saskatchewan. They all grew up with the grain elevators. This is just a chance for us to give a little back,” he said.
It is a big undertaking, but the crew is looking for a much different kind of volunteerism than you’d expect. Besides painting skills, they’re looking for people with a curled lip and a good hip-shake.
“Two of the guys are Elvis impersonators. So on the Friday night, we’ve got the local hall booked, and we’re going to be putting on an Elvis and Elevators competition. We’ve got about four people lined up… and we’re looking for a couple more. If anyone likes to be an amateur Elvis, we’d like to add them to the competition,” Breckon said.
If that’s got you all shook up and you want to participate, email Hal Anderson at hal@cjob.com.
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