Frog Ponds

Frog ponds on the former exhibition grounds attracted kids wearing gumboots from all over the municipality in the early 1950s

Frog Ponds Tadpoles emerging in green, jelly-like frog spawn

After the last of the exhibition buildings had burned down or had been demolished by the late 1940s, the former Willows Fairgrounds lay dormant for several years before it was subdivided in the early 1950s.

In this interim, nature began to re-claim the land and soon there were meadows, small groves of trees and ponds full of life. Of particular interest to young boys in the early 1950s were the frogs and tadpoles in these ponds.

PHOTOGRAPHS

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ARTIFACTS

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RECOLLECTIONS

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I grew up right next door to the Willows Fairground area on Wakefield (which is now Allenby).There were nice ponds out in the meadows with tadpoles and frogs in them.

— Lynne (Maclennan) Schulnik, OBHS class of 1960

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I remember the frogs and tadpoles — in fact I turned them into a viable business. I posted a sign on the telephone pole in front of our home on Allenby advertising tadpoles – 5 cents, and frogs – a dime. Cars would stop and parents would buy them for their kids. Usually I'd be out playing in the fields, so my mother often handled the sales and, for a brief period, was known as the "frog lady." Did quite a business, even supplied the downtown pet shop until the frogs escaped and infested the store. But I ended up with enough nickels and dimes to buy the aquarium I was saving for. It was heaven for a nine-year-old.

— Gary Wilcox, OBHS class of 1960

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I had the greatest time at the old frog pond. I always found the pond to be 2 inches deeper than my gumboots, but what fun to get a cluster of eggs and then watch the tadpoles hatch, then the frogs develop. We were very lucky to have the old fairgrounds to play in — roller hockey and tree houses.

— Ron McKeever, OBHS class of 1960

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After the race track was torn down and before the houses went up it [the former Willows Fairgrounds] was a great place to catch tadpoles and frogs. We would come over from McNeill and Falkland on our bikes and spend many a sunny day there.

— Ian Else, OBHS class of 1960

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