Mid-Week Mugging is a series of features by BayToday. Each Wednesday, we will run a profile on a local business or organization that will be "mugged" with BayToday coffee cups. The subjects will then "mug" for our camera and we will tell a little bit about their story.
This edition of Mid-Week Mugging features the Birchaven Cove, its revered place in the memories of several generations, and salutes all those who work hard to make our beaches safe and keep them clean. Here's hoping that many North Bayites, present and future, have the opportunity to experience the quaint appeal of the Cove or any of the other 42 beach accesses within North Bay's limits that we are free to enjoy at our leisure.
Tucked into a small bay on Trout Lake at the end of Lakeside Drive, the Birchaven Cove is simply one of the most beautiful spots in North Bay. A channel runs along the edge of the ample beach area, allowing access by boat to Camelot Bay. The Cove is surrounded by tall birch and maple trees, providing shade for those who seek it. The water is cold, refreshing, and gets deep fast. Many use the trails that branch off from the beach area to hike and walk their dogs. The beach is welcoming to all.
The swimming area is augmented by two docks, one lengthy floating dock anchored just far enough off shore that one must swim to it, and the other supports the lifeguard's chair and is affixed to a tall rock formation that gives the swimming area an amphitheatre-like setting.
In the 1980s, this type of spectator-friendly setting came in handy to witness all sorts of shenanigans that took place once the lifeguards clocked out. There was diving from the lifeguard chair, swimming to the island beyond the buoys, young boys driving their BMX bikes off of the end of the floating dock, all while the occasional frosty beverage was consumed near the fire that was inevitably set on the beach. It was teenage anarchy, it was chaotic, but it was mostly just young people expressing themselves in all the many silly ways that their maturing brains told them to.
The term "teenage angst" had not yet entered the vernacular, and despite the debauchery, we were never more safe than we were at the Cove, surrounded by friends who looked out for one another.
By daylight, the lifeguards ran the show back then, and they were respected by the beach bums. The guards played many roles at that beach beside performing first aid and teaching swimming lessons. It was not uncommon for hundreds of kids per day to arrive by bicycle, transit, or to be dropped off by their parents, often unsupervised.
Lifeguards were also part babysitters and social directors. They were also the only ones at the Cove holding down jobs, so occasionally they would buy a treat from the Dickie Dee for their favourites among the regular beach kids. For boys whose formative summers were spent at the Cove, we were sons of beaches.
Living in Birchaven several decades ago, there was an order to our blissful summer days once school ended. No matter what the day started off with, whether riding bikes, playing ball or basketball, doing chores, or mowing lawns, we invariably found ourselves at the Cove.
The beach was a throwback version of what we know now as summer day camp. At the Cove, we played beach volleyball, threw the Frisbee, swam, dove, and generally horsed around. A boom box tended to overplay whatever the song of the summer was that year. It was a microcosm of society and a place where one quickly learned right from wrong. As puberty hit, the games evolved somewhat. Either the competition became more intense because one of the boys was trying to impress a young lady, or that boy stopped playing altogether because all of his attention was now focused on his first steady.
It was a simpler time when kids were allowed to make bad choices and learn from the outcomes. Safety is important, but so is fun. Where can you ever be more truly free than at the beach? The sand, the cool water of Trout Lake, the picnics, and the friendships, one does not have to love beach-going to see the draw of that.
Every year, we spend months scraping windshields, shovelling snow, and wrapping ourselves in heavy clothing from head to toe. Embrace the beach. Enjoy the Cove and our other beaches. Lifeguards are on duty, and the grounds are maintained by the hard-working folks from Parks, Recreation and Leisure.
Even more reason to check out the Cove this time of year? No shadflies.
