People often ask me how I convinced my partner Dov to move from Toronto to my childhood home of Winnipeg. In truth, Dov convinced me to move more than I convinced him.
I had moved away from Winnipeg to start a new life. He had never lived anywhere but Toronto. Nevertheless, Dov is the practical one. He wanted more space. We could not afford the life we imagined in Toronto. I have a large extended family in Winnipeg.
We first started discussing the possibility of moving when we were in Winnipeg Beach. Once we had our first child, we started spending two to four week stretches over the summer there. Otherwise, when we visited Winnipeg, it would be for a rushed long weekend to celebrate a Jewish holiday, wedding or bar mitzvah. The longer summer visits allowed us to imagine raising our children in my childhood home.
Summers at Winnipeg Beach started in the 1930s when my grandmother was a child. The Jews who could afford to rent a room in a house for their family chose that location because it was the only place they were allowed. Other lakeside communities did not allow Jews. Thus Winnipeg Beach became known as the Jewish Beach. Think Borscht Belt, but Canadian, minus famous comedians, and in the prairies.
My grandmother’s family, the Fleishmans, eventually bought a property. They spent their summers on Hazel Street until 1991. Sometime in the late ‘80s my grandfather discovered a lakefront property that he was determined to acquire. After some negotiation with the owner, he bought the property, tore down the run-down house and built a modern, breezy cottage that would become his family’s happy place. My grandmother and grandfather spent their summers at the beach until he passed away in 2011.
For 30 years, my grandmother made the cottage that she and her husband built a summer home for her ever-growing family. She breaded pickerel fresh from the lake, baked perfect knishes served with sour cream and strawberries, and a fruit crisp for dessert. When I would stay overnight with my grandparents, she would make me breakfast (always challah French toast) in the morning while my grandfather listened to opera on the radio. We would spend the quiet evenings playing gin rummy together.
Five years ago, the cottage hosted my brother’s wedding. Last year the cottage made it possible for everyone to spend Rosh Hashanah together. As her children worked in the kitchen preparing the holiday meal, my grandmother was able to enjoy the High Holiday services on the iPad while her 12 great-grandchildren in attendance enjoyed the cottage.
I have been lucky to be able to share my childhood summers at Winnipeg Beach with my children. We try to stay there for two weeks at a time. The weekdays are quiet and sleepy. Our mornings are slow. Every summer my kids attend Winnipeg Beach Day Camp which starts at 10:00 a.m. They spend their days playing outside. At pick-up we walk, or bike, from our cottage to the camp, saying hello to the other parents who we see each summer. For the next hour the children rest, tired from being outside all day, while we finish our work.
The rest of the day is endless and euphoric all at once. We either go to the beach, visit a friend or stay in the cabin. On the days we make it to the beach, we join others we know from Winnipeg Beach at the same spot, getting to know them all over again.
After dinner we walk down the boardwalk along the public beach. The names of our friends and family are engraved in the brick path — our own haimish Jewish Walk of Fame. We find the stone with Harvey and Toby Sawyer’s name on it and tell our children stories of our grandparents at the beach. Then, without fail, we bump into someone we know and end up at Dairy Bee for ice cream. So much has changed, while everything has stayed exactly the same.
The weekends move at a completely different pace. As family and friends trickle into Winnipeg Beach for the weekend, there are more people to visit. Winnipeg Beach allows me to reunite with cousins who live in Abu Dhabi, Winnipeg cousins and great aunts, and others we only see at the beach. We wander from the beach to the marina, then head downtown for ice cream. The retro arcade keeps people entertained on rainy days. I watch as my children play the same games I played as a kid, collecting tickets so they can cash them in at the end of the summer.
The children pass the day playing beach games. The backyard is perfect for sports and water games. Inside they entertain themselves with a wooden pizza oven, golf clubs, Snakes and Ladder, Mickey Mouse Yahtzee and ‘90s Pogs. My grandmother teaches her great-grandchildren their numbers by playing card games like War and Go Fish. I love watching the joy and competitive spirit between my grandmother and her great-grandchildren. I am immediately taken back to my own childhood.
Salads, BBQ chicken, hot dogs and hamburgers, or salmon and vegetables have replaced the more onerous knishes and fish for dinner alongside endless bags of chips, fries from Salty’s, cookies, pies, candy and fruit. My aunt organizes dinner, sometimes for over 30 people. She has mastered the planning, grocery shopping and organization that these dinners require. They are a rare chance to be together in one space.
Summer nights means the sun does not set until late at night. When the sun sets at 11:00 p.m., bedtime becomes meaningless. It’s a time to take advantage of my parents playing in the backyard with my children. Those nights my children fall asleep immediately, exhausted from being outside all day, as I watch the sunset with people visiting on the porch.
Until recently, the rocky beach with high levels of e-coli water was overlooked for the sandy shores across the lake where historically Jews were not allowed to purchase land. Poor water drainage systems meant the beach was more famous for its mosquitoes and fishflies than Johnee’s fatboy burgers and french fries. Recent municipal infrastructure investments have made the beach a provincial destination for day trips.
Like many communities that were once an ethnic enclave, the population at Winnipeg Beach has diversified. Rising cost of living has required some Jewish families to sell their cottages. Increased wealth has allowed others to move to more affluent summer home locations. But Winnipeg Beach is still Manitoba’s Jewish Beach. The minyan that attends the beach shtiebel my grandfather once joined weekly would agree.
