By Stan Peterson – Cabri, Sask.
We used to have fun dances at Venlo School near to the town of Abbey, Sask. I remember these times and the good crowds we used to get. The admission was usually just a silver collection. The music makers didn’t get much pay, maybe 50¢ or a dollar was the usual pay.
It was The Great Depression, or “Dirty ‘30s” and no one had many dimes or even nickels, yet I don’t think anyone was ever turned away if they didn’t have the money.
Everyone had a dance or two while some danced every dance. Many a time, it went on until early morning.
The music was good. My father was on the fiddle and was accompanied by a young lady chording on the piano. Her name was Dora Mashke, who later became Dora Watson. They played well together and would keep on until all were ready to go home.
Father started playing young
My dad brought this fiddle from Minnesota when his parents, several brothers and sisters, and other relatives moved to Saskatchewan in 1910. He’d started playing down in the States and was already playing for dances when he was quite young. They used to tell the story of him playing for a dance one time when he was about 15 years old.
At the time, he didn’t have a good instrument. A total stranger gave him a very good violin in a nice case and said: “If you can play that well, you should have a good fiddle.” My dad finished up the evening enjoying this fine instrument. The man left and they never saw him again.
Dad played it for the next few years and brought it with him to Canada when he was 18 years old. It’s was the same fiddle I played. After a lot of awful noises and squawks, I was finally able to play some tunes. I’ve played it all these years since.
There were eight of us in the family. Dad has been gone since 1941 and no one else has ever even tried to play it.
I’ve played with some fun groups from Abbey, Cabri, Gull Lake, and the special group of all, the Swift Current Old Time Fiddlers! That was the thrill of my lifetime. They played all the good old dance tunes and prided themselves by playing all the tunes just like they were written.
With the Old Time Fiddlers, I had lots of enjoyment playing and we seemed to have a lot of happy dancers too!
