A Fairytale Come True in Storybook Gardens – Part 1 by Debbie Kleiber (nee Collins)
PEGGY SATTLER HALF PAGE
Castle Girls, Barn Boys, moats, and a windmill. You may think this was a description for a “Princess Bride” sequel. However, it is none other than Springbank Park in the late 1960s. I was working at the famous Storybook Gardens, which opened in 1958. What could be better than crossing a moat and entering through a castle door to go to work every day? Being greeted by colour - ful fairytale attractions, baby bears, acrobatic seals, penguins, and three portly pigs, among other exotic creatures, orchestrat- ed a happy dance in my brain! Old McDonald’s animal entourage
mooed, quacked, bleated, and honked as vociferous advocates of each new day. Talk about a positive work culture! Park Commissioner Maurice Chap- man would hire summer crews every spring to manage the cas- tle, provide customer service, and handle ticket sales. I was so excit- ed to be a Storybook Castle Girl. We also managed a little sales cart stocked with Earl Tingley’s famous cartoon colouring books, postcards and giant, rentable strollers shaped like “one-two buckle my shoes.” Enthralled little ones clamoured to
jump inside them but just as quickly hopped out to chase the fla - mingos or terrorize Peter Rabbits. During those days, there was an abundance of tourists and crowded buses arriving daily. Many Americans came to see the infamous Slippery the Seal, who had escaped the park, evaded capture, and swum to Toledo, Ohio. With everyone doing “Slippery sightings,” he was quite the international news event. Even after Slippery died in 1967, tourists would ask us to retell his “Thames River” escapade. Quite often, so many buses of children arrived at once that we’d do a quick head count and quickly herd the awestruck, giggling energy balls through the lobby. Being six feet tall and wearing my jolly green uniform was a frequent invitation to ask whether I was the Castle Giant.
Slippery the seal
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