Today Highway 94 at Nipissing Manor is an average roadway with nothing around it that indicates that anything of significance occurred there. But if one knows where to look, they can find relics of the past and remains of buildings that were once central to the story of the Dionne quintuplets.
Tomorrow, on the 85th birthday of Annette and Cecile Dionne on May 28, the Callander Museum will be hosting a presentation that is based on the exhibit "The Northern Coney Island" to continue to educate the public on their story, to give greater understanding to what happened 85 years ago on that day, and to ensure that their story is not forgotten.
Quintuplet Drive, Dionneville, The Quintuplet Village, and Quintland all described a 300 meter stretch of road that attracted over three million tourists in the '30s and '40s as they came to watch five identical girls dance and play in an outdoor observatory. This "Coney Island of the North" rivaled Niagara Falls as the top tourist destination in Canada as thousands of people each day were counted waiting in line for these free shows.
For the area, an influx of tourists meant an opportunity for business and commercialization, and in a short amount of time souvenir shops, information booths, public restrooms, and other buildings began to develop.
This talk will explore the evolution of Quintland, from a regular country road to a bustling tourist attraction, and it will compare what the site looks like today to what it used to look like during the height of Quintmania.
The museum will have free admission all day and there will be light refreshments.
The presentations happen at 11 a.m, 1 and 3 p.m. No registration is required, just drop in.
