For several years during my working days I belonged to Winnipeg’s Metro Club, representing Manitoba Farm Vacations. As a member you went to lunch every Wednesday at the International Inn.
Once a year you got to promote your company by being guest speaker at lunch. You could be innovative.
I cooked up a big deal.
I asked Mayor Bill Norrie to declare the day of my promotion at the Metro Club as Farm Vacation Day in Winnipeg, I also asked him to be guest speaker on my behalf at the Metro Club. He said yes to both requests.
In preparation for the big day, I wrote a song called “Country Farm” and commissioned Larry Campbell to sing it, not just to a small audience, but through a huge loudspeaker system at Portage and Main.
That day.
Leading up to the song, Judy Mack, who was on the board of directors of Farm Vacations and ran a horse ranch near Austin, came to City Hall with her favorite mare and had His Worship sign the declaration on the horse’s rump. It happened right there on the square between the Council and Administration buildings.
Then a Winnipeg motorcycle cop escorted our one-horse parade from City Hall to Portage and Main where Campbell sang my song. We had a news conference in a nearby building and then took the mayor to lunch at the International Inn.
He gave an entertaining speech after the meal, complete with farm jokes and a funny ending.
Referring to the fact that a horse had just been to City Hall, he said:
“We don’t have horses there very often.”
Then he scratched his ear, thinking:
“We have parts of horses!”
That day was the highlight of my tenure in the Metro Club.