I Think Of Shilo

 

I grew up on several military bases but I always think of Shilo Manitoba as my childhood home. It was the greatest place to be a kid and a teen. My Dad was posted there twice. From K- grade 2 and then for grades 7, 8, 9 and 10. There is a site on Facebook that posts old pics of the place that are bringing me some nice holiday memories. Yeh, I know, I hate that feeling but there you have it.

Every street has their own backyard rink if not two.

 

I remember the train tracks that ran past the base. In the summer we would walk out to them and collect the rocks from the BC Rockies that were used to fill in the space between the rails. Certainly there were no rocks like that native to Manitoba.

Gym, pool, weight room, theatre, everything you needed to entertain you as a kid in the days of 13 channels and no video games or Internet. I would walk in the snow 15 minutes to bowl or shoot baskets or go for a swim whenever I got tired of being cooped up in the house. Across the street was a little mini-mall. They had a burger place that served the best fries and always had vinegar on the table. Salt and Vinegar fries. Who knew they would taste so good together?

 

Snow was Shilo and Shilo was snow.

 

 

This is from 1957 but the base always put on a Christmas party for the kids. Usually Santa came in on a tank or a helicopter to give us the gifts our parents already bought for us. It was always a panic because everyone dressed up and the party was always centered on the kids.

 

Every February you could drive the streets and see snow sculptures on many of the yards. Not many of them were very good but I think that was half the point. Everyone could compete for the big prize. The Winter Festival in February was a big deal when you have already been snow locked for 4 months. It combined the best of other winter festivals like the one in Quebec. It's one of the benefits of having a military workforce - planning and executing these kinds of events was always good practice for a real emergency. I just remember doing 'stuff' all the time and loving spending hours in the snow doing the activities that snow was made for like sledding and fort building and snowball fights and backyard rink broomball. Sigh.

 

 

Nothing says "Shilo" more than the numerous displays of tanks and big guns placed around the base ... no kid had a playground like we did. "Tanks for the memories"