The $10,000 beard

Sunday, June 24, 2006

FORT NELSON, BC — The sun was already up this morning when we woke up, and when we fell asleep last night, it was shining too. I could read my book last night at 10:45 pm by the daylight coming through the window! It’s taking some getting used to, and we’re finding we don’t turn in at our normal time because it doesn’t feel like bedtime yet. Val was the one to notice on his cell phone this morning that we had crossed into the Pacific Time unawares some time yesterday, so we adjusted our clocks back yet another hour.
After breakfast we drove in to town to log on to the Internet and post last night’s blog and check e-mails as we sat parked outside the visitor centre. This type of wi-fi "poaching" was legit, as our visitor guides had told us we were welcome to use their service.
Val dropped me off at Our Lady of Sorrows Roman Catholic Church for the Anglican service at 11:45 — the two denominations share the same building, but the Anglicans get the later time slot! It was right next to the RCMP detachment, an attractive, modern building. In the Fort Nelson News we had read that Constable Rutledge had just helped a class of Grade 5 kids complete the DARE program, and there was his photo with the kids.
In the town today there was a run-a-thon and bike-a-thon fundraiser, so there were runners and cyclists being cheered on near our wi-fi site — and there on the corner, directing traffic, was Constable Rutledge! I recognized him from the paper!
We decided to have a look at the Fort Nelson Museum, a cluster of several buildings by the main highway with a huge array of old trucks and cars outside, as well as chunks of machinery on display. Inside the main building is a fascinating collection of historic items, including a Mountie in Red Serge and, further on, a female figure in a fur-lined bikini! There were heads of moose, Dall sheep with huge curved horns, antelope and caribou hanging high on the walls, old telephone switchboards, cameras, firefighting equipment, a canoe made of a single piece of spruce bark with photos showing the old hand building it in the bush — it was eclectic and fascinating! We also watched an old videotape of an even older documentary, made during the Second World War, of the building of the Alaska Highway.
Val had a short conversation with an older gentleman with a gentle face and a full white beard and white hair flowing from under his ball cap, who turned out to be the founder of the museum. He is there every day tinkering in the various buildings and talking to the visitors.
When we strolled around to the other buildings, I poked my head into a tiny post office with a mannequin at the wicket and wooden post office boxes behind her. On the bulletin board was an old newspaper article from the 1970s telling about the shindig they held to raise funds for museum. It described founder Marl Brown and his trademark beard, and the photo showed a younger version of the gentleman Val had spoken to. Someone at the shindig suggested they take bids for him to shave off his beard, and before the evening was over, the bare-faced founder had generated $10,000 at the stroke of a razor! Not only that, but he grew his beard back in due course, and it’s been his trademark ever since. We had a great time looking at Marl’s old car collection (there were more than a dozen from the 20s, 30s and 50s) and his humorous signs. Outside the door of the car building it said "May contain nuts". It was a fun visit!