I celebrate Winnipeg every day. In fact, I plaster my favorite Winnipeg photo everywhere - and it is my trademark profile picture. So what makes this particular shot so special?
I'm not sure of the whys and wherefores, but for some reason, Winnipeg celebrated its 75th birthday not on November 8, 1948, but instead on June 5, 1949.
My dad was 21 years old and proud of his city. He had recently been hired for what was to become a 38 year career with the Greater Winnipeg Water District, and just a few weeks earlier had met my mom for the first time.
To mark this special occasion, a giant birthday cake had been erected on the famous "Portage and Main" intersection. Like several of his fellow citizens, Dad leapt onto the cake, camera in hand, to capture the essence of Winnipeg.
In the bottom left hand corner, an Eaton's catalogue truck, overflowing with sacks of goods for eagerly waiting customers rounds the historic corner filled with streetcars AND pedestrians. Eaton's, the streetcars, and the pedestrians - now forced to cross underground - are long gone, but several of the heritage buildings are thankfully still standing. It's also worth pointing out that some of these same people may well have been evacuated from Winnipeg exactly one year later, as the 1950 floodwaters swept through the streets.
Dad was delighted with his photo, and had it enlarged and framed - at Eaton's, of course. On the reverse side of the picture frame, news clippings and his own brief message tell the story.
This framed treasure hangs over my desk, where I can enjoy it every day. I couldn't bear to damage what my dad had so carefully created with his clippings, and so I photographed HIS photograph through the frame's glass, and that's what I share as my profile shot. I know it would be so much clearer if it was taken out and properly scanned. I don't care. I absolutely won't do it.
This is my Winnipeg!
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