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Life in the slow lane

    I was raised 3 miles south of Harding, Manitoba on a mixed farm of grain and livestock. We did not go to town very often, usually once a week to get the mail. Harding, back in my youth had a garage owned and operated by Fred McCahon. There was a general store which also served as a post office. Charlie Howell and Terry Shurville had shops to fix agricultural machinery. There was also another general store in town but it had closed. The building was there but no business was run out of it and one day it burned down. There was also a blacksmith shop and Cliff Blackwell had a repair shop. Russell Beal had a construction outfit, along with Jack Bridge, who had a caterpillar to move bush etc.

    The old general store still stands on main street in Harding.

    Harding also has a community hall and a church. The church closed many years ago but was moved to the Harding fairgrounds and serves as a community centre to the town and surrounding area.

    Harding State fair is held the third Friday of July each year and is part of the milk run! I will have more on the fair as we get closer to the date.

    At one time, on the fairgrounds stood a structure that served for multiple events. On fair day it housed the cattle and both heavy and light horses. They also used it for the pig show in the fall as Harding had a beef and swine club. In the winter, it turned into a skating rink and had 2 sheets of curling ice. When you went skating you always went the same direction, round and round. I was so used to stopping just one way that in later years I had to learn to stop both ways. The old barn, or rink, had an old wood stove in it and benches around the inside for the skaters and the curlers to come in to warm up. There was no insulation in the old barn so it was cold, but we did not care, we thought this was great!

    Harding also, at one time, had railroad tracks and of course grain elevators. Mr. Stewart King was the manager when I was a lad. It also had a blacksmith shop and Mr. Maitland worked there. He always had a pipe in his mouth. He would puff away on it between jobs. I always enjoyed the smell of pipe tobacco being smoked! There were also a number of houses in the town but many of them are gone now.  

    Milas McGregor had a semi truck business and would pick up livestock to go to market or to a summer pasture.

    Harding had a huge brick school where many scholars learned their education, out behind the barn. Just ask Phil Corney!

    Harding is located halfway between Kenton and Bradwardine, so we knew many people in those districts as well. At one time the town was busy and was a meeting place for neighbours to visit.

    I believe there are 7 or 8 houses still in town, occupied by Harding residents.

    As I mentioned earlier, one Friday in July the town fills up again with many visitors as it is Harding Fair day. On fair day you can have pancake breakfast, dinner and supper in the hall all served by the Harding ladies. It is always a great meal! Kurt Schall stills lives in a bungalow beside the Harding store. Kurt told me it is one day a year he does not have to make meals and then can go to the beer garden and doesn’t have to worry about drinking and driving home, it’s just across the street.

    Harding used to have a slow pitch team. I think age played a factor in its eventual demise.  I forgot to mention that there were 2 places you could get gas. You could purchase it at McCahon’s or the grocery store. Prices that I remember back then were 27 to 29 cents a gallon! Let that sink in, not a litre but a Gallon.