Fonds 516 Trumpeter Swan Trailer Association

Trumpeter Swan Trailer Association. — 1968 – 2008. — 9.5 cm of textual records. — 81 photographs. — 17 slides.

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Agency History

(excerpts taken from historical records in the fonds)
The Trumpeter Swan Trailer Club was organized in 1968 by Roy Garrett. With the help of Bud Clark as secretary, the two men put many hours into getting the club organized and registered under the Societies Act. Outings that first year included Moonshine Lake, Moberly Lake, and the Smoky River and Simonette River. The next step was to join the Alberta Travel Trailer Association and start to attend provincial rallies which were held at a central point in the province. Each year clubs would organized to host these rallies and Red Deer and Ponoka were hosts the first few years. This club was well represented for quite a few years and competitors Roy Garretts and Andy Feil were A side winners in horse shoes one year and B side winners another year. This was quite an upset for the serious players from other clubs. The same effect happened when our ladies became the Cribbage champs and then first in the darts tournament at Olds. They were also good competitors in the entertainment . They had a little choir and also put on a skit, “Street Car Desire”. The staging with a group acting like a forest, using garbage bags over their heads, was effective. The rallies ended with a dance. At one dance, Dan Willsey and another fellow decided to dance together and then Thora Rule decided they were a togetherness group and came out of the bathroom with a roll of toilet paper and wrapped the whole group around the tables. That same night, Earl Rule kept unplugging trailers and no one could catch him. For these rallies, they would leave Grande Prairie on Friday night and drive as far as Gunn, getting there by midnight and then be up and on the road by 6 a.m. to get to Red Deer by 8 a.m. Once Andy and Roy didn’t even park before they raced to get to the horse shoe games. They left for home, tired, on Mondays before noon, On one trip home, Adam Bondar, with his new Ford and 19’ Travelaire didn’t stop for gas when the rest did and ran out. The syphon idea didn’t work so Andy offered to tow him and even though Art said he couldn’t do it, Andy did and got them 3-4 miles to Juniper Lodge safely.

The Trumpeters eventually decided to have a rally of their own in the northern division at Barrhead. Since they had the largest group in the area, they always helped with the activities and hosted the get acquainted coffee party on Friday night. There was parking to arrange, use of the hall facilities, and groceries to get. This rally was always held during the Barrhead Sports Days. They sponsored a steak supper on Saturday and the fee for the weekend would include a ticket for the supper.

The club started having winter meetings in the early 70s to keep the club intact. The first Christmas parties were held in Webb’s and Shofner’s basements. Then they started holding meetings at the Golden Age Center every third Saturday of the month. They also had Christmas parties there, bowling parties and pot luck suppers in the winter months. The club disbanded officially in 2008.

Custodial History

The records were donated to the South Peace Regional Archives by Morris Burroughs in 2009.

Scope and Content

The fonds consists of a history of the club, executive records including by-laws, membership, minutes, financial records, records of camp-outs and rallies, correspondence, associated organizations, newsclippings, members’ writings an photographs and slides recording camp-outs and social events.

Notes

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