The coming of the railroad through the Bonnechere and Madawaska Valleys in the 1890s brought new prosperity to a wide region and on Saturday the Wilno Heritage Society paid tribute to the man who brought the first Iron Horse to the area, opening it up to new development.

This year marks the 125^th anniversary of the arrival of the railroad in Wilno and the steel rails actually preceded the development of the community which was originally located a few miles south of the present-day hamlet.

“Traditionally on Kashub Day we celebrate the crowning of the Royal Family, the food and the culture, but this is also part of the culture of the whole community,” Shirley Mask Connolly, curator of the Heritage Museum said Saturday at the annual Kashub Day celebration in the park.

“Really, it’s Killaloe, Wilno, Barry’s Bay I am thinking of because they all are part and parcel. The coming of the railroad has a big significance to the society because the museum and park  are actually built on the old railroad bed. We’re standing on the ground that the railroad went through on so we can’t forget the railroad in telling the story of our settlement.”

Dressed as Conductor Connolly (there really was a conductor by that name who rode on the Bud Car that travelled the rails between Ottawa and Barry’s Bay in the late 1950s, early 60s), Mrs. Mask Connolly introduced the builder of the railroad, John Rudolphus Booth (aka her nephew, Brandon Kassis of Ottawa). She described Mr. Booth normally as a plain dressing man, much smaller than his stand-in

“But he was a giant, a giant in our history, a timber king, a monarch of the woods,” she said. “He was a giant in our history of the area.”

When the railway was built through the area, there was no community of Wilno. “There was a church to the south of us, a schoolhouse, a little store and a post office, but there was no village of Wilno,” Mrs. Mask Connolly explained. “When the railway went through, the village then grew around it. The same with Killaloe Station. There was no Killaloe Station until the railway came through in 1894.

“You are standing on railroad ground,” she told a large crowd attending the festivities.

She noted J.R. wasn’t very good to the community initially because he hadn’t planned on building a station at Wilno.

“There was one going up in Barry’s Bay and there was one going up in Killaloe but nothing in Wilno, so Adam Prince, being a leader in the community, got up a petition and he went to Rockingham and he got them on side too and he got that petition in and guess what, we got our station, built in 1896, two years after the railroad went through.

Mrs. Mask Connolly noted Mr. Booth wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth. The son of Irish immigrants, he grew up in the Eastern Townships, learned some carpentry skills and worked himself up.

“He was a man of Irish descent who pulled himself up by his own bootstraps and by his skills and made himself into a king — the king of the timber trade, the king of the lumbering and the builder of the railway.

And, J.R., thank you. Thank you for seeing the light and thank you for joining us here today to celebrate the 125^th anniversary of the railway coming through this community and affecting all of our lives and making all of our lives better.

A Superb Day

Mrs. Mask Connolly said it was a miracle Kashub Day could be celebrated at the park this year, what with all the rain and snow. She said just a couple of weeks ago, there were snow banks behind the stage area and water from melting coming in to the area.

The coming of the railway to the area will be the major exhibit at the museum in the park this year and will be made up of old photographs, maps and text.

The Royal Family

One of the highlights of the annual celebration is the crowning of the Royal Family. This year’s Prince is Noah Trebinskie, son of Paul Trebinskie and Amanda Briscoe while Ashley Dombroskie, daughter of Richard Dombroskie and Joanne Maika was chosen Princess. Unfortunately, due to a previous commitment, she could not attend the festivities.

Crowned Queen was Rose Marie Brotton (nee Lorbetskie), who has given many, many hours to promoting and preserving the Kashubian heritage. It was noted by emcee David Shulist her late father, Aloysius Lorbetskie, also did a lot of work of work preserving and promoting the Kashubian history.

Wilno native Andrew Yantha, one of the founding directors of he society, was chosen King. Now a resident of nearby Barry’s Bay, Mr. Yantha operated a contracting business for 35 years and was building director in the park. 

Society President Peter Glofcheskie of Barry’s Bay said the annual festival is an important celebration for the Polish/Kashub community and it was very appropriate to mark the 125^th anniversary of the coming of the railroad.

“Wilno built up around railway,” he said.

He told an interesting story about hi own family, the last Kashub family to come to the area in 1907.

“When the last of the Glofcheskies arrived in 1907 the hotel was owned by the Slomenski family,” he explained. “Unbeknownst to them, when they got off the train who do they see but this Slomenski family who had left the same village in Poland that my Glofcheskie family were from some 10 years earlier and they didn’t know they were here.”

He paid tribute to the 75 to 80 volunteers who organize and make the day a huge success.

“That really is the success of the day; the volunteer spirit we have,” he said. “It’s like you build it and they come. I can only I am pleased today. We’ve had steady, very good crowds all day long.”

The park was filled with the sound of music throughout the day, provided by many local musicians. There was an ample supply of food including the always popular paczki (Polish doughnut) provided by Stanley Wieserski, a Kashub who came to Canada a few decades ago and established Sweet Temptations, a baker in Mississauga employing 50 people. Along with 1,000 tasty paczkis he donates each year to the society to sell, he also donated several dozen loaves of rye bread which sold out quickly.

Also new this year was pickle on a stick, huge sour dill pickles (badcis) from European Fine Foods that were brought in by the pail and devoured by visitors.

“We get them by the pail, extra large, pickle on a stick

Mr. Glofcheskie is in his eighth year as president of the society which has a membership of almost 500.